As the market for vacation homes continues to forge ahead at an almost unprecedented pace, the two major suppliers of financing funds have put a lid on the number of mortgages for such properties they will buy from primary lenders.

As of April 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are limiting their purchases of loans on vacation and investment properties to no more than 7% of their portfolios during any 52-week period, striking a blow to a sector that has flourished, in part, because of the pandemic.

The ceiling is “well below” the current 6.4% run rate of purchase loan applications for second residences, according to economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Moreover, second-home applications in February were up 37% from the same month in 2020.

But Fannie and Freddie, the two government-sponsored enterprises that act as intermediaries between worldwide investors and main street lenders, are now required to restrict their activity under a stock purchase agreement negotiated with the Treasury Department during the Trump administration.

The move comes on the heels of another rules change instituted by the GSEs late last year. That change cut back on loans to people who buy into so-called “condotels,” which are properties where individual units are rented through a central reservation system to vacationers on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. That strikes folks who want to purchase apartments, as opposed to individual houses, as well as timeshares and other forms of interval ownership.

A Fannie spokesman has said his company is concerned that some resort condo structures do not live up to the requirements that they be residential in nature. In the past, Fannie has been more active in resort lending than its secondary market rival.

Neither company has had much to say about the limit on loan purchases. The MBA has raised concerns, maintaining the cap will result in higher interest rates, tighter underwriting and reduced availability. But the Urban Institute says the restriction is folly.

Noting that Fannie and Freddie have been exceeding the 7% ceiling since 2013, the nonpartisan think tank says lending on these properties is a “more lucrative part” of their portfolios, enabling them to “cross-subsidize” the rest of their purchases, including loans to low- and moderate-income buyers.

“Even if there were some policy justification to limit the GSEs’ support of these more profitable books of business, the imposition of hard limits makes little sense,” said the UI in a report.

Right now, though, the demand for second homes is such that more financing choices are needed, not fewer. Indeed, the call for loans on vacation properties is increasing at twice the pace of that for primary residences, according to the latest tabulation from Redfin. The reason? Many former office workers are realizing they can successfully work from almost anywhere.

And Redfin economist Taylor Marr says this is no fad.

“Many Americans have realized remote work is here to stay, allowing some fortunate people to work from a lakefront cabin or a ski condo indefinitely,” he says.

People have always yearned for a place to steal away to for a few days, if not weeks. Some hold their retreats close to the vest, allowing no one to use them, save family. But others have been able to monetize their holiday houses by renting them out. Some do so just to cover their carrying costs, but others pocket a hefty profit.

Now, the work-from-home acronym has taken on another letter: WFVH, as in work-from-vacation-home. “If you can work from anywhere,” says Gregg Logan of the RCLCO advisory firm, “why not work in a nice location?”

Rich Schulhoff of Brooklyn MLS agrees: “There is a more fluid blend between work and life.”

In an update of a consumer survey taken just before the pandemic, RCLCO found that most second-home markets “experienced dramatic growth” in the latter half of 2020. Not only were a third of current holiday house owners happier with their places than they were before the pandemic, a third of would-be buyers said they were more interested now than prior to COVID-19.

Wannabes are not particularly turned off by what some consider elevated prices in many popular destinations, either. More than half told pollsters that now is the right time to pounce, while just 15% said now is not a good time.

Remote work is not the only driving factor for the trend, but it is the strongest one. And Marr thinks many vacation places purchased this year will ultimately become primary residences.

“Even when offices reopen, folks will be able to spend more time than ever before in their second homes because many employers will continue to offer flexible remote-work policies,” the economist says. ”With workers still commuting in one or two days a week, resort towns that are near major cities will likely continue to heat up.”

That’s certainly been the case in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 50 miles from Milwaukee and 83 from Chicago. Melissa Killham, a Redfin agent, says she’s seen demand surge in that market, where tours have doubled among folks who can’t or won’t travel any farther during the pandemic.

A report from Apartment List counts the “untethered class” as 8.7 million, or 5.6% of the total workforce. These are young, mobile workers with remote-friendly occupations who aren’t tied down by family obligations. So they can go wherever they want.

