Buying Fannie Mae-owned homes just got easier.

The largest mortgage buyer/backer in the nation recently rolled out HomePath Online Offers, which gives real estate agents the power to submit bids on behalf of clients who are interested in buying foreclosed — also known as Real Estate-Owned (REO) — homes.

Buyers/investors in Orlando, Fla., San Diego, Calif., and Detroit, Mich., will be the first to test out the new program.

Jim Tiegen, Vice President of Fannie Mae’s REO regional offices, had this to say to DSNews.com about the innovation:

“HomePath Online Offers provides increased transparency and efficiency in the submission process for our real estate partners and prospective buyers. This online pilot is a critical step toward ensuring that all buyers have the same experience making offers and purchasing homes.”

To view foreclosed homes for sale from Fannie Mae you need to visit HomePath.com. For more information about how to submit offers online for properties you can watch an informational webinar about the process right here.

The off-the-field hits just keep on coming for former Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers.

Rogers, who has the dubious distinction of being among the biggest busts in the history of the National Football League (NFL), owes $1.17 million on a mansion in Novi, Mich., according to The Detroit News.

He’s currently in default, which means that he’ll likely lose the 5,100-square foot, four bedroom home if he doesn’t pay up soon. In fact, a foreclosure auction is already scheduled for Oct, 26, 2010.

This is not the start of Rogers’ financial woes — he was ordered to return $6.1 million of a $9.1 million signing bonus earlier this year because he was arrested with marijuana back in 2005, violating the terms of his contract. He’s battled substance-related issues and arrests ever since.

Detroit parted ways with the oft-injured wideout in 2006, just 36 months removed from selecting him second overall in the 2003 NFL draft. Rogers has not played a single down of football since that time.

See what $25 will get you after the jump:

The property pictured above, located at 1416 Ada Street (also in Lansing),  was actually occupied at the time of the sale. The tenants have six months to vacate the property or rent from the new $25 owner.

Unreal.

To check out foreclosed homes for sale in Michigan and/or in your neck of the woods click here.

The foreclosure crisis has hit virtually the entire nation without discrimination; however, some states, collectively, have been impacted more than others.

Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada, in fact, top the list of 50, sustaining average home price declines of 20 percent or more. As a result, the U.S. Treasury Department has earmarked $1.5 billion to “head off” foreclosures in these states, among other, according to Reuters.

It’s been dubbed the “Hardest Hit Fund,” which was announced back in February. And it was carved out of the $50 billion Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to assist responsible homeowners who have “been affected by the economic crisis through no fault of their own.”

The five states submitted proposals, demonstrating that their residents needed the housing assistance, which were all approved.

Here’s the monetary breakdown:

Arizona will get up to $125.1 million for these purposes while California gets up to $699.6 million and Florida up to $418 million. Michigan has been approved for up to $154.5 million of funding and Nevada up to $102.8 million.

In addition to the five states already mentioned, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina have submitted proposals for similar assistance. It’s expected that they, too, will receive approval “in coming weeks.”

Government officials reportedly expect to help 90,000 or more homeowners with its “Hardest Hit Fund.” For more information on the program, as well as the complete “Making Home Affordable” initiative, click here.

Not even the rich and famous are immune from the possibility of falling into foreclosure in the Detroit, Mich., area.

Sergei Fedorov is on the verge of losing two separate million-dollar homes in the affluent suburb community of Bloomfield, which is located in Oakland County, according to The Detroit News.

The six-time NHL All-Star, who helped the city’s beloved Red Wings hoist three Stanley Cups during his 13-year career in “Motor City,” owes more than $2 million on the “palatial” homes. He purchased them in 1999 and 2003, respectively, the latter of which he bought from his parents.

Fedorov, who was the leader of the feared “Russian Five” line in the 1990s, claims to have lost about $60 million in an investment scam. He is fighting a court battle to recoup at least some of his losses; however, it appears that his real estate portfolio may be taking a check into the boards until its all resolved.

In the meantime, the former high profile boyfriend of tennis superstar (and model), Anna Kournikova, continues to play hockey, competing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in his native Russia.

“Motor City” continues to “shrink to survive.”

Detroit, Mich., which recently announced that it planned to demolish/bulldoze as many as 10,000 homes to ‘redensify’ hard-hit communities, took down the childhood home of one-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in about an hour, according to the Associated Press.

