The entire group is moving to the Connecticut-based nonbank from a company called Mortgage Services, a subsidiary of First State Bank of Mendota, IL.

Orange Capital is a private equity firm that has been gobbling up stakes in PHH Corp. over the past year. A few months back Inside Mortgage Finance first reported that PHH might be a takeover target.

The FHA allows low downpayments on loans that have credit scores as low as 580, but numerous lenders have established their own underwriting overlays to protect against poor performance.

According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance, Lau’s company, Pingora Loan Servicing, has amassed roughly $10 billion in MSRs in less than nine months.

The new service from Freedom Mortgage will handle all aspects of the mortgage transaction, from the initial customer call to closing and servicing of the loan.

The new ownership filing on Walter Investment comes at a time when short interest in nonbank mortgage firms is increasing.

Mark Mozilo, a principal in CALCAP, told IMFnews that he is seeing more competition in the hard money space.

One executive familiar with the practice of signing bonuses noted that typically the money is paid out over 12 months, but if the LO does not repeat their past performance the bonus can terminate in a given quarter.

It appears that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has slowed its search for a chief executive and chairman to manage the fledgling common securitization platform, which is slated to be headquartered in Bethesda, MD. One former candidate for the CEO position told Inside The GSEs: “It’s pretty much turned into the mess I suspected it would a year ago.” Discussing the chairman position, he added: “They still haven’t come to terms on compensation for the person they want.”

What’s the best way to entice a workaholic mortgage loan officer who knows how to bring home the bacon? Answer: Pay them a huge signing bonus.