Freddie Mac posts $4.1B loss for Q3. Makes for a good first target for the GOP.

If the GOP wants to start off with something big, Freddie and Fannie are both good choices.

Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac managed a narrower loss of $4.1 billion for the third quarter and asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid -- far less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.

But while the slimmer loss, and recent glimmerings such as a slowing rate of new soured loans coming onto Freddie's books, may be positive signs, they don't mean the end of the company's travails, experts say.

"The fact that losses are better is good. But it's not necessarily a forecast for future earnings growth," said Anthony Sanders, a professor of real estate finance at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "The problem still remains that we are faced with a deteriorating housing market."