Mortgage bankers continue to talk about declining refi applications but purchase money firms remain mostly optimistic about their prospects.

Implementation of state-specific servicing standards like California’s would impose "divergent and conflicting standards" that will add costs to future home buyers and create confusion, said one MBA official.

Stan Middleman, founder and CEO of Freedom Mortgage, will buy $20 million worth of stock in the new REIT, which (of course) has ties to Freedom.

Rep. Watt’s slightly more than two-pages of prepared testimony was long on biographical detail but lacking on mortgage-finance specifics.

The secondary market for residential servicing rights remains robust.

JPM is losing certain staffers to Freedom Mortgage. Meanwhile, is Art Ringwald contemplating a return to mortgage banking?

The revised ranking for the first quarter shows that the top retail lender, Wells Fargo, produced $60.4 billion through this channel, or 12 percent of total originations for the period.

Some non-agency participants have called for an immediate return to conforming loan limits of $417,000, which were in place in 2008 before Congress established “emergency” loan limits for high-cost areas.

The new Bachus bill could be a sign that House Republicans are making a fresh push to force a compromise with the Obama administration over the structure of the CFPB.

One source said Bexil shareholders will hold a meeting on the issue, possibly by week’s end.