Just how important are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the revenue picture of the U.S. government? According to calculations from The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based consulting firm, GSE dividends in 2013 will be the fourth largest source of federal revenue.

Will well-known mortgage trainer Barry Habib stick with Residential Finance Corp., a company whose assets are in the process of being sold? It’s hard to say since RFC isn’t answering questions on about the firm’s future.

Freedom Mortgage, which has aggressive hiring plans this year, has tapped two top production executives from PHH.

Let’s just hope that if Bernie Madoff and Lee Farkas are socializing together in prison they’re not plotting some type of massive mortgage scam.

One former regulator told us that HUD is relying too heavily on foreclosure sales, which can drive down median values.

Will departing FHFA chief Ed DeMarco go work for a hedge fund? Stranger things have happened.

A handful of firms say they are still aggressively recruiting residential loan officers who have a solid background in purchase-money lending – that is, sales professionals with deep ties to Realtors and home builders.

The FHFA MMI is in better shape? So what, says critic Ed Pinto. He believes that huge problems remain.

Ed DeMarco of FHFA pulls a 'Beyonce' with the higher LLPAs. Meanwhile, we're hearing that Met Watt may be sworn in by early January.

Loan broker Anne James, who runs Reliance Funding in Wittier, CA, told us recently that “I have wholesale lenders calling me daily to sign up.” She notes, however that “Loans are not dropping out of the sky” but adds that she’s getting quite a few calls for second mortgages.