The Lede

Wall Street Journal, Feb. 13, 2019--Ben Eisen (subscription)The mortgage market slowdown is stirring up interest in a humdrum segment of American home lending: the rights to the arcane task of handling monthly payments. Sales of mortgage-servicing rights jumped 14 percent in 2018 from a year earlier. (MBA mention)

RE Business Online, Feb. 13, 2019--John NelsonThe multifamily sector is like the Energizer Bunny, says Jamie Woodwell, vice president of commercial and multifamily research for the Mortgage Bankers Association: "It just keeps going and going and going."

World Property Journal, Feb. 13, 2019--Michael GerrityAccording to the Mortgage Bankers Association's newly released its year-end ranking of commercial and multifamily mortgage servicers' volumes (as of December 31, 2018); Wells Fargo leads the national rankings, again.

CNBC, Feb. 13, 2019--Diana OlickThe lowest interest rates in nearly a year were not enough incentive to juice mortgage demand. Total mortgage application volume fell 3.7 percent last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

National Mortgage News, Feb. 13, 2019--Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Net earnings for the quarter of $42.8 million were flat with $43 million in the third quarter, but down from $147.2 million one year prior, but the fourth-quarter 2017 results were boosted by a $110.9 million tax benefit resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

HousingWire, Feb. 13, 2019--Ben LaneHardwick was accused of conspiring with Asha Maurya, the law firm's former chief financial officer, to steal $26 million from the attorney escrow accounts and operating accounts of Morris Hardwick Schneider and LandCastle Title.

New York Times, Feb. 13, 2019--Tom BuerkleInvestment firm Thoma Bravo is paying $3.7 billion to acquire the Pleasanton, Calif.-based Ellie Mae. That's more than 25 times the software company's projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for this year, according to estimates collated by Refinitiv, and a nearly 50 percent premium to its stock's latest 30-day closing average. (MBA mention)

Wall Street Journal, Feb. 14, 2019--Andrew Ackerman (subscription)The Trump administration's pick to help overhaul the way many Americans finance their home purchases, Mark Calabria, is expected to face questions about the future of the popular 30-year-mortgage at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. (MBA mention)

HousingWire, Feb. 13, 2019--Ben LaneAccording to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Sierra Pacific was accused of violating the False Claims Act by falsely certifying that it complied with FHA mortgage insurance requirements in connection with certain loans made between 2007 and 2009.

Reuters, Feb. 13, 2019--Joshua Schneyer, M.B. PellSenators scolded real estate executives and Pentagon leadership over "unacceptable" conditions in privatized military housing on Wednesday, vowing urgent reform to protect service families from widespread health and safety hazards in base homes.

MBA Education presents a workshop, MBA Education Foundational Concepts in Residential Mortgage Servicing, in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 25 in conjunction with the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo.