Paul Muolo

TMS Funding, the wholesale arm of a Connecticut-based nonbank, this week hired Domenic Melillo as vice president of wholesale finance.

MountainView Servicing Group, Denver, is brokering a $129 million package of servicing rights guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association.

Recently we heard that the FDIC unloaded a $900 million pool of nonperforming and troubled notes, but the agency failed to release a press release on the deal. (It was a structured finance transaction.) In November 2010 the FDIC sold a $23 billion package of MSRs tied to the failed AmTrust Bank. No press release was issued on that deal either.

The Home Lending Source, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has hired 30 loan officers from the MetLife Home Loans, and is talking to another 25 or so.

Two years ago Wells Fargo and Bank of America were running neck-and-neck, competing against each other to become the nation's largest home lender. But today, Wells has emerged not only as the clear victor - by far - but B of A is now a shadow of its former self in mortgage banking, falling to fourth place in loan production.

Five years back who would have ever thought that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be an issue in a GOP primary? To the uneducated and ignorant the housing crisis was caused by the two GSEs. To anyone who has been in this business for more than say, seven years, they know the housing implosion had multiple fathers, the GSEs being on a long list, many rungs below Wall Street.

Caliber Funding LLC, Irving, Texas, is talking to several loan officers and support staff who worked at MetLife Home Loans and may wind up hiring upwards of 300 full-timers, according to officials familiar with the situation.

Redwood Trust is starting to feel like the Maytag repairman of the jumbo MBS market: it sits all alone with no company.

Just when Redwood Trust was starting to look a bit like the Maytag repairman of the jumbo MBS market, we began to hear reports this week that two top 10 ranked banks are working on jumbo deals - for later in the year.

Roughly $30 billion of Freddie Mac servicing rights that once belonged to the now defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. could hit the market next month, according to officials close to the auction.

By now you've read the exclusive on the National Mortgage News website - that Bank of America is halting (for now) cash-out refinancings. Maybe cash-out refis don't account for much of the bank's production. Then again, relatively speaking, there isn't much production left at B of A. In 4Q the bank funded $20 billion in home loans compared to $120 billion at the number one ranked Wells Fargo.

It appears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are starting to see their market shares erode. The same might be said of the Government National Mortgage Association.

Bank of America mid-week told its retail loan officers nationwide that the lender will halt, for now, originations of cash-out refinancings, citing what it calls a "surge of refinancing activity" and capacity problems.

Yesterday news broke from HUD secretary Shaun Donovan that a robosigning deal was imminent. Today, we learn that maybe a deal isn't as close as Donovan portrayed. Then again, the 'State of the Union' address is next week and there is some talk that President Obama wants to mention the robo settlement using the speech as yet another opportunity to bash the mortgage banking industry.

Bank of America's residential mortgage division posted a net profit of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, but for the full year the unit bled almost $8.2 billion of red ink, according to earnings figures released Thursday morning.

The mortgage banking division of PNC Financial Services lost $61 million in the fourth quarter due to what the bank called “foreclosure-related expenses primarily as a result of ongoing governmental matters.”

Remember that 10 basis point increase in g-fees that will pay for the payroll tax break (at least until February 28)? Well, guess what? It appears that some lenders and secondary market investors are hiking their rates a lot more than 10 bps, or so we're told.

U.S. Bancorp Wednesday morning reported mortgage and retail related originations of $24.5 billion in the fourth quarter, double of what it funded in home mortgages in 3Q.

Commercial mortgage banker Walker & Dunlop, Bethesda, Md., funded $4 billion of new loans in 2011, a 27% gain from the year prior, according to newly reported figures.

As Bank of America and other megabanks - except Wells Fargo, of course - continue to scale back their presence in residential finance a rebirth in mid-sized firms is underway, or so we're told. One veteran investment banker we know said there are now many nonbank funders that are producing $3 billion to $5 billion a year in new product.