Fannie Mae has decided to cancel an online auction of 19 foreclosed apartment buildings in the Bronx, Senator Charles Schumer said today. Schumer and city housing officials had asked Fannie Mae not to go forward with the auction, out of concern that a buyer would overpay for the properties and end up raising rent for the tenants of the 519 units. Fannie Mae purchased the mortgages on the buildings in the Bronx’s Crotona neighborhood for $29 million in 2007 and had planned to auction them through DebtX, an online auction site for distressed property. The city has already spent nearly $1 million on emergency repairs at the buildings. Schumer and the city will now work with Fannie Mae to find a buyer willing to keep the units affordable. [more]

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. [more]