Paul Muolo

Redwood Trust - the nation's only active securitizer of jumbo MBS - posted a $3 million loss in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $15 million in the year ago period, but is promising to plough ahead in the PLS market.

The answer to that question is: tight credit with unemployment being the runner-up. Although some naysayers believe the job picture hasn't improved much, there are many realists who think otherwise. But one thing we can agree upon is this: employment is not booming.

Twenty-four hours after Bank of America told Fannie Mae to take a hike on secondary market purchases, the realization is starting to sink in that one party -- the GSE -- may stand to lose a lot more than the seller/servicer.

First off, I'd like to thank the crew at Bank of America for continually giving mortgage reporters and editors something to write about. Don't get me wrong--there's plenty of good stories out there. And let's face it--and you read it here first: What happens regulatory and legislatively over the next three to four years should shape the future of this industry for the next 50 years.

Ah, the morning after a bitter split. Late yesterday Brian Moynihan of Bank of America walked into Fannie Mae's bedroom and told that secondary market hussy that the marriage was over. "No more loans for you," Moynihan shouted as he left the boudoir, suitcase in hand and a one-way ticket to Virginia where his new best friend, Freddie, awaited. (Okay, I made that part up but you get the drift.)

Launched a few months back, the correspondent lending division of American Home Mortgage Servicing is approaching a monthly run-rate of $500 million and could wind up buying upwards of $6 billion in product by the time its fiscal year ends in September.

Bank of America Thursday afternoon confirmed that it will no longer sell any new purchase money mortgages to Fannie Mae -- though it will remain a HARP lender.

Ocwen Financial Corp., a major buyer of MSRs the past two years, earned $9.7 million in the fourth quarter, a slight decline from the same period a year earlier.

Marc Savitt is someone we call a "homer" - a fan who roots for the home team and in this case that home team happens to be mortgage brokers. Savitt, the former head of NAMB, has long believed that the brokerage sector would come back (at least to some degree) and that we would see a trend toward nonbank and depository loan officers switching over to broker status.

Nationstar Mortgage, Lewisville, Texas, is in the hunt for Aurora Loan Services and appears to be the leading bidder at this point, according to investment banking advisors close to the situation.

Fannie Mae has purposely kept its mouth shut regarding its investment in servicing rights - especially its $74 billion MSR purchase from Bank of America this past fall which cost the GSE about 50 basis points. But its days of being super secretive may be coming to an end.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is determined to continue its mission of shrinking the balance sheets of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and plans only to add product when the two need to buy delinquent mortgages out of delinquent MBS pools.

Mortgage technology vendor CoreLogic this week unveiled a new default servicing platform that includes nine modules that interconnect within its architecture.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revolutionized the computer, phone and music industries. But mortgage banking? Okay, so Apple (from what we know) has no designs on mortgage banking, but it's interesting to think about it because the inventor of the iPhone/iTouch/iPad and other gadgets is sitting on roughly $100 billion of cash and securities.

Given the ugly employment picture in the U.S., now isn't exactly the best time for a company to be crowing about how cheap its labor costs are thanks to overseas outsourcing. But don't tell that to Ocwen Financial, soon to become the nation's largest specialty servicer.

First things first: Yes, I can live on $500,000. Heck, I can live on $250,000 a year. Would I like to run Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage giant? Answer: Sure, why not? But first I have a few stipulations.

The Wilbur Ross controlled American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., Coppell, Texas, has a new name: Homeward Residential to go along with its master plan to become a full service mortgage banking firm.

Residential Credit Solutions, a specialty servicer and NPL investor based in Ft. Worth, this week received final approvals to issue and service Ginnie Mae I and II single-family mortgage-backed securities.

Recently, we called a trader of nonperforming loans who said quickly, "Can't talk right now. Way too busy." Later on we finally spoke and the message delivered was quite clear: the market for underperforming and nonperforming mortgages appears to be gathering steam.

A search firm trying to find a new CEO for Fannie Mae is asking candidates this very basic question: Can you live on $500,000 a year?