Fannie Mae rules for a pending sale or a rental conversion
How a Lender Counts the Sienna Home You Still Own When You Buy the Next One
Updated November 2026
How does a lender count the payment on my current Sienna home if I buy the next one before it sells?
In September 2026, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide counts both payments when a pending Sienna sale closes after your purchase, unless an executed contract and cleared financing contingencies are documented.
Yolanda Ames, Houston Properties Team, Sienna
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, topic B3-6-06: Qualifying Impact of Other Real Estate Owned, September 2026.
How does Fannie Mae count a Sienna home that is pending sale?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide topic on other real estate owned, dated September 2026, ties the answer to the status of the mortgaged home you already own. That status decides how the home's PITIA enters your qualifying for the new loan. PITIA is the guide's term for that home's monthly housing payment.
Take a Sienna home that is your current principal residence and is pending sale. If its sale will not close with title passing to the new owner before your purchase, and you are buying a new principal residence, the rule applies.
The lender then qualifies you on the current PITIA and the proposed PITIA together. On a move from one Sienna section to another, that means two Sienna housing payments on one application.
the current PITIA and the proposed PITIA must be used in qualifying the borrower for the new mortgage loan.
Which papers let the lender leave out the current Sienna payment?
The same Fannie Mae topic sets an exception for that pending sale. The lender is not required to use the current principal residence's PITIA as long as two documents are provided.
One is the executed sales contract on the Sienna home you are selling. The other confirms that any financing contingencies on that sale have been cleared.
Both have to be in the file. A signed contract whose buyer still has an open financing contingency leaves the current payment in the count under the guide's terms.
Have your listing agent send your lender each date as it happens: the day the contract is fully signed and the day the buyer's financing contingency clears.
However, Fannie Mae will not require the current principal residence's PITIA to be used in qualifying the borrower as long as the following documentation is provided: the executed sales contract for the current residence, and confirmation that any financing contingencies have been cleared.
Why does each Sienna lot's tax bill matter when both payments count?
Each payment counted here is set partly by its lot's tax bill, and Sienna's bills differ by section. For tax year 2025, Fort Bend ISD, Fort Bend County, its drainage fund and the levee district came to $1.8914 per $100 of value.
A utility district then added between $0.3975 in MUD 3 and $1.05 in MUDs 6 and 7. The former MUD 2 sections pay Missouri City's $0.570825 in place of a MUD.
Each $0.10 of rate on a $500,000 taxable value is $500 a year. So moving from a MUD 3 lot to a MUD 6 or 7 lot raises the tax side of the next payment at the same taxable value.
The parcel record at the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District names every unit on each lot, Missouri City included where it applies. Yolanda Ames sets those rates side by side for the homes a client is weighing before an offer.
How does Fannie Mae count rent if you keep the Sienna home?
Under Fannie Mae's departing residence topic (September 2026), a primary residence vacated and converted to an investment property when you buy a new one is eligible.
To find adjusted monthly net rental income, the lender multiplies the monthly gross rent by 75% and then subtracts the departing residence's PITIA.
Fannie Mae's general rental income topic (September 2026) adds an experience test. A lender may use positive rental income as qualifying income only where you have at least 12 months of property management experience.
With no prior experience, or less than 12 months, qualifying rental income may only offset the PITIA.
Questions & answers
Sienna questions, answered
Do I need cash reserves to buy my next Sienna home as my principal residence?
Not under Fannie Mae's general rule. Its minimum reserve topic, dated August 2024, notes that there is no minimum reserve requirement for one-unit principal residence transactions. That covers a single-family Sienna house you buy to live in. A different rule applies to a home you move out of and keep, so the answer turns on whether your current house is sold.
Reserves and the payment count are separate questions. Where the sale of your Sienna home closes before the purchase, only the new loan is in play. Where it closes after, ask the lender which papers on that sale it already holds, and which it still needs before the purchase closes.
How much cash does a lender want in reserve if I keep my Sienna home as a rental?
Six months of the vacated home's PITIA, where you have less than 12 months of property management experience. Fannie Mae's departing residence topic (September 2026) has the lender verify those reserves for the Sienna house you move out of. The months run against that house's own payment rather than the new home's.
Fannie Mae's minimum reserve topic, dated August 2024, notes that there is no minimum reserve requirement for one-unit principal residence transactions. The six months sits under the separate departing residence rule and attaches to the house you vacate. Ask the lender for the PITIA figure it uses on your Sienna house and the dollar total of six months of it.
If I sell my Sienna home first, can I stay in it until the next house closes?
Yes, for up to 90 days, under TREC's Seller's Temporary Residential Lease. It begins when your sale closes and funds, and rent for the whole term is paid at funding. The buyer receives keys and access codes. Selling first means the sale closes before the purchase, outside the case in which Fannie Mae counts both payments.
An unused deposit comes back within 30 days after you leave and give a forwarding address. TREC's resale contract warns that possession by either side without a written lease creates a tenancy at sufferance, and tells both parties to consult an insurance agent before possession changes hands. Ninety days is the outer limit, so set the search for the next Sienna house inside it: its section, utility district and tax rate narrowed before you list.
How long does a slow Sienna sale keep my current payment in the lender's count?
The exception that drops your current payment needs two papers: an executed sales contract on your Sienna home and confirmation that any financing contingencies have been cleared. Both wait on a buyer, so the pace of your section's market sets the date. As of November 2026, the median Sienna home took 46 days to sell, closing at 97.6 percent of asking. Your section's latest closings give a closer estimate than that community midpoint.
Redfin counted 185 Sienna closings in June through August 2026, against 207 in the same months of 2025. In those months 53.1% of Sienna listings had a price cut. A well-priced house in a section with few listings can go under contract quickly, while one priced above its neighbors can sit for months. The first price, set from your section's closings, decides how soon the two papers the lender needs can exist.
Does a contingent offer on the next Sienna house change how the lender counts my current one?
No. A contingent offer and the lender's count run on separate rules. TREC's Addendum for Sale of Other Property by Buyer ties your purchase to the proceeds of your own sale by a set date, if the seller accepts it. Fannie Mae's other real estate owned topic decides whether your current payment counts. For a pending sale closing after your purchase, it drops that payment once you provide an executed sales contract and confirmation that any financing contingencies have cleared.
The form says the set date should fall no later than the closing date. If it passes with the contingency neither met nor waived, the contract ends and the earnest money is refunded. The seller may keep marketing the house. On accepting another written offer, the seller notifies you and requires a waiver. You then have until the day after that notice to waive, in writing and with the additional earnest money the addendum states. After a waiver, failing to close because your own sale fell through is a default. Settle with your lender how both payments will be counted before you waive.
