“Due to our ponderous judicial system, most of the options have been exhausted, and the judges are now expediting the [foreclosure] process,” said Mike Pappas, president and CEO of the Keyes Company.

After Freddie Mac makes its next dividend payment in March to the U.S. Treasury, the GSE will have returned $91.8 billion to the government versus financial assistance draws of $72.3 billion.

Fannie Mae has explored NPL auctions, but has yet to pull the trigger.

Freddie Mac earned just $227 million in the fourth quarter, blaming the 90 percent sequential decline in profits on derivative losses of $3.4 billion. In a briefing with the media, Freddie CEO Don Layton went out of his way to explain that when interest rates eventually rise, the government-sponsored enterprise could benefit greatly. “I wish that accounting was more tied to economics but it’s not,” he said. Layton stressed...

Freddie Mac actually increased its monthly volume by 7.3 percent from December levels, but Fannie Mae’s production fell 15.6 percent.

Warehouse lending executives interviewed by IMFnews the past week are reporting healthy usage rates from their nonbank clients...

Among originators, Freedom Mortgage ranks 10th. In 2014 it funded $23.63 billion, a 48 percent gain from the year prior.

Compass Point hiked its purchase money estimate to $819 billion from $787 billion.

Broker-originated purchase mortgages pushed the envelope a little further, with an average credit score of 719.1 and an average DTI of 37.7.

From 2005 to 2007 homeowners converted an estimated $823 billion of home equity into swimming pools, cars, hospital bills and other uses. Of course, those days are long gone.