The Federal Housing Finance Agency has hired Washington-based Spencer Stuart to help find a chief executive to man the helm of the “common securitization platform” project. One former Fannie Mae official familiar with the effort told Inside The GSEs that the project has taken on a more “serious” urgency at the agency. “I’m not sure of the timeline, but it’s moving along.” One mortgage official who was approached about the job – but who made it clear he is not interested – said that the CEO FHFA hires “will need to be creative, revolutionary and good at many things.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may pursue a fraud lawsuit against Ally Financial despite the bankruptcy status of Ally’s Residential Capital mortgage unit, a Manhattan federal judge ruled this week. U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote denied Ally’s request to stay the FHFA’s litigation, a typical motion by bankrupt debtors to defer litigation as they seek to reorganize. In 2011, the FHFA filed 18 lawsuits alleging that Ally and other large financial institutions misrepresented the quality of non-agency mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the 2008 financial crisis.

Redwood Trust is about to have company from other real estate investment trusts looking to issue non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Two Harbors Investment will issue its first jumbo MBS later this month, and PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust plans to issue a security by the end of September. Redwood helped revive non-agency jumbo MBS issuance beginning in 2010 and has been active in the sector ever since. Following the financial crisis, no other REITs joined Redwood even though ...

If you're looking for a g-fee bargain, Freddie Mac is offering deals. Well, sort of.

FBR notes that a key provision in the draft QRM rule is that any mortgage securitized by Fannie or Freddie is automatically a QRM.

The publicly traded REIT is jumping into the jumbo MBS market with its first deal. Many of the loans come from nonbanks.

Any private label mortgage seized through the use of eminent domain will not be eligible for FHA coverage, HUD hints in a new letter.

The IG's evaluation survey found that the total cumulative voluntary attrition rate at Fannie’s capital markets group “increased somewhat” from January 2010 through 2012.

The market did not react kindly to PennyMac's announcement about selling more shares of common stock.

If you thought that Bank of America was done selling mortgage servicing rights, think again.