Net branches have been hit especially hard by the mortgage crisis. Still, some branch operations are growing.
Within a month’s period, Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp. added three branches to its network.
The latest and first branch opening of the year was in Yuma, Ariz., which is also the first office in this city, the Houston, Texas-based company reported.
Two others in Baltimore, Md., and Toms River, N.J., were announced around mid-December. These additions pushed to 25 the number of branch openings reported last year by Allied, which touts it is the largest privately held mortgage banker/broker in the country, with hundreds of offices licensed in 50 states.
Another Houston-based net branch reporting growth is First Houston Mortgage, as it will add 100 positions this year after having hired 135 last year.
The lender, which has reportedly closed over $1 billion in loans since it was founded 10 years ago, attributes its success to staying out of the subprime market, focusing on utilizing affiliated net branches and increasing efficiency through technology. First Houston has also been able to cut costs through an India-based offshore operation it acquired from its partners last year.
Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. announced it funded $1.74 billion in loans through about 160 branches in 2007, off 13 percent from the previous year.
December, with 1129 loans for $144 million, accounted for the second-largest correspondent funding month since the company’s inception in 1998. The month’s volume is about 6 percent below the peak in July 2003, when it had more than 300 branches, the Salt Lake City-based firm noted.
“Considering the year that the industry had, for us to have such a strong December, and a strong year overall, is phenomenal,” said Dave Zitting, PRMI president and chief executive officer, in the announcement. “We can attribute this success to the innovative business channels we’ve developed as well as to our hard working branch partners across the country. We’re looking forward to a strong 2008.”
Among steps the privately held company took last year to enhance operations was partnering with seasoned mortgage executives to create five new separately-operated divisions in California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Utah. Additionally, PRMI’s market alliance team launched an initiative with LendingTree, and the company went paperless through online accounting for all branches, Web-enabled human resources capabilities, a new product and pricing search engine, and paperless loan processing via DocTrac.
Previously thriving net branch operations that threw in the towel over the past month include Family First Mortgage Corp. The Florida-based company stopped operating as a net branch on Dec. 31, 2007, but plans to return as a direct lender in late 2008.
Family First, which generated loan volume of about $1.3 billion in 2006, was ranked within the 400 fastest-growing privately held companies in Inc. magazine in 2005 and was the country’s fastest-growing mortgage company in the Inc. 500 in 2004. The company reportedly had as many as 941 employees in early 2007.
Meanwhile, Maverick Residential Mortgage stopped funding loans and payroll a few days ago amid suspicions that its chief financial officer embezzled $4 million.
Last year, the Frisco, Texas-based company was named one of the fastest-growing business in Collin County, Texas, in a competition sponsored by Comerica Bank. In 2006, Maverick placed No. 48 in the 2007 Dallas 100 Entrepreneur Awards.
The last quarter of 2007 alone saw the exit of ComUnity Lending, Diablo Funding Group, New England Merchants Corp. and Summit Mortgage LLC.
