Late Friday it was revealed that Residential Capital Corp. rejected an offer from Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet) to be the initial bidder on its assets, which include (among other things) $380 billion of mortgage servicing rights. But we’re told Berkshire isn’t going away. It may take another run at ResCap. Keep in mind that about two years ago Berkshire was sniffing around the MSRs of jumbo lender/servicer Thornburg Mortgage. For a complete analysis on the situation see the Monday weekly edition of National Mortgage News. Don’t subscribe? Call 800-221-1809…
For now, the official ResCap stalking horse bidder is Nationstar. But expect Ocwen and others to kick their way in…
Meanwhile, in other bottom fishing news, we’re told that PIMCO is in deep due diligence on a huge deal, though the firm has been been inactive of late. Also, LoanStar recently took down a large Sunwest pool. And Vantium reportedly took a VA pool away from Carrington. All this is unconfirmed…
THE RAJ DATE SAGA CONTINUES: We’re told that the National Association of Mortgage Brokers is very concerned with the recent broker bias comments from CFPB deputy director Raj Date. One NAMB official said the trade group “has sent a letter to the CFPB regarding the comments and have formally requested a meeting to discuss. Our focus now is to work with the CFPB to ensure that consumer choice is still the determining factor for Americans participating in homeownership and not a lack of competition which are the results of biased, preconceived opinions from regulators forcing licensed, small business mortgage professionals out of the industry.”
Also, some brokers are starting to raise a stink about the fact that Date worked at Deutsche Bank, a major funder of subprime firms via warehouse lines. And they’re ticked off that CFPB is hiring so many and paying what are called “huge” salaries. (Living in the D.C. area is not cheap, folks.) You might say, this situation will get uglier before it gets better…
MUST ATTEND DISTRESSED MORTGAGE SHOWS: NMN editor Mark Fogarty is chairing SourceMedia's Distressed Asset Conference June 18-19 in New York. There is still time to sign up or be a walk-in. Visit
It’s official: eWarehouseOne’s website is no longer operational. And yes, we’re still waiting on company executives to return our phone calls, in particular one Tom Reynolds…
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Ticor Title has named Richard Lee as vice president, director of major accounts, based in Nevada. Earlier in his career Lee worked for Ticor, which is now part of the Fidelity National Title Group. CoreLogic said its chairman D. Van Skilling will resign from the firm no later than yearend 2013. Skilling is 78.
MORTGAGE BANKERS/SERVICERS, GIVE US YOUR NUMBERS AND GET LISTED FOR FREE: NMN and its sister publication Mortgage Servicing News, the most widely read news magazine in the servicing sector, have launched their annual origination/servicing survey. Eventually, we’ll use this information for stories. To receive a survey drop a line to:
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LAST WORD: Why does the general media keep confusing loan brokers with retail loan officers? Is it that difficult?
