Over the past few years Envoy Mortgage had a strong emphasis on purchase-money lending and in early 2013 branched out into third-party lending. Its original focus was on retail.

On his LinkedIn page, Rowland notes that Carrington offers “compensation levels that are among the highest in the industry.”

Here’s what the current state of mortgage banking boils down to: Can the industry survive on $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion in production a year through 2015?

A significant number of independent mortgage bankers failed to turn a profit during the first quarter of 2014, but many firms are tightening their belts and hanging on, thanks to a strong market for mortgage-servicing rights. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual performance report due out late this week, mortgage bankers saw their net profit margin on production and secondary marketing slump to a negative 9 basis points, said MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni. The number was preliminary, but it represents a huge decline since the gung-ho first half of 2013, when lenders generated about 120 bps in net income from production. Only about 55 percent of lenders participating in the survey, which is includes a large number of independent mortgage bankers, earned...

All three loan-production channels saw significant declines in volume during the first quarter of 2014, but retail had the biggest downturn, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Retail production declined 24.6 percent from the fourth quarter to an estimated $138 billion, the lowest quarterly volume since the fourth quarter of 2008. Retail lending, which includes traditional loan-origination offices and consumer-direct operations, was down 60.0 percent from the first quarter of last year, slightly worse than the 58.0 percent downturn in the overall market. However, retail is...[Includes four data charts]

The Nationstar spokesman noted that Rodgers’ production duties were assumed by Chad Patton, a senior executive for business development at the nonbank lender.

Apparently, CitiMortgage wants to grow its presence in the origination market, including the correspondent channel where it has a slight pulse.

Donovan is leaving HUD at a time when housing and mortgage industry advocates are pushing for reductions in FHA premiums.

So, what’s the biggest impediment to mortgage volumes taking off this spring? According to a new poll from Inside Mortgage Finance, it’s a lack of housing inventory.

The new survey of more than 2,000 real estate agents found that respondents recommend specific mortgage providers for 59 percent of their homebuyer transactions.