Millions of homeowners awoke Sunday morning to learn that their 30-year mortgage had a new owner – the feds.

But a local woman who once advised the Fannie Mae considers the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac takeover to be more a matter of protection and less a matter of saving a sinking industry.

“The government is stepping in not because Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are insolvent,” said Sharon Millett of Poland. She owns Coldwell Banker Millett Realty in Auburn.

Instead, Millett contends that the takeover aims to help ease investor fears that the federally-backed mortgage finance companies would fall victim to the suffering U.S. housing market. She expects that the calculated move will ensure that neither lender join the ranks of the ever-growing list of federally insured banks and financial institutions brought down by the nation’s mortgage crisis.

Millett served on the Fannie Mae National Advisory Board from 1996-97 and 2000-01, and chaired the board in 2001. She is also the past president of the National Association of Realtors and vice-chairwoman of the Maine Real Estate Commission. She has 28 years experience as a real estate agent.

Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are the federally-backed companies behind the buying, bundling and selling of mortgages. Together, the companies hold or guarantee about $5 trillion in mortgage debt, which represents about half the nation’s total.

Millett believes that the troubles facing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started when the companies lowered their standards in recent years and started underwriting loans that allowed less than their traditional requirement of a 20 percent down payment. Experts contend that move was in response to the now-defunct subprime lending industry that offered exotic loan packages featuring zero percent down payments, interest-only payments, and other gimmicks.

When the housing bubble burst, investors grew afraid and started backing away from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The move led to a steady decline in stock prices, which led to Sunday’s government seizure.