“It’s a utility bill refi,” said Kristian Hanelt, a senior vice president of renewable capital markets at Clean Power Finance, which provides financial services to the solar industry.

Athas’ originations include stringent downpayment requirements: at the end of 2013, the weighted average loan-to-value ratio on loans held by RCP was 48 percent.

In a new research report, WFS reduced its estimate for bulk transfers to Ocwen in 2014 to $140 billion from $200 billion.

Mortgage topics don’t always make the President’s State of the Union speech, but President Obama Tuesday night may touch on the issue of credit availability and whether the government has “gone too far.”

By December, FHA financing was used by first-time homebuyers in 39.6 percent of home purchases, based on the three-month moving average.

The cost of mortgage compliance was a topic making the rounds at the recent ABS Vegas show in Nevada. Attendees, of course, wanted to know who might pay for all the new added costs.

“It’s nearly impossible to get the information to the right person to vote on it,” said Bill Moliski, a managing director at SG Capital and former managing director at Redwood Trust.

The non-agency MBS market is stuck in "limbo until we know where the GSEs are going,” said Steve Abrahams, head of securitization and MBS research at Deutsche Bank Securities.

Comments made Wednesday by the Treasury Department’s point man on GSE reform, Michael Stegman, did not go unnoticed by employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Hoping to jump start the non-agency MBS market, the Structured Finance Industry Group plans to establish a limited number of options on various rep and warrant issues.