Members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle are working on legislation to reform the mortgage finance system, but partisan differences suggest that the most likely accomplishment may be steps aimed at not making the difficult task any harder.In the Senate, a handful of members from both parties recently introduced the “Jumpstart GSE Reform Act,” which would prevent guaranty fees collected by the government-sponsored enterprises from being used to offset other government spending.

Look for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue to increase their guaranty fees, but the current level of g-fees is approaching “striking distance” of the threshold expected in a competitive private market, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told lawmakers this week.Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, FHFA Acting Director Edward De-Marco said last year’s two 10 basis point g-fee increases raised the average fee to around 50 bps, double where they were when the GSEs were put in conservatorship in September 2008.

Last week, nine Democrat state attorneys general, led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts’ Martha Coakley, called for the Obama administration to nominate a permanent re-placement for Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco.Under DeMarco’s leadership, the AGs say, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain “an obstacle to progress” primarily by the FHFA’s refusal to allow the two government-sponsored enterprises to offer principal reduction assistance to troubled borrowers.

Can Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac capture $93 billion in deferred tax assets - money that ultimately will flow through to the U.S. Treasury?

Is the refinancing boom finally over? Some mortgage bankers are beginning to get nervous.

At the end of the year, banks and thrifts serviced $5.323 trillion of home mortgages for other investors, giving these MSRs an asset value of $41.43 billion.

Mortgage banking units owned by banks and thrifts generated $1.55 trillion in loan sales during 2012, a 36.9 percent jump from the previous year.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and spending a ton of money each year on outside contractors, including technology firms, attorneys and accountants.

Fannie Mae could be in line to book $60 billion in assets, money that could be counted as net worth and change its immediate financial outlook.