This Week in GSE Land:
We’ve been hearing whispers about a Fannie Mae nonperforming loan auction for several months now. We understand the GSE has been actively telling people it could happen by yearend or early 2013. A "request for proposal" for a loan sale advisor is supposedly in the works. We shall see. Keep in mind that the FHFA wants both GSEs to shrink their balance sheets every year. Who knows, maybe they’ll even sell performing MBS eventually…
Next week Freddie Mac is scheduled to release second-quarter results. Can the GSE post yet another operating profit? And if it does, will Congress and the White House even notice…
Freddie Mac CEO Don Layton sent out a memo highlighting some senior personnel changes at the GSE. To most in the industry it wasn’t considered a big deal. But if you read in between the lines of the memo you get the sense that more changes are coming to how the GSE operates its single-family program. (Note: a g-fee hike is on the way, a story broken by NMN’s Brian Collins this week.) The copy of the memo we received came through a source. But one link in the chain forgot to erase one of the recipients: Ocwen Financial, which is cleaning up in the high-touch servicing business…
If you’re wondering what Ocwen’s master plan is read some of the recent stories published in the weekly version National Mortgage News. We’re updated daily and constantly on the web as well. To subscribe call 800-221-1809…
Signs of Life in Nonprime Land? Citadel Loan Servicing in California, a buyer of NPLs in recent years, has branched out into nonprime mortgage lending. So far, its business is small, though it hopes to grow it nicely, but it needs investment capital. Insiders there say investors are still nervous about the mortgage market, but the thaw may be melting soon. In a recent email company managing director Kyle Gunderlock pitched investors on nonprime, saying Citadel can offer investment returns of 9% or more…
This past week PIMCO "Bond King" Bill Gross suggested that stocks are dead. This is the same Bill Gross who told everyone to avoid Treasury bonds the past year. And we all know how that brilliant suggestion turned out…
We understand a top production officer may be on the way out the door at SunTrust. This is unconfirmed. And no, it’s not Dave Stevens. He’s staying put at MBA…
We also hear that yet another new mortgage insurance firm is on the drawing board. Look for a report soon on the NMN website and in our weekly…
Deutsche Bank on the strong employment numbers: “The breadth of employment gains was encouraging. Manufacturing employment was particularly strong, up 25K, and private service sector employment rose 148K. Even residential construction rose 6K, which was the largest gain since January 2006. Within the private service sector, most of the strength was in professional and business services (49K). Temporary workers, a subcomponent of the latter, increased 14K—the fourth gain in a row.” In case you missed the mortgage employment report, check out Brian Collins’ story on the NMN website at
WASHINGTON NEWS: Look for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue its mortgage compensation proposal this coming week. But will it be 1,400 pages likes its disclosure one?
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FOR THE DATA RECORD: The fastest-growing retail mortgage lenders in the U.S. include Provident Funding and Freedom Mortgage. To see the 100 largest drop an email to
KEY INDUSTRY MORTGAGE SHOWS: On Sept. 13 and 14 SourceMedia/National Mortgage News will hold its annual Mortgage Regulatory Reform conference in Arlington, Va. As an added attraction, a new brew pub called Beer World is about to open up in Arlington.
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FINAL WORD: My summer reads: "Forced Entries" by Jim Carroll and a nonfiction collection of John Steinbeck’s journalism called "America and Americans."
