Banks are less aggressive these days when it comes to buying MSRs. But not all. JPMorgan recently acquired a $21 billion package of servicing rights from Rocket, the nation’s fifth-largest processor of loans.

Chase’s top officials shed light this week on how First Republic Bank’s high-quality mortgage assets and affluent borrowers fit right into the megabank’s wheelhouse.

Subservicer ServiceMac stands to lose a large contract down the road once Mr. Cooper swallows the Home Point portfolio. But that’s the nature of the beast when it comes to being a third-party vendor.

The FDIC closed First Republic Bank this week and JPMorgan Chase acquired substantially all of the bank, with help from a loss-sharing agreement provided by the FDIC.

Merger and acquisition activity is heating up, but most of it centers on mortgage servicing rights, huge blocks of it. Not only is SPS in play, but so too is SLS.

Mr. Cooper hopes to surpass the $1 trillion mark as a servicer/subservicer, an event that could happen by yearend if it keeps gobbling up portfolios. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of MSRs to buy.

The bank liquidity crisis — although it had nothing to do with mortgages — slowed activity in the MSR sales arena. However, some buyers, including federally insured depositories, hung in there, picking up bargains.

Home Point, which once boasted a workforce of several thousand, soon will be down to a skeleton crew of 60 or so. Chances are, it will sell its servicing portfolio and call it a day. But it may not be alone on that score.

Don’t like the bids you received for your mortgage company in a tough market? Maybe the easiest (and safest) thing to do is self-liquidate and keep the cash that was on the balance sheet.

The first quarter hasn’t exactly been a barn-burner for MSR sales and the recent bank liquidity crisis hasn’t helped. However, some buyers might take advantage of the fears of others.