Perhaps that’s why 15% of all newly built houses these days are vacation properties, as the National Association of Home Builders reports.

Nothing is more important in the sale of a house than an examination of the structure by an independent home inspector.

The inspector will go over the property from stem to stern, checking out the foundation, roof, heating and air conditioning systems, plumbing, electrical and appliances, among numerous other items. They then will produce a report, often with photos, detailing their findings. The whole enterprise is paid for by the buyer.

With the report, the buyer will know the working condition of the property and what issues to expect after moving in. As long as they don’t nitpick over little cosmetic items, the inspection report normally puts buyers in a strong bargaining position as they try to persuade the seller to either fix major items or come down on the price.

But in today’s overheated selling frenzy, many buyers facing competition are crossing out the inspection clauses in their contracts.

They’re waiving other contingencies, too, like the one that requires the house to appraise for a certain amount or another that allows them to back out if they are unable to secure financing. The idea is to present as “clean” a contract as possible so their offers will stand out from the rest.

Giving up any of these is dangerous, to be sure. But the inspection is especially so. Without one, you are buying a proverbial pig in a poke.

Many buyers are relying on the so-called home warranties most sellers offer these days to protect them once they move in. But these are really service contracts -- not a substitute for a full-house exam. And they come with deductibles and limits from companies that often are difficult to deal with.

For a better stand-in, consider what’s known in the trade as a “walk-and-talk,” in which you and the inspector hoof it through the house while they give you a verbal assessment of what they see. It’s a shorthand service some inspectors are offering to keep their doors open at a time when many buyers are passing on full-blown examinations. It is a quicker, lower-cost alternative to a complete home inspection.

With a walk-and-talk, you won’t get a written report or photos, so you’ll have to carry a notepad and camera to record the inspector’s musings as they point out potential issues and answer your questions. But it’s better than nothing, and could be enough to give you the confidence to move ahead with your offer -- or to change gears and train your sights on another house.

“I can often find about 80% of the problems in the first 20% of the time I’m on the property,” said an Oregon inspector.

Walk-and-talks are somewhat controversial. Some inspectors won’t do them, believing that they violate standards of practice in their states. Others say they’re bad for business.

“I’d lose money, as it would take time away from doing full-priced inspections,” said a Minnesota inspector.

A Tennessee inspector agreed, saying that walk-and-talks are “just throwing business money out the window.”

There are other issues, too. The seller would probably have to grant permission to the abbreviated exam, which is doubtful without a contract. The inspector’s insurance may not cover it. And the buyer sometimes expects more than he or she is paying for.

“Clients who want the (quick) inspections are the same ones who only read summary pages,” said a Pennsylvania inspector. “It is the reason I don’t do these inspections and I don’t include summary pages in my reports. ... These clients will want to blame someone for their lack of due diligence.”

Still, there are plenty of inspectors who will perform a quickie. “Don’t have time for an extensive home inspection?” advertises a firm that works in Maryland and Pennsylvania. “Schedule a one-hour consultation with one of our licensed inspectors to point out any major problems. Or if you are facing a competitive bidding process, consider this quick check for any potential show-stoppers.”

“You only get one chance to look at the house. I’d rather buyers know a little bit about the house so they can decide whether to move forward,” says Jim Johnston of All Around Inspections in Rockville, Maryland. He says he’d also rather make “a little bit of money than nothing at all.”

Some sellers also are using walk-and-talks in place of full exams. Figuring their buyers are going to obtain an inspection anyway, they use them as less-expensive “pre-listing” tests to identify items that need their attention before putting their homes on the market. Then they can eliminate any quick-fix items, like leaky faucets or busted GFI outlets, that might turn off potential buyers.

The truncated exam usually takes one to two hours, or about half the time it takes for a full inspection, and costs about half the normal fee. Some charge a flat fee; others, by the hour. Some inspectors will first take a hard look at any areas or components you are particularly concerned about. After that, they may prioritize the most expensive items (the roof, HVAC system and the like). Others will make a cursory exam of everything.

