In an effort to clear out the tens of thousands of properties that Mortgage Giant, Fannie Mae has in their inventory, the company announced last week that it will begin to provide aid towards the closing costs for homebuyers that purchase foreclosed homes.

Last year Fannie Mae created the HomePath website to help sell the continuous growing number of foreclosures. The offer to pay for closing costs is only applicable to qualified homes located on the website. Any buyer that closes on the purchase of one of these homes by May 1, 2010 may be eligible to receive 3.5% of the closing costs or an amount that is equal to the purchase of new appliances.

According to Terry Edwards, the executive vice president of Credit Portfolio Management, “Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover.”