The 5,500 sq. ft. house — where Romney lived with his mother and father (a former Michigan governor) from 1947 to 1953 — was located in the “once prestigious Palmer Woods area.” However, the house had fallen way beyond disrepair in recent years and was declared a “nuisance” in 2009.

It’s expected that the land will soon be put up for sale in a neighborhood where the average home prices hover around $257,000, which is actually on the high side for a state that has been so adversely affected by the downturn in the national economy.

The old Romney home is among 3,000 structures that the city plans to pulverize this year. Three thousand more will be turned to rubble in 2011. When all the dust settles, Mayor Dave Bing plans to raze about 10,000 structures to “protect” the city’s tax base and and get it back on the road to prosperity sooner rather than later.

Mitt Romney, who was the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, currently resides in a $12 million beachfront home in La Jolla, California. He is currently preparing to make another run at the presidency in 2012 as a member of the Republican party.

The Southfield, Mich., home of seven-time world boxing champion, Thomas Hearns, is being issued a standing eight count, according to a recent report in The Detroit News.

Records indicate that “Hitman” owes nearly $1 million in delinquent taxes and mortgage payments.

In particular, he owes $513,000 on the 10-acre home he shares with his wife. And if the couple doesn’t figure out a solution soon, the bank intends to put the home up on the auction block in less than one week (March 23, 2010).

His attorney, Michael J. Smith, however, is confident that everything will work itself out eventually.

Here’s a snip:

“Tommy’s going to resolve the house issue. Tommy’s doing fine. It’s just an unfortunate issue that we’re dealing with and we’re working to get it resolved right away.”

Hearns reached rock star status in the mid- to-late 1980s in and around the Detroit area under the tutelage of prestigious trainer, Emanuel Steward, out of the legendary Kronk Gym.

Known for his devastating knockout power, Hearns is perhaps best known for his “war” against Marvin Hagler, as well as his controversial bouts against Sugar Ray Leonard.

It’s estimated that Hearns banked about $40 million throughout his boxing career alone.

Nine-year National Football League (NFL) veteran, Luther Elliss, is on the verge of losing his Detroit, Mich.,-area home in Oakland Township to foreclosure, according to The Detroit News.

Elliss — who was paid almost $11.6 million from 2000-04 as a member of the Detroit Lions — has a $1.6 million loan on the home. Unfortunately, he’s now upside-down on the loan because, according to recent estimates, it  would sell for just about half as much today ($800,000) if listed on the market.

Accordingly, he has had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, listing $4.4 million in liabilities against $1.38 million in assets.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection (1999 and 2000) was apparently warned earlier in his career that financial distress was a very real possibility:

“The Lions did a good job, they put on financial programs that we had to attend talking about investing and saving money, gave statistics on how many of us would be broke. Guys were saying, ‘It’s not going to be me, I’m too smart for that.’ And here I am, one of those guys.”

Elliss reportedly invested his fortune into several business ventures that eventually went belly up, including a manufacturing company called Trinity Armor.

He — along with his wife and their 11 children — plan to walk away from the Oakland Township home and start over. Elliss currently earns a $347,410 annual pension from the NFL, which will hopefully keep the family afloat during this difficult time.

To check out other celebrity-type foreclosures, including the field where Elliss spent most of his playing days inside the Silverdome, click here.

That’s not a typo.

The former home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) and Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) today sold at a Williams & Williams-coordinated auction for little more than a half-million dollars.

Keep in mind that the Silverdome was built back in 1975 for an estimated cost of $55.7 million. Not even factoring in inflation/appreciation on the 80,000-seat municipal stadium, which sits on 127 acres in Pontiac, Mich., the winning bidder — an unnamed Canadian firm, according to the Detroit Free Press — stands to make about a $50 million profit … at least.

Unless, of course, a move to block the firesale is upheld by a judge.

Silver Stallion Development Corp. had previously offered $20 million to purchase the Silverdome; however, the purchase agreement had expired and the company didn’t cough up the $250,000 minimum bid to participate in the latest auction.

The report indicates that an official ruling on the sale of the Silverdome will be released within a week.

If the auction sale goes through, the new owner “plans to use the complex for a men’s Major League Soccer team and women’s professional soccer.”

Sounds like an early score.