Private-equity firms such as Orange Capital and EJF Capital have been gobbling up shares in PHH Corp. the past year, believing the stock is undervalued. Among other things, “smart money” investors have noticed that the liquidation value of its mortgage servicing rights almost equals the entire company’s market capitalization rate. But that doesn’t mean PHH Corp. will be successful in its attempt to unlock shareholder value by selling off parts of the company, including its mortgage banking franchise and automobile fleet business. “The only thing that’s certain about PHH is that it’s trading below book value,” said one mortgage executive who has conducted business with the firm. Late this week, PHH common was selling...

Whether a servicer was a bank or a nonbank doesn’t appear to have played much of a role in terms of performance in the non-agency portion of the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to the latest assessments by the Treasury Department. Six servicers were found to need “moderate” improvement: three banks and three nonbanks. HAMP incentive payments in the future could be withheld if the firms don’t improve their performance. The needs-to-improve list includes Bank of America, CitiMortgage, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Loan Servicing, Select Portfolio Servicing and Wells Fargo. The other major HAMP servicer, JPMorgan Chase, was found to have largely satisfied HAMP performance requirements, based on assessments for the fourth quarter of 2013. Among the seven largest HAMP servicers, only nonbanks had...

"I'm pulling my old firm out of the mothballs," Glen Corso told IMFnews.

Springleaf is no longer making new real estate-backed loans, but it continues to shed legacy mortgages.

Citadel is the most active non-agency, non-prime lender in the U.S. In an interview with IMFnews, company founder and CEO Dan Perl said, “We’ll do $11 million to $12 million, at least" for the month of March.

The new version incorporates lessons learned from the financial crisis of 2008 along with contemporary concerns about mortgage originations and servicing.

In a new report, Compass Point Research & Trading asks: “Are the special servicers bad actors?” CPR&T concludes the answer is no, but notes “there is some merit” to concerns about the rapid portfolio growth at certain firms…

A few weeks back, Rep. Mark Takano, D-CA, called for Congressional hearings on the single-family rental MBS market, singling out investments made by the Blackstone Group.

Company executive Doug Reilly, commenting on the mortgage M&A market, had this to say: “It seems we need to take 20 girls to the alter just to marry one”…

The VA loan limit for the Honolulu area has been increased to $721,050 from $625,000, thanks to Sen. Brian Schatz, D-HI.