Ginnie Mae
Looking to understand what is Ginnie Mae? You’ve been hearing about it and knows not what it means. Let us help with the most succinct Ginnie Mae definition possible: Ginnie Mae is the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA). It’s basically the phonetic sound of the initials. Say “GNMA” quickly and you get the “Ginnie Mae” sound.
The mission of Ginnie Mae is to fund high-risk mortgages for high-risk borrowers that are typically located in areas approved for government construction projects that have no other funding sources. The government body also offers guarantee mortgages issued by others, such as commercial banks, mortgage banks, and insurers.
You can’t tell Ginnie Mae’s history without talking about Fannie Mae. Ginnie Mae is almost like a younger sister or spiritual daughter of Fannie Mae. Here’s the timeline: Fannie Mae was founded in the 1930’s as a fully government-owned company, then became a mixed-ownership company, and then, in 1968, when it came time to go full private sector, the Government thought it was important to conserve a similar federal operation, thus spawning Ginnie Mae and making it part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in order to expand affordable housing finance. Ginnie Mae is the primary financing mechanism for all mortgage loans that are government-insured.
Don’t know if you qualify for Ginnie Mae and this whole names-galore – yes, because we didn’t even bring up the Freddie Mac definition to make it simple – is it making you confused? Reach out to a real estate agent and let him (or her!) point out the best direction for your case.
Popular Real Estate Terms
Way to determine the capitalization rate of income property for valuation purposes by weighting the rate of interest and source of financing in percentage terms. ...
Latin term meaning something in exchange for something else. For example, a person rushes through an order for another in return for having first choice in selecting a parcel of ...
(1) Supporting the joists of a floor with small pieces of wood. (2) Providing temporary financing such as a short-term loan, to a real estate developer before long-term financing can be ...
Appraisal method that examines current and future economic conditions in a particular location to help in deriving property values ...
See Board of Equalization. ...
Insects that destroy the support wood in the structure of a building. Termite inspection should be periodically performed to detect their existence. If an infestation is confirmed, the ...
Relationship between individuals or entities whereby rights given to one are returned in kind to the other. An example is where one person has the right to use facilities of another with ...
3D Printed Homes are basically homes that were printed via 3D Printers. Though semantically the phrase is pretty obvious and straightforward, there’s a lot we need to contextualize ...
State laws limiting the interest rate that can be charged to individuals borrowing money in that state. These laws affect all lenders in a state regardless of what federal or state agency ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.