Brian Collins and Mark Fogarty

We're hearing that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is sending mixed signals to lenders.

We're hearing the piquant financial metaphor “the dead cat bounce” recently, describing the remarkable bounce up in home prices all across the America.

We're hearing some of the dirty little captive mortgage reinsurance entities lenders created to snare a percentage of premiums were not facades and actually paid claims on defaulted loans.

We're hearing the farm lending niche is booming, and that’s a good thing in and of itself.

Lenders said they see GSE reform as a way to give the large banks control of the securitization market.

We're hearing that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be selling assets out of their mortgage investment portfolios this year.

We're hearing that everything may not be so rosy in the housing market.

We're hearing that industry folks are hoping the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will just use its regulatory authority to exclude loan originator compensation from the 3% points and fees cap.

We're hearing that a new housing reform proposal developed by a private bipartisan commission will be very kind to the FHA mortgage insurance program.

We're hearing that an Oregon pilot program might be the model the Treasury Department has been looking for to refinance borrowers who are trapped in underwater private-label loans.

We're hearing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is carrying on as if it is business as usual.

Anyone interested in finance should walk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and see the opening trading bell rung at least once in their lives.

We’re hearing mortgage brokers think they’re getting screwed under the qualified mortgage rule that was issued last month.

There is nothing new about Republican lawmakers claiming everything that President Obama does is unconstitutional or un-American.

We're hearing the qualified mortgage rule is going to hurt the private jumbo loan market.

We're hearing it could be a case of one government agency not knowing what the other is doing.

In forging the fiscal cliff deal that the House and Senate passed last Tuesday, Congress left the mortgage interest deduction vulnerable.

Currently, real estate owned entering the market has slowed to about 55,000 a month, compared to 70,000 a year ago.

Senate Republicans plan to make it even tougher to get nominations through in President Obama’s second term, and that includes the mortgage arena.