Paul Muolo

Another press release has arrived in my inbox, declaring a new low for mortgage rates. My initial response is: who cares! I don't mean to sound like a jaded mortgage columnist, but the untold story on rates boils down to this: how come continued low rates have not caused home purchases to really boom?

Although residential originations fell by 20% in the third quarter — compared to the same period last year — multifamily production went in the opposite direction, rising 80%, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Residential loan applications fell by almost 3% for the week ending December 16, despite continued historically low rates, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

After reading bits and pieces of the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint against the former heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac one thought comes to mind: what exactly is a subprime loan again?

Daniel Mudd, the former Fannie Mae CEO who is the subject of a new, massive SEC fraud suit, announced Wednesday morning that he is taking a leave of absence from his current employer, Fortress Investment Group, New York.

It's been three long years since the GSE "buyback" wars commenced in earnest, and you would think by now the worst might be over. Well, think again.

It's that time of the year again: one in which financial services columnists wax poetic and ponder the Bailey Building and Loan and how if it existed today (it doesn't really) regulators would sue George Bailey (and Uncle Billy and 'Old Man' Potter since he sat on the board) for fraud to go after the D&O insurance.

Home Savings of America in Little Falls, Minn., has scuttled - for now - its merger with Cornerstone Mortgage after one of the bank's private equity investors backed out of the deal, according to a memo provided to National Mortgage News.

American Home Mortgage Servicing, a company controlled by investor Wilbur Ross, recently explored buying the wholesale division of MetLife Home Loans, but for now has put the idea on hold, according to industry advisors familiar with the matter.

Tom Palmer, a senior executive in the correspondent lending division of MetLife Home Loans, recently left the company, accepting a position with the privately held Freedom Mortgage Corp., Fishers, Ind., according to industry officials familiar with the matter.

Just imagine what a 10 basis point guarantee fee hike would do to the market for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Well, apparently, the mortgage insurance industry has done quite a bit of imagining and has managed to get language added to the payroll tax bill that seeks parity between g-fee hikes for Fannie/Freddie, and GNMA.

A funny thing happened on the way to the mortgage correction: while residential debt outstanding has been declining steadily for well over a year, subservicing contracts have increased - handsomely.

Residential delinquencies rose to 8.15% at the end of November, an almost 3% increase from the prior month, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

When word leaks out that your company is for sale top producers – the smart ones at least – start weighing their options. Readers of this column and the National Mortgage News website have been kept abreast of all the LOs walking out the door at Bank of America.

Perhaps, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers should license the Aretha Franklin song "Respect." As most industry professionals know, brokers have taken their fair share of blame for the mortgage/housing collapse while retail LOs at many shops have escaped scott free.

Rank and file workers at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week were told that there will be no "merit salary" increases in 2012, according to a memo provided to National Mortgage News.

A healthy mortgage/housing market relies on two key factors: low rates and robust employment. We have the former, but the latter seems to be lacking - big time. Or is there true hope on the horizon?

The Mortgage Bankers Association said it is now adamantly opposed to any radical change in servicing compensation and has launched a "call to action" campaign, urging its members to heavily lobby the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Former FHA commissioner David Stevens, who now heads the Mortgage Bankers Association, says hiking GSE guarantee fees to fund an extension of the payroll tax cut is "bad policy," calling such a maneuver a "slippery slope."

Wells Fargo & Co. continued to dominate the origination landscape in the third quarter, funding $90 billion of product and amassing a market share of just over 25%—the largest reading ever for one lender.