Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage finance giant, said on Tuesday that it had stopped selling properties to the firm, Vision Property Management, after conducting a review of the firm’s rent-to-own program, which operates in more than a dozen states, the New York Times reported today. The mortgage finance company will also impose restrictions on future sales of foreclosed homes to firms that engage in abusive forms of seller financing — which includes selling homes on either rent-to-own leases or in long-term installment agreements known as contract for deed. The policy change by Fannie could put a big crimp in the business model of certain investment firms that have sprouted up since the financial crisis. These firms buy foreclosed homes on the cheap and sell them to people unable to qualify for a conventional mortgage.
