Meet the New Landlord, Freddie

In an effort to prevent disrepair to thousands of vacant properties, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac has announced that it will allow qualified borrowers to rent their homes after losing them to foreclosures. Additionally, Freddie will allow home renters whose landlords have entered foreclosure to stay in their homes. Many of the firm's 8,500 properties in the foreclosure process are vacant.

An occupied property stays in better repair and inadvertently contributes to local property values, thus promoting a faster housing market recovery. Under Freddie Mac's new system, if a tenant and/or former property owner has the income to pay the monthly rent, then the home can be had in this manner. Additionally, the mortgage giant will eventually consider reinstating a mortgage for those who might qualify for a modified loan. Of course, this will be open to borrowers only on a case-by-case basis.

Freddie, combined with Fannie Mae, announced on Friday that they would extend (again) evictions through the end of February, creating yet another buffer period for potential recovery to some borrowers. Together they either own or guarantee about half of the U.S. home loan debt in the United States, totaling about $5 trillion of the existing $10.6 trillion nationwide.