Paul Muolo

Fannie Mae acquired $55.3 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in September, its best purchase month since March, and a sign that loan production is gaining traction in the primary market.

Radian Group, which controls the nation's third largest mortgage insurance company, posted strong third quarter earnings of $183.6 million, but attributed those gains to changes in the "fair value" of "derivatives and other financial instruments" —- to the tune of almost $207 million.

MountainView Servicing Group said it has completed the sale of a $442 million package of Fannie Mae bulk servicing rights.

Fannie Mae Monday morning confirmed to National Mortgage News that its multifamily unit is the subject of an Inspector General probe being conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Matt Vernon, Bank of America's top consumer sales executive in charge of retail mortgages, is taking his show on the road. According to one intra-company email provided to National Mortgage News, Vernon will be meeting with LOs who work in the Washington metropolitan area this Wednesday at the Sheraton Columbia Town Center.

In Monday's National Mortgage News we have a story about some of the top residential producers that Bank of America is losing to competitors. By now, you've already viewed our stories about Kevin Budde and David Macke. But we understand that yet one more top LO is departing—for Wells Fargo.

Bank of America, which has vowed to reduce its overall risk in mortgages, is close to completing the sale of a $50 billion package of Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights, according to advisors close to the deal.

Now that America is somewhat aware that the White House wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance as many underwater loans as possible it needs something else: details.

Viewpoint Bank, Plano, Texas, ended the third quarter with $910 million of warehouse lending commitments on its books, a handsome 26% gain compared to the same period a year ago.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Thursday morning released new estimates on the ultimate cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cutting its worst case scenario projection to $311 billion from $363 billion.

On the National Mortgage News website this morning we broke another story about Bank of America losing yet another top LO. In a recent interview with bank officials we were assured that (a)it hates to lose these top producers and (b)it is trying to keep as many as possible.

Top residential loan officers working for Bank of America are continuing to flee the troubled lender with its latest casualty being David Macke, who ranks first among all purchase money LOs at the bank.

It's been roughly three weeks since the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limit officially changed, falling 14% to $729,750. According to some mortgage bankers and Realtors the event is the equivalent of the world ending. Or is it?

Next week Ally Financial reports third quarter earnings, and chances are its mortgage division could report stellar results. How do I know? Actually, I don't, but keep in mind these thoughts:

Ocwen Financial Corp., late Monday disclosed that it will buy Saxon Mortgage for almost $60 million in cash, a deal that will push its subprime servicing-related contracts to almost $110 billion.

Although the nation's largest mortgage insurer, MGIC, continues to lose money, FBR Capital Markets Monday issued a report calling the firm a "buy," saying it is "relatively better positioned" than its peers.

In the first quarter, the market share for brokers (and therefore wholesalers) fell to an all-time low of 6.8% of industrywide production compared to 20% three years ago. But in the second quarter the broker share jumped more than a full point to 7.9%, according to new figures compiled by this newspaper and its data affiliate. Is this is aberration, or are brokers still toast?

When the White House first entertained the thought of a massive GSE refi plan it had high hopes that eventually $1 trillion of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac underwater loans might be restructured, resulting in annual savings north of $20 billion a year for consumers - money that could immediately be injected into the U.S. economy.

Not too long ago a top residential producer at Bank of America named Kevin Budde left the lender because he got a better offer from Plains Capital. Budde left not just because of financial reasons, but he was getting frustrated by how long it takes to close a loan at B of A. He had kind words for the people he worked with, but it was time to move on.

Calling his first meeting with GSE regulator Edward DeMarco "disappointing," the chairman of a House task force on housing stabilization wants more answers from the regulator - plus he wants to see the agency's national refinancing plan before it's announced publicly.