LOS ANGELES—Freddie Mac has changed its seismic zoning map from its nearly 20-year-old 1997 UBC map to the 10% in 50 year PGA map that Fannie Mae uses. The move was made in an effort to stay more competitive with Fannie Mae, according to Drew McCreery, a principal and technical director at Partner Engineering and Science. The new map is more site specific, which is great news because there is less ambiguity than the previous map; however, it also may mean some increased yet relatively nominal costs. In this exclusive interview, we sat down with McCreery to explore this and other Freddie Mac changes, including its new energy loan discounts.

GlobeSt.com: Give me an update on the key changes to the Freddie Mac energy loan program.

Drew McCreery:Truthfully, the only key change that has occurred is that they have decided to pull away from using the 1997 UBC seismic zone map and they have gone to utilizing peak ground acceleration (PGA), which is the equivalency of what Fannie Mae uses as part of the Fannie Mae 2.0 program. The PGA is based on a 10% over 50-year period, and the number of units is in gravity. Right now, anything that is .15g or above is required to go through a little more scrutiny and analysis for possible seismic analysis. All of the loans that have a PGA of above .15g require the seismic report to Level 0 require that the seismic report be performed to a Level 0 based on ASTM E2557-07, and if any of the specific Freddie Mac triggers for the standard report are found on site, then a Level 1 Seismic Report is required, so that hasn't change. All that has changed is that they are now using the PGA, and that is more focused than the former 1997 UBC and it is more site specific, so you can get more site-specific information.