Paul Muolo

Although the news for lenders in the mid-Atlantic area is indeed bad, nationwide, applications fell by a modest 5% from the week prior.

Election or not, the fate of mortgage banking hangs in the regulatory balance.

At least three firms bid on MetLife's $70 billion portfolio of mortgage servicing rights.

Freddie Mac's third-quarter results suggest that the mortgage giant is living off the refi boom: in 3Q its secondary market acquisitions supported home purchases of 1.4 million units, but 5.6 million of refinancings.

Back in July the credit union beefed up its jumbo ARM lending, rolling out new products with introductory rates as low as 2.875%.

Congratulations, Mr. President. What's your position on bailing out the Federal Housing Administration fund?

Estimates on property damage caused by Hurricane Sandy range from $20 billion to $50 billion.

The value of mortgage servicing rights remain at historically low levels, creating one of the best buyer's markets in the history of the business.

MetLife has been quietly trying to sell its servicing rights for nine months now.

It's the MSR sale of the century. And the century is still young.

One of its highlights was technology, data and analytics where revenue rose 11% to $192 million. Its EBITDA margin was 26.7%, up 460 basis points from last year.

The National Association of Independent Housing Professionals has formally asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to grant an extension on the filing of mortgage call reports for those in the FEMA disaster areas.

It appears that the government-owned Ally Financial likes mortgage brokers after all, trusting them in the jumbo space.

The government owned bank will fund jumbo mortgages through brokers and correspondents.

At the end of September, Redwood Trust had 49 active residential loan sellers, up from 37 at June 30. It hopes to have 55 (correspondent) sellers by year end.

Ocwen's share price continues to trade near its 52-week high.

Ocwen, in late October, entered into an agreement to purchase reverse mortgage banker, Genworth Financial Home Equity Access, Inc. for $22 million in cash.

An investment banker I know has a client who’s been looking at the mortgage industry for three years now. He has $100 million to spend and would like to buy something because he feels residential finance is a value play – plus the returns (presently) are very nice on the origination side of the business.

Impac's “continuing” mortgage business earned $4.4 million and the firm saw originations spike by 33% over the second quarter to almost $710 million.

Warehouse usage levels haven’t been this strong since the 2000 to 2004 time period when it ranged from 50% to 60%.