ALT-A Wholesaler to Add 65 Employees by Mid-2005

Wholesale Lending Online announced it relocated its corporate headquarters from Millbrae to Burlingame, Calif. The renovated space provides 45% more workspace that will house additional employees needed to attend to the growing business’s administrative, underwriting, funding and closing functions.

“Expanded product offerings and the use of advanced technology have resulted in tremendous growth,” said Ash Gujral, an executive for Wholesale Lending, which is a division of Preferred Financial Group, in a written statement.

Preferred Financials’ retail lending-arm, Preferred Mortgage Services, and Wholesale Lending currently have about 65 mortgage employees, but this number will double by the first half of 2005, Gujral told MortgageDaily.com. Approximately 40 of the estimated 60 new employees will be placed within this year.

The wholesale direct lender said it has opened several offices this year, has plans to open more, and has already grown its staff by more than 50 percent.

The executive explained the company’s “small and nimble” structure assumes much less overhead than larger industry players, enabling it to “do loans cheaper,” with markups about half below what its competitors in northern California try to make on a loan. Thus, they are able to grow volume-and employee-wise at a time when production is declining industrywide.

The Alt-A loan specialist says it offers brokers an online pricing engine, enabling savings and convenience in configuring loan rates.

Gujral pointed out their level of fundings exceeds that of several northern California competitors that are triple its size in number of employees. The company reportedly funded a record $37 million in August.

Gujral and his partner plan to eventually expand nationwide from Wholesale Lending’s current network of 300 brokers to about 1,000.

Also, because the company feels “there’s a lack of mortgage-processing companies,” and “people have been impressed” with its function in this area, it is currently discussing the possible opening of a national mortgage-processing company, which points to potential “future major hirings,” Gujral said.