Wenatchee Valley mortgage business shuffle continues

Posted on 02. Feb, 2010 by yvettedavis in News

by Yvette Davis

WENATCHEE — Mortgage Advisory Group, an Everett-based mortgage bank and broker, has opened a new office in the Harle Center at 1250 N. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee. The company promises big changes to the Valley’s mortgage industry, but not all local lenders see it that way despite the fact mortgage loan originators continue to shuffle loyalties, and two loan offices recently closed.

Tonja Wortham, business development manager for Mortgage Advisory Group, said the new office will offer consumers quick closings and great service from seasoned professionals, and offer real estate agents shared marketing opportunities through its in-house marketing unit. The fact it is a mortgage bank means the company is able to offer in-house loan origination, underwriting and funding as well, she said.

In today’s highly regulated mortgage climate, mortgage bankers that can fund their own loans versus heavily regulated mortgage brokers are becoming the norm for the industry, said Rick Graybill of Evergreen Home Loans. His office is a mortgage bank, and Wenatchee has had mortgage banks for years, he said.

“In the past, the majority of lenders were probably brokers,” Graybill said. “But this isn’t new to the area.”
However a new lender does mean another choice for consumers, said Karen Norlin, loan officer with Cashmere Valley Mortgage.

Norlin opened her own mortgage brokerage in 1992 and merged with Response Mortgage in 2007 when it was still owned by former John L. Scott Real Estate owner Jay Bean.

She left Response Mortgage in July 2009 just before the company entered into a joint operating agreement with Bank of America, and Bean’s remaining ownership dissolved.

Much of his staff was then hired by Mortgage Advisory Group after Thanksgiving, leaving Bean, who doesn’t originate loans, pondering his next career move.

But simply offering another choice won’t automatically spell success for the new lender, said Jace Miller, loan officer and office manager at the 18 year-old brokerage office of Taylor Mortgage. Their success will be determined by their rates, their fees, their service and the reputation of the people working for them, he said.
Graybill agreed.

“In Wenatchee’s small market, it’s really about trust and reputations. The lenders here already have that reputation.”

Sometimes, though, even low fees, good rates and a solid reputation aren’t enough to keep one in business.

Wayne Loranger, owner of Premiere One Properties, closed his 25-year-old mortgage loan office, Hearth and Home Mortgage, at the beginning of the year.

“It just wasn’t fun anymore,” he said. He attributed his decision to close on the new regulations facing mortgage brokers that make it tough for them to do business. Banks, at the moment anyway, are not held to the same strict standards, he said, even though they had as much hand in the mortgage mess as the brokers did. He acknowledged that this was a tough time for anybody to enter the market, whether banker or broker though, and wished the company luck.

“I think they will do fine,” Loranger said, “if they hire a lot of local loan officers and people can still do business with people they know and trust.”

One of his loan officers, Stephanie Matthews, went to Mortgage Advisory Group, as have Traci Dry, Janie Shrader, Jason Austin, Veronica Berry and Ruth Macias. Wortham said the company eventually will hire more — up to 20 total — to bring the office to full capacity.

Wortham said the company had been studying the area’s demographics for a year-and-a-half and already had planned to move here before it made the final decision in October. It secured the space at Harle Center in December.

Mortgage Advisory Group offers conventional, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Administration, United States Department of Agriculture rural development loans, refinances, reverse mortgages, jumbo loans and new construction. It also has an escrow department in Everett to close its Snohomish county loans.

The company was started in Everett in 2004 by Dave Wortham and Lee Dionne. It has 152 employees and also operates branches in Everett, Smokey Point and Mill Creek and one in Arizona.

Other offices/loan officers make the switch

Jim LaLanne, formerly with Jim LaLanne & Associates, has switched his office to a mortgage bank. He is now part of Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation, a national lender with 300 offices across the country that closes $500 million in home loans per month. LaLanne made the switch official Dec. 1 after a week of training in Houston, Texas. The office has three loan officers plus himself.

LaLanne said the reason he switched from being a mortgage broker to an employee of Allied Home Mortgage is that he didn’t want the responsibility of being a mortgage broker any more.

“The lending industry has changed 100 percent. It’s a different animal,” he said.

Also switching companies is Paul Bondo, who is now with Loan Network LLC. His office is located in the Coldwell Banker building at 1 S. Chelan Ave. Loan Network is also a mortgage bank, and does FHA/VA/USDA and conventional loans, as was his last employer, Sound Mortgage. Bondo said he doesn’t think Mortgage Advisory Group will change the local lending industry because almost all mortgage bankers have the same products to sell.
“There aren’t any magic programs out there for lenders to offer,” he said.