Redwood started acquiring agency mortgages from correspondent lenders in mid-October. The REIT noted that the activity helps create mortgage servicing rights for it to invest in.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have almost "repaid" their debt to the U.S. Treasury. But will it change the debate on the future of the GSEs?

How many loans per month should a loan officer be closing when times are lean? According to Dave Lykken of Mortgage Banking Solutions, if an LO isn’t closing at least six loans per month, they might want to consider employment elsewhere.

“At the end of the day, we’re still dealing with a one-sided contract with a significant termination option,” said Jonathan Jaffe, an attorney who works on GSE buyback issues.

The REIT is just starting to purchase MSRs. At the end of September it had $15.7 million of mortgage servicing rights on its balance sheet, but that figure should rapidly change in the quarters ahead.

FHA lenders originated $10.8 billion of new jumbo loans in the first half of 2013, down 2.7 percent from the same period last year.

An active mortgage wholesaler in California is letting account executives go. Stay tuned for details.

If Freddie Mac "pays back" the U.S. Treasury by year-end will it change the debate on the future of the GSEs?

Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the panel, is promising that GSE "stakeholders" will have input on her housing reform bill.

The loans in the new Redwood deal have the strong characteristics associated with jumbos, including an average credit score of 766 and a combined loan-to-value ratio of almost 71 percent.