By the way, a walk-and-talk is not the same as a pre-settlement inspection. The former occurs before or just after making an offer, while the latter takes place just prior to closing, giving buyers one last chance to spot unacceptable problems -- foundations cracks, roof leaks or anything else purposely hidden by the seller -- that can be used to cancel the deal, or at least renegotiate.

The pandemic has hit women harder than men -- you might call it a “she-cession.” To be sure, more women have lost their jobs during this time. Even so, more women are buying houses.

The Redfin brokerage chain says single women purchased 8.7% more homes in the fourth quarter of 2020 than in the same period a year earlier. That’s a larger increase than single men, who purchased 4.6% more homes in the fourth quarter than a year earlier.

Overall, single women accounted for 15.7% of all home purchases nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2020, Redfin reports.

None of this should come as a surprise. LendingTree says single women have long owned more homes than their male counterparts. But while women continue to widen the gap, they are paying a steep price to do so.

According to a recent study from the Yale School of Management, single women pay 2% more than single men for the very same house. And when the time comes to move, they sell for 2% less.

On a $300,000 house, that combined 4% swing equals $12,000 if there is no appreciation. But if their houses rise in value, as many are doing right now, the difference could be much larger.

And when you consider that by LendingTree’s count, unmarried women own nearly 1.6 million more houses than men in the nation’s 50 largest markets -- the company could not find a single one of the top 50 markets where single men own more homes than single women -- that’s a lot of money single women are missing out on.

Indeed, according to the Yale study’s authors, Kelly Shue and Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, single women are losing about $1,370 per year relative to men because they tend to buy high and sell low. And that, they say, is a conservative estimate.

Shue and Goldsmith-Pinkham, both of whom are finance professors at Yale, base their findings on 9 million transactions throughout the country for which they could identify gender, the initial purchase price and the eventual sales price. The data stretches from 1991 to 2017.

If their research is on target, the amount of dollars women everywhere are losing is staggering. Overall, because Americans invest more in the housing market than in the stock market, the gender gap in housing is responsible for 30% of the gender gap in wealth accumulation at retirement, the authors argue.

The Yale study says the gender gap is “primarily explained” by market timing. But even when both sexes buy and sell in the same ZIP code, during the same month and year, women still net nearly 1% less than men.

Another factor is what happens between purchase and sale. Men tend to invest more in upgrades and maintenance, and they are inclined to invest in riskier properties that normally earn higher returns. Also, men tend to hold their houses longer.

But more importantly, say Shue and Goldsmith-Pinkham, women did not seem to negotiate as successfully as men. The authors discovered that male buyers and female sellers were associated with the largest negotiated discounts relative to list price. At the same time, male sellers and female buyers are associated with the smallest discounts.

The professors caution that they are “not necessarily” implying that women make bargaining mistakes or have lower negotiation skills. Indeed, they point out that previous research has found that women can experience more negative outcomes when they bargain aggressively.

But women search for their homes differently then men. “Women may equal men in negotiation ability,” the professors say, “(but) they care more about purchasing a particular home or derive greater utility from a fast, low-risk or nonconfrontational negotiation process.”

So what can women do to avoid losing money? When buying, they should align themselves with a so-called “buyer broker” -- an agent who works solely on a buyer’s behalf and never, ever works with sellers. These agents will negotiate for you, securing the best deal possible.

Don’t be fooled by agents who say they will act as a buyer broker in your case, but who also represent sellers in other instances. True buyer brokers say you can’t wear two hats, and maintain that it takes an entirely different mindset to represent buyers than sellers.

If you are a seller, look for an agent who is a top producer in your market. There’s a reason some agents consistently sell more houses than others. Beware your Aunt Tina, who just earned her real estate license. Sure, rookies have to start somewhere. But leave that to other clients.

Agents vary in skill and may not perfectly share the interests of their clients, the Yale economists point out. While the gender gap is not driven by women systematically choosing the worst agents, they say, it is possible the same agents offer different advice to men and women, or that the sexes follow the advice -- good or bad -- differently.

Beyond choosing the right agent, make sure you receive a market analysis showing the direction of prices as well as “comps,” which are details about the most recent sales of nearby, similar houses. Try to get a handle on the market before jumping in.