On August 6,2014, Fannie Mae held its first Legal Issues Forum Update via conference call where a few of the topics discussed at the Spring Legal Issues Forum were revisited. The conference call was hosted by John Tolbert, Associate General Counsel at Fannie Mae and moderated by Fannie Mae alum Marsha Baumgarner, Senior Vice President at Capital One Multifamily Finance (formerly Beechstreet Capital).
In contrast to the Spring Legal Issues Forum, the summer update focused on five specific topics:
- Survey Requirements and Table A Items
- Updates to the Form Opinion Letter
- Tenant-In-Common Requirements – Managing Co-Tenant and Power of Attorney
- Borrower Channel Update
- Legal Document Modification Memo.
On the conference call, Fannie Mae shared that the form opinion letter has been revised and will be published along with new loan documents this September. Other noteworthy announcements included an anticipated October publication of the update to the Multifamily Selling and Servicing Guide whereby Part III A, Chapter 4 will incorporate new guidance for Tenant-in-Common requirements. Fannie Mae also disclosed that it is working on a new lender delegation memo that will be published sometime in the future.
Although the conference call had a narrow focus and concluded in just over 70 minutes, I would guess that the updates were well received. While we wait in angst to blog about the new Fannie Mae loan documents, we also look forward to sharing our insight on the Fall Legal Issues Forum, which is scheduled for October 16, 2014.