The man heading the MSR sales effort for Wells Fargo is Brian Kunar, who carries the title of senior vice president of servicing sales.

Ocwen Financial, the nation’s top-ranked subprime servicer, was the only firm among the major servicers that increased its subprime servicing portfolio (excluding subservicing) in the third quarter of 2013.

Mortgage professionals who work the M&A trade contend that interest in residential finance is not waning in the least, but potential buyers are being a bit more choosey these days.

One last thought on Berkowitz and Fairholme: To get Congress to listen to your ideas you have to donate money. Berkowitz can check that box off his to-do list. He has been a generous donor to Republicans and Democrats alike over the past two election cycles.

At Sept. 30, Freedom Mortgage serviced $28.69 billion of home mortgages, an impressive 75 percent jump from the same period a year earlier.

Can Ellie Mae get a deal done with residential originations expected to slow in 2014?

The frothy prices being offered for MSRs are beginning to cool somewhat. “There’s definitely a tighter range on bids lately,” said Matt Maurer, managing director of MountainView Servicing Group.

According to Alice Alvey of Indecomm Mortgage U, “many shops are reassessing originator comp plans for January 2014 to adjust to the changing margins and seize the opportunity to blame it on the change in the law."

Traders sold off their positions in Nationstar's stock Thursday. The firm reported lower earnings and will exit the broker channel.

The REIT is just starting to purchase MSRs. At the end of September it had $15.7 million of mortgage servicing rights on its balance sheet, but that figure should rapidly change in the quarters ahead.