Nearly 150 Mortgage Operations Collapse in 2007

DALLAS, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The failure of almost 150 mortgage
operations was chronicled last year by http://www.MortgageGraveyard.com, a
journal of failed, ailing and acquired lenders.
During 2007, 147 mortgage units were shut down, according to the Mortgage
Graveyard, which is maintained by http://www.MortgageDaily.com.
Companies tracked primarily included those that employed at least 50
people -- though it is estimated that hundreds of failed companies, mostly
mortgage brokerages, were under the radar.

Year Number of Failed Companies
2008 (through Jan. 22) 7
2007 147
2006 18

Among last year's most notable failures were American Home Mortgage
Investment, Mortgage Lenders Network USA, New Century Financial and Option One
Mortgage Corp. Other significant collapses included Ameriquest Mortgage,
Fieldstone Investment and First Magnus Financial.
The mayhem began in late 2006 as investors of residential mortgage-backed
securities began demanding that subprime originators repurchase loans that
quickly soured as the U.S. real estate market began to weaken. Among the first
casualties were Meritage Mortgage, Ownit Mortgage Solutions and Sebring
Capital Partners.
After JP Morgan Chase sold off much of its subprime mortgage holdings in
January 2007, the meltdown gained steam. When New Century stopped taking
applications in March, it became clear that the subprime sector was suffering
a full blown meltdown.
By August, the meltdown became a worldwide credit crisis -- impacting
Alt-A lenders, jumbo lenders and companies that had done no lending at all.
Global subprime related losses now exceed $170 billion and projections
call for losses to surpass $450 billion.
Based on January activity, MortgageDaily.com projects fewer mortgage
companies to fail this year than in 2007.
"The subprime mortgage industry, which took decades to develop, was mostly
dismantled over the past year," said Sam Garcia, who spent 20 years in
subprime mortgage lending prior to becoming publisher of MortgageDaily.com in
2000. "In addition, we have seen a significant shift away from mortgage
brokering as both Alt-A and subprime wholesalers have shut down. Surviving
lenders are primarily originating conforming loans through their own
employees."
A complete report of all failed companies is available at:
http://www.MortgageDaily.com/MortgageGraveyard.asp?spcode=pr
About MortgageDaily.com
Founded in 1998, MortgageDaily.com is a dominant online news source for
the mortgage industry. Around one million mortgage business news pages are
viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliate publications.
CONTACT:
Shaun Bartlett
214.521.1300
3811-700 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75219

SOURCE MortgageDaily.com

Shaun Bartlett, +1-214-521-1300, for MortgageDaily.com