The two largest mortgage GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who collectively originate and insure a large portion of the multifamily commercial mortgage market, recently responded to the economic turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 virus by rolling out forbearance programs for qualifying multifamily borrowers.

The programs provide support to these multifamily owners in exchange for stipulating that they can’t evict any tenants solely on non-payment of rent during the COVID crisis.

Highlights

• Forbearance is being offered for up to 3 months. Qualifying borrowers can pause payments on their mortgage for this period.
• Allowed period to catch up on the forborne amount is 12 months.
• The loan must be Performing before the forbearance. This won’t bail out borrowers who were already in default before COVID.
• No, you can’t take forbearance and also evict your tenants for non-payment during the COVID crisis. Cake eaters.

Key Differences

While they both share many similarities, the more notable differences are found in the table below:

Summary

• You can apply for 3 months break from paying an agency loan. You can’t evict tenants if you take the forbearance.
• Fannie’s program seems, at first glance, to be more tenant friendly with respects to how much time, and at what terms, they would need to start paying back the owners (borrowers).
• Fannie has no mention of months in forbearance agreement having to be consecutive — if that were the case it would allow for greater flexibility for multifamily owners to adjust the forbearance to their own needs.
• Freddie is bearing all of the costs associated to agreement of the forbearance program between the two parties.

If you have an agency loan that you are worried about being able to pay because of COVID, chat with your agency lender about this program.

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