Is Fannie Mae’s stock a screaming buy as Pershing Square hedge fund chief Bill Ackman recently suggested?

“We have a lot of plans,” Newman told IMFnews. “We plan to be in originations, servicing, capital markets and multi-channel production.”

It’s no secret that aggressive mortgage banking firms are recruiting top executives and loan officers away from other firms. One of the busiest recruiters that we know of its Mortgage Master of Walpole, MA.

There seems to be a growing trend of foreign banks rethinking their position in the U.S. mortgage market.

A new poll on the Inside Mortgage Finance website tells the story: Just 24 percent of respondents want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac taken out to the Jersey Meadowlands by Luca Brasi. (Leave the gun, take the cannolis.)

Construction-to-permanent loans are picking up a head of steam in certain markets. “Down here [in Florida] it’s extremely hot,” said Joe Adamaitis, vice president and residential lending manager for Insignia Bank.

Despite the not-so-good news on applications, one warehouse lender suggested to IMFnews that larger lenders are suffering much more than smaller firms.

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?