Paul Muolo

Home builders continue to be depressed about their prospects for new construction despite a decline in mortgage rates over the past few weeks.

As we all know, the mortgage application market has picked up some steam the past few weeks thanks to lower interest rates. And as we also know, loan brokers are suffering because of the new compensation rules.

Total Mortgage Services, Milford, Conn., which continues to expand its presence in wholesale lending, on Monday named two new hires on the operational side of the business.

THIS JUST IN: Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finally contemplating unloading some of their nonperforming loans onto the secondary market? One player in the NPL space said the two GSEs—which have toyed with the idea for the better part of a year—are once again considering doing something.

Consumers pulled $6 billion of equity out of their homes through cash-out refinancings in the first quarter, the lowest reading in 15 years, according to figures compiled by Freddie Mac.

The Prestwick Group is offering investors an opportunity to purchase up to $40 million a month in GNMA-related servicing rights through a “flow” offering.

Remember when Donald Trump owned a mortgage brokerage firm? It was early last decade and from what I recall Trump Mortgage (or whatever the thing was called) wasn’t exactly a market leader. And when ‘The Donald’ saw that trouble was on the way in mortgageland USA he did what any smart businessman would do: he ran for the hills and closed the thing down.

In two years mortgage banking firms will need a minimum net worth of $2.5 million to be GSE seller/servicers, a mandate this is beginning to drive merger and acquisition activity.

The Prestwick Mortgage Group is offering a $172 million package of mortgage servicing rights tied to Fannie Mae loans originated in New Jersey.

Perhaps, one day we will all look back at the past two years and say, “Boy, that was a great time to buy a house – prices were so low, and so were rates.” Well, we know the rate part is correct, as for whether we’ve reached a bottom in home values, the jury is still out.

Morgan Stanley is once again weighing the sale of its residential servicing operation, Saxon Mortgage, according to industry officials familiar with the matter.

Those poor Brits. Not only did they lose the Colonies to that rabble-rouser George Washington, but one of their biggest banks, HSBC, made a $14 billion mistake back in 2003 by purchasing then subprime giant Household Finance.

John Daurio, founder, chairman and CEO of Kondaur Capital, resigned from the nonperforming loan investor effective Monday with his second in command, John Kontoulis named as his replacement.

PennyMac, one of the largest buyers of nonperforming loans in the nation, revealed in a new SEC filing that a “significant portion” of the distressed assets it buys come from just one “major financial” institution.

John Daurio, chairman and CEO of Kondaur Capital, is stepping down as the day-to-day manager of the nonperforming loan investing firm, according to officials close to the situation.

A quick glance at the first-quarter earnings reports of the nation’s megabanks reveals that these servicing-rich companies are continuing to mark down the value of their MSRs like there’s no tomorrow.

It’s probably no surprise that Freddie Mac made money in the first quarter while Fannie Mae continued to bleed red ink out of its financial oil pan. Consider this: Fannie reported a 72% spike in loan repurchase requests in the first quarter, a sign that its legacy portfolio (read: all those crappy loans it bought from Countrywide) is continuing to deteriorate in quality.

Associated Banc, Green Bay, Wisc., ended the first quarter with roughly $500 million of warehouse lending commitments on its books, almost double what it had a year ago.

Mark Oman, a senior executive at Wells Fargo & Co., who helped build the bank’s mortgage business into one of the most competitive in the industry, announced that he will retire by yearend.

Redwood Trust Inc., Mill Valley, Calif., earned $18 million in the first quarter, a 61% decline from the same period a year ago as lower net interest revenue and negative valuation adjustments took a bite out of its performance.