Schumer wants Fannie to stop Bronx auction

Senator Charles Schumer and Bronx tenants are urging Fannie Mae not to go forward with an online auction of 19 distressed Bronx buildings and instead to try to find a buyer who will maintain the properties. Fannie Mae purchased the mortgages on the buildings, which house 520 families in the Crotona neighborhood of the Bronx, for $29 million in 2007 and had planned to auction them through DebtX, an online auction site for distressed property. The city has spent close to $1 million on emergency repairs at the buildings, according to Alexa Sewell, chief of staff at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Fannie Mae has already agreed that the department should monitor the online bidding on the properties, but Schumer and housing advocates say there should be a more formal preservation arrangement.

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