Paul Muolo

Lenders One, the largest mortgage cooperative in the U.S., is calling for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to end volume discounts on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's guarantee fees.

Fortunes are made when fear runs high. Yesterday MBS co-inventor Lew Ranieri and renowned mortgage bottom fisher Wilbur Ross announced they are buying Deutsche Bank's multifamily lending division. On CNBC today Donald 'The Donald' Trump said he's been buying commercial properties in the U.S. for cash.

The nation's inventory of “shadow” homes fell to 1.6 million units in July, a 16% decline from six months ago, according to new figures released by CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif.

New homes sold at an annualized rate of just 295,000 units in August, the worst reading in six months, according to new government figures released Monday morning.

Does the Federal Housing Finance Agency have the right to change credit standards? That appears to be one argument MBS investors are making against a massive government-backed refinancing program being contemplated by the White House.

Nationstar Mortgage, Lewisville, Texas, is continuing talks to buy Bank of America's correspondent lending division, or at least parts of it, according to industry advisors who claim to have knowledge of the situation.

It seems as though the Mortgage Bankers Association, the nation's premier trade group for firms that actually fund loans, has pulled down the cone of silence on the issue of guarantee fee discounts offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Commercial banks are likely to lose the equivalent of 90% of the loan loss reserves they have set aside for commercial real estate loans, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank.

Remember Citigroup's retail-based consumer finance division, which included (from what I recall) branches from the old Associates First Capital Corporation? Lately, we haven't heard much about the unit which previously was called CitiFinancial.

Residential loan brokers increased their origination market share by more than a full point in the second quarter, a sign that the sector may be gaining some momentum.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to yet another new low Thursday, 1.75%, as stocks sold off over new double-dip recession fears.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency as early as Thursday could release its annual report on guarantee fees charged to mortgage bankers by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to industry officials.

How does that old Chinese proverb go? I think it's: May you live in interesting times. Well, it sure got interesting Thursday morning when stocks tumbled almost 400 points on the Dow and the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond hit yet another new low: 1.75%. That's not a misprint.

Radian Group Inc., the nation's third largest mortgage insurer, said in a new regulatory filing Wednesday that it has fired its chief operating officer Robert Griffith and reduced its workforce by 7%.

Mortgage bankers are once again enjoying the salad days: interest rates are the lowest they've been since the early 1950s, and their phones are ringing with frantic calls from consumers who want to refinance. The industry has seen this picture before: applications are flooding in at a pace not seen in several quarters, which means they need to staff up, but by how much?

FCI Lender Services, the nation's largest servicer of privately held mortgages, has received final servicing approval from the Federal Housing Administration.

By now you know the story: there are plenty of potential home buyers out there, but underwriting standards are too tight to accommodate them, so slowly but quietly ‘hard money’ lenders are on the rise.

Mortgage bankers originated $291 billion of residential loans in the second quarter — the industry's worst performance since the height of the housing crisis almost three years ago, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Walker & Dunlop, LLC, Bethesda, Md., this week hired Rob Rotach as vice president and deputy chief underwriter for its Federal Housing Administration finance department.

In case you missed our exclusive report on the Monday National Mortgage News website, here's a bit of news: John Robbins, who exited the business about six years ago, is about to launch a new lending platform – a retail/wholesale shop at that.