Before joining the FHFA in late 2011, Hornsby spent 26 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the last 10 under Janet Yellen, who is now the nation’s central banker.

Redwood Trust officials said its next jumbo MBS likely will be issued late in the second quarter.

“They’re either going to shut their doors, merge or sell out to someone else,” one M&A advisor told Inside Mortgage Finance. “We could see 2,000 firms disappear.”

“The first thing we found is that homeowners need to know that they’ve been assigned a trusted advisor who will help them navigate the work out process,” explained one Fannie Mae official.

CSP watchers say the GSE platform is starting to look like an orphan under director Mel Watt. But will Watt mention the project in his first public speech next week?

The transfer of mortgage servicing rights from one owner to another will continue to be a focus for state regulators.

Beginning in December, the FHFA directly stepped into the MSR sales market, requiring its approval on all Fannie/Freddie transfers involving 5,000 loans or more. This additional level of approval initially caused concern in the market because it added another layer of oversight to sales.

Based on what Freddie's Layton said, one might think that going forward, the GSEs might barely break even. Maybe that’s why the GSEs – and not necessarily Mel Watt – want to hike their guaranty fees…

Additional industry layoffs are likely in the months ahead. In the first quarter, all lenders originated just $235 billion in mortgages. It was the weakest production quarter in 14 years.

The first-quarter high-LTV refi market was down 37.1 percent from the fourth quarter and off a hefty 79 percent from the $51.4 billion of business the two GSEs did back in the first three months of last year.