While banks have put an emphasis on originating jumbo mortgages for portfolio, the uptick in total mortgages outstanding was largely driven by originations of agency mortgages.

Freedom has big expansion plans for the new year. Company CEO and founder Stan Middleman recently told IMFnews Daily that he plans to hire between 200 and 500 residential loan officers in 2014.

Most of the underlying mortgages have terms of six to nine months, but with a warehouse line in place the terms could range from three to five years.

Will well-known mortgage trainer Barry Habib stick with Residential Finance Corp., a company whose assets are in the process of being sold? It’s hard to say since RFC isn’t answering questions on about the firm’s future.

The new requirements become effective for FHA case numbers assigned on or after March 11, 2014. Comments are due by Feb. 10, 2014.

What's ahead for residential lenders and servicers in 2014? You might be surprised at some of our predictions. Hint: The servicing market looks good, at least.

Ginnie Mae chief Ted Tozer noted: “We want aggressive outreach to find out what the issues are. If they aren’t issuing, we want to know why."

“The recent decline in large-lender share of the primary market is temporary, and principally a result of cyclical factors that caused larger lenders to pull back from the market,” said Fannie Mae's Gerry Flood.

Freddie Mac reported new buyback demands on $3.3 billion of mortgages during the third quarter, a stunning 31 percent increase from the previous period.

The terms of the FTC’s settlement require Fidelity to sell a “copy” of LPS’ title plants in the six Oregon counties.