Fannie Exec: Things Will Get Worse Before Getting Better

Drawing on his hobby of whitewater rafting, Zach Oppenheimer, senior vice president for the single family business at Fannie Mae, noted that the mortgage industry has been through rough waters before, including the 1983 recession, problems in the Oil Patch States, the Russian debt crisis and the Sept. 11 attacks. But in those cases and others, Fannie Mae played a critical role in pulling the industry through tough times, he told attendees at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City. He is confident the market will return and the lessons being learned will make the market more resilient. But first, Mr. Oppenheimer said, because things will get worse before they get better, we must "batten down the hatches." Paul Mullings, senior vice president at Freddie Mac, added he doesn't remember a period when the industry was so dependent on Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration "to get us out of trouble." Freddie Mac wants standards that bring confidence and stability to the market. "When the markets lock up, our job is to unlock them."