The FHFA’s final rule on golden parachutes applies to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Office of Finance, as well as any “entity-affiliated parties,” including independent contractors.

Storm clouds quickly gathered as Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, complained that the bureau’s QM rule and restrictions on high-cost loans would pretty much exclude manufactured housing – and then accused Cordray of deliberately trying to squash lower-income families.

Athas’ originations include stringent downpayment requirements: at the end of 2013, the weighted average loan-to-value ratio on loans held by RCP was 48 percent.

Bank of the West executive Paul Wible said the lender believes, "A well-underwritten, interest-only mortgage can be a good choice for our customers" and are safe for the depository to hold in portfolio.

Back in September SLS – a subsidiary of the publicly traded Stewart Information Services – bought key assets of Allon’s Allonhill LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Through the first nine months of 2013, commercial banks sold $1.077 trillion of home mortgages, according to call-report data compiled by Inside Mortgage Trends.

Investment banking and mortgage executives believe the departures at MRP could mean that the industry’s battle against the use of eminent domain is over and that the strategy is now kaput.

By December, FHA financing was used by first-time homebuyers in 39.6 percent of home purchases, based on the three-month moving average.

Most of what Fannie and Freddie earn in the fourth quarter will go directly into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury Department.

Credit Suisse recently filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that it now owns 5.4 percent of Chimera Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust whose forte is buying residential MBS. However, the investment comes at a time when a cloud is hanging over the REIT sector, especially MBS investing firms such as Chimera. Moreover, Chimera’s stock has been stuck at about $3 a share the past 16 months, mostly because it’s still wading through earnings restatements and has not been a timely filer of quarterly and annual reports with the SEC. As the company noted in one regulatory filing: “Our failure to be...