Paul Muolo

This past week Karen Sibayan of our staff broke the news about Redwood Trust’s second jumbo deal. But there's an interesting follow-up to the initial news that has not been reported on.

Next week Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to report their fourth quarter results – and no one (as might be expected) is looking for a blow-out quarter. Over the past year there's been plenty of chatter concerning when these two might (if) return to profitability.

Wintrust Financial Corp., Lake Forest, Ill., said it has purchased "certain" assets and liabilities of mortgage banking firm Woodfield Planning Corp. of Rolling Meadows for an undisclosed sum.

Private equity and joint venture firms are once again starting to make inquiries about buying mortgage banking companies, hoping to pick up bargains as nonbanks see their volumes slow.

The Small Business Administration on Thursday launched a new $15 billion program to help entrepreneurs facing yearend balloon payments on their commercial mortgages.

No one has ever accused Marc Savitt of being a wallflower, which is probably a good thing, because anyone who's meek in nature probably wouldn't be taking on the Federal Reserve Board.

As we all know, the "sand states" (Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada) have residential delinquency rates in the nosebleed territory, but guess which state is the subprime late payment king? That distinction belongs to Mississippi, which according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, has a subprime (FRMs, that is) total past due rate of 32.61%.

The national residential delinquency rate fell by 10% in the fourth quarter to 8.22%, the lowest reading in two years, according to figures released Thursday morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform late Wednesday issued a subpoena, asking Bank of America to hand over all documents related to Countrywide Financial's 'Friends of Angelo' program by March 7.

Bank of America recently hired former Saxon Mortgage CEO Tony Meola as a default servicing executive in its mortgage division.

Kondaur Capital let go almost 40% of its workforce on Monday, citing a lack of available product to purchase. The product in question is nonperforming residential loans (NPLs).

A day or so has passed since the White House unveiled its new budget, and the way things stand it looks as though Uncle Sam will spend $1.6 trillion more this year than it takes in. Now, if a mortgage applicant ran his/her household that way, you (as an underwriter) might say: "This looks horrible. Maybe that hard money lender across the street will give you a loan."

Annaly Capital Management, a mortgage investing REIT, on Tuesday priced a $1.3 billion additional offering of stock, its second trip to the equity well within two months.

TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky on Monday gave notice that he plans to leave the Treasury Department by the end of March.

Kondaur Capital Corp., an active player in the nonperforming loan market, Monday slashed its staff by 39%, saying it is having a hard time finding enough available product to purchase.

The White House wants to extend the tax deductibility of mortgage insurance payments by consumers.

For some in the mortgage industry it was a long weekend — long in the sense they had 48 hours to contemplate the end of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But now that it's Monday morning, cooler heads are prevailing.

First the good news: mortgage lenders had a strong fourth quarter and profit margins on new originations were still exceedingly high even though rates began ticking up the last few weeks of the year. Now for the bad news: few in the industry think the good news of the past several months will continue much beyond March.

MetLife Bank has hired industry veteran Jess Lederman to head its fledgling correspondent lending division, the last piece in the company’s plan to become a top five player in mortgage banking.

THE VERY BIG PICTURE: First off, let's talk about the potential winners and losers if the White House plan to kill Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is installed anywhere close to "as is." (Let's not mince words either. The man from Illinois wants to pull the plug.)