Who's Afraid of Mortgage Servicing Rights?
The term mortgage servicing right or "MSR" generally describes a party's contractual rights with respect to servicing or controlling the servicing of a pool of mortgage loans owned by others, including the entitlement to receive servicing compensation. There are a number of risks involved with investing in MSRs, including accurately estimating the prepayment rates of the underlying mortgages and managing the related swings in valuation due to movements in benchmark securiti