Government-owned properties selling in region

Real estate that’s wound up in the possession of the federal government is selling for 10 percent to 20 percent below market value, impacting the already shaky South Florida market. Homes in possession of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as well as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which guarantee mortgages, now number at least 5,000 in Florida alone. The agencies sold about 140,000 nationwide this year. On its own, Fannie Mae is trying to sell 4,352 homes in Florida. It said 568 of them are in Broward County, 267 in Miami-Dade County and 190 in Palm Beach County. Louis Spagnuolo, vice president for mortgage banking at WCS Lending in Boca Raton, said the programs weren’t widely known and could be a boon to prospective buyers. [Sun Sentinel]