Why You May Miss Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

A majority of Americans want government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relinquish their role as the twin guarantors of a majority of U.S. mortgages, according to a new poll.

The online poll, conducted by real estate news website, HousingPredictor, found that 72 percent of respondents said that they want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have cost the public upward of $180 billion since the government bailed them out in 2008, to cease purchasing mortgages from banks.

But while the public ire toward the two firms may strike few as unreasonable considering Fannie and Freddie's enormous cost to taxpayers, many Americans may not fully be aware of one possible result of their elimination, some experts say: It could put homeownership out of reach for many more Americans.