Although the Wells Fargo-Ocwen MSR transfer is still on hold, other institutions continue to trim their mortgage servicing portfolios.

Can James Furash, another former top Countrywide executive, pull a Stan Kurland, and turn AmeriHome into a mortgage juggernaut?

The “legacy” bulk market for MSRs has been spooked, to some degree, by regulatory scrutiny, though offerings of newly originated product have been plentiful.

Waiting for a large merger or acquisition to happen in the mortgage market is a bit like waiting for Godot: there’s plenty of talk about his arrival, but he may never show. “Right now there’s a large discrepancy between what the buyer wants to pay and what the seller wants to sell at,” said Chuck Klein, managing partner in Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX. “Any company that’s making money will not sell at just book value.” One large company that likely will not be sold this year is...

The buyer originates mortgages in roughly six western states and is looking to expand into the East Coast to help fill its pipeline.

At March 31, PIMCO did not even rank among the top institutional holders of PHH Corp. As one analyst quipped: "Maybe they like the valuation."

One last thought on Mel Watt, FHFA and expanding the credit box: Members of the GOP who were big boosters of the recently departed Ed DeMarco will probably read the g-fee comment notice and have a fit…

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

Fairholme still owns a ton of GSE stock. At press time Wednesday, Fannie common was trading at $4.77. The most Fairholme ever paid for Fannie common was $2.07. Sweet…

Zach Oppenheimer, a senior vice president at Fannie Mae, said it’s a positive development that more private capital is coming into the mortgage servicing space.