When it comes to attracting and retaining top loan originator talent in the era of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it looks like independent shops may be the game to beat. One key issue now is whether depository institutions will step up to compete for the top talent in the mortgage space. “If we look back to 2008-2009, the brokers fled as quickly as they could to the independents, the depositories, just everywhere they could, to be able to operate and manage their business,” Drew Waterhouse, managing director of Hammerhouse LLC, said during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar late last week. As the playing field has become more level with all the different regulations that have been brought to bear since then, “you see...

Don't like the housing sales figures? Blame Trump and Bernie...

Prestwick is out with a flow package that could yield $360 million to $480 million annually in Fannie Mae product.

Five Oaks’ jumbo conduit also has faced headwinds due to a lack of demand for new jumbo MBS.

Private equity firms, of course, are not known for holding their investments forever.

Then again, there are doubts the legislation will ever be enacted.

The GSEs’ retained portfolios are shrinking, but whole-loan investments held by banks and credit unions are not.

The average loan amount on GSE condo mortgages in 2015 was $214,431.

Merge Fannie and Freddie into one? Crazier things have been suggested...

Meanwhile, we’re told that WJB’s woes can be traced to more than just TRID errors…