Maverick, which will take on the Home Point name, services roughly $1 billion in home mortgages.

If preapproval letters from certain lenders are routinely unreliable, real estate agents tend to suggest that homebuyers apply for a mortgage with a different lender, according to new research by Campbell Surveys, based on a national survey sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. “Agents are sometimes skeptical of mortgage providers selected without their consultation,” said Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys. Before working with a potential homebuyer, real estate agents largely prefer...

The nation’s two largest nonbank servicers – Ocwen Financial and Nationstar Mortgage – have relatively low replenishment rates, meaning it’s harder for them to replace portfolio runoff through new production, according to a new analysis from Inside Mortgage Finance. Based on full-year origination and servicing figures for 2014, Ocwen was only originating enough new loans to replace 1.03 percent of its servicing portfolio. Nationstar had a somewhat stronger replenishment rate of 4.46 percent. In the overall market, 2014 originations of $1.24 trillion equaled...[Includes one data chart]

The integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to shake up the mortgage industry months before it even takes effect. Particularly unsettled are settlement agents, who hope they continue to stay relevant in the new world of mortgage originations, but fear their role will be diminished if not rendered obsolete. “The lender is ceding less authority to the closing agent but they are still letting them close the transactions with greater supervision,” said one industry insider. “Could that change? There is a fear it might, but that is not how it is now.” Joseph Ventrone, vice president for regulatory and industry relations at the National Association of Realtors, put...

Residential originations for the group fell 45.7 percent from 2013, indicating that profit margins shrank slightly more than production volume.

According to a March forecast, Fannie Mae estimates that $1.239 trillion of residential loans will be funded this year.

Former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd testified Tuesday in a civil trial over losses the GSE suffered on nonprime MBS...

Mid-range credit scores – from 700 to 739 – accounted for 21.3 percent of Fannie and Freddie business last year.

ICBA also suggested extending QM exceptions to more community banks by raising the threshold number of loans small lenders can originate each year.

Reliance recently was approved for credit by a Wall Street wholesale lender that does 10 percent down, no-mortgage insurance loans...