What We're Hearing

This morning National Mortgage News was the first in the trade press to break the news that the Mortgage Bankers Association was tossing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac overboard in favor of creating many, mini-GSEs. Of the commentary I've heard thus far, here's a few quick take-aways (paraphrased by me): MBA's ideas are dead on arrival; it's a good starting point; it will hurt smaller lenders and favor the giants. In other words, strap yourselves in, folks. This is only the beginning of a long and drawn out debate to decide the future of the Congressionally chartered and now publicly owned mortgage giants, one of which posted a profit in the last quarter (Freddie). Keep in mind this one thought: Fannie and Freddie fired all their lobbyists per the instructions of their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency so they will have no say whatsoever on their future. But if there is no FanFred, do we need a FHFA? FHFA, I assume, has lobbyists...