Fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remains uncertain

After being kept afloat by the federal government for the past two years, officials are preparing to lay out a plan to overhaul mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Officials say Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will deliver the Obama administration's report on the situation in mid-February so it doesn't conflict with the president's State of the Union Address or proposal of the federal budget. It had originally been scheduled to be released by the end of January.

However, analysts say that the report will lay out a number of potential solutions instead of just one, allowing Congress to choose a solution in the hotly-debated topic. Many Republicans have said they won't support any kind of government-supported mortgages, while others have said that such a step could unsettle the real estate market.

The two mortgage giants either own or guarantee roughly half of current mortgages, generally those for lower-income or first-time borrowers, and what happens with them will have a signficant effect on the Houston real estate market. According to the National Association of Realtors, first-time homebuyers made up one-third of all existing-home sales in December.