Over the past six months, CashCall has laid off several hundred workers, but continues to advertise in local media markets in Southern California.

Officials at FHA and Ginnie Mae are eager to jump on board and reinvigorate their efforts concerning e-mortgages.

A total of $32.6 billion of income-property mortgages were securitized during the first three months of 2014, a soft beginning for a market that posted its best year since the financial collapse during 2013. Commercial mortgage securitization – including non-agency commercial MBS and multifamily securitizations by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae – declined by 22.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Total issuance was off 30.4 percent from the same period last year. Both agency and non-agency issuance was...[Includes two data charts]

Passage of legislation from Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, to reform the government-sponsored enterprises would prompt some changes to the multifamily MBS market, according to industry analysts. While the bill’s impact on the multifamily market is expected to be modest overall, according to Moody’s Investors Service, the pricing advantages seen on multifamily MBS from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac compared with non-agency commercial MBS would likely disappear. The Johnson-Crapo bill, which is scheduled for a markup next week by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, calls for risk-sharing structures in the multifamily market already used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for multifamily MBS, potentially limiting any broad disruptive impact to the multifamily market from the bill. Within one year after the bill becomes law, Fannie and Freddie would be required...

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are off to a solid start to the year in terms of their multifamily business in what is expected to be a more competitive year in 2014 than the market saw last year. Whether they can match last year’s levels is an open question. Fannie issued...[Includes one data chart]

At one shop based in the Midwest there’s unconfirmed talk of loan officers who haven’t been paid for months, unpaid leases and top executives who were on vacation as volumes collapsed.

Despite the ugliness of the first quarter, there are signs that loan production may finally be firming up.

The CFPB will work with participants to test many eClosing features, including those that may enable consumer understanding, incentivize early document review and facilitate error detection.

He cited one example where a $40 billion MSR package can be sold to one buyer that agrees to board the servicing files in increments of say $5 billion a month.

So, what does this mean for the industry? Answer: That the Mortgage Mutual Insurance Fund likely will return to health even faster and that maybe there’s room for FHA to cut premiums.