“They’re either going to shut their doors, merge or sell out to someone else,” one M&A advisor told Inside Mortgage Finance. “We could see 2,000 firms disappear.”

Of late, nonbanks are showing an increasing interest in buying delinquent loans out of Ginnie Mae pools.

“The first thing we found is that homeowners need to know that they’ve been assigned a trusted advisor who will help them navigate the work out process,” explained one Fannie Mae official.

CSP watchers say the GSE platform is starting to look like an orphan under director Mel Watt. But will Watt mention the project in his first public speech next week?

The transfer of mortgage servicing rights from one owner to another will continue to be a focus for state regulators.

Purchase mortgages accounted for 44.4 percent of California’s first-quarter 2014 production, compared to 52.0 percent nationwide.

Freddie CEO Don Layton warns that staffers “at all levels” would flee the secondary market giant amid the five-year transition period, citing several provisions of the bill that are detrimental to employees.

Beginning in December, the FHFA directly stepped into the MSR sales market, requiring its approval on all Fannie/Freddie transfers involving 5,000 loans or more. This additional level of approval initially caused concern in the market because it added another layer of oversight to sales.

Fitch said ignoring broker price opinions dramatically increased the likelihood of underestimating potential loss severities and results in insufficient credit enhancement.

Based on what Freddie's Layton said, one might think that going forward, the GSEs might barely break even. Maybe that’s why the GSEs – and not necessarily Mel Watt – want to hike their guaranty fees…