BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp. - Wholesale

UPDATE 10/19/2007, 2:30 PM: Upon posting BrooksAmerica to the "imploded" list, we have been contacted by the company. Further, BrooksAmerica has published a notice on their website that they have "elected to temporarily suspend new loan originations". Per their public notice:

To our valued customers:

During these exceptionally turbulent times BrooksAmerica has elected to temporarily suspend new loan originations effective October 31, 2007. As you all are aware the Jumbo A and Alt A loan products that BrooksAmerica has successfully offered for years have become overly restrictive to the point where they have become unviable from which to operate our present business model. Despite the fact the Company remains financially healthy and in good standing with each of its warehouse banks and investors we have chosen to take a brief respite from the present market. We believe this action to be both prudent and strategically responsible in order to preserve the integrity of our business until the financial markets return to a more rational pattern. After a brief period of rest, reinvention, and reengineering BrooksAmerica anticipates entering the market in the spring of 2008, appropriately positioned with core and leading edge products and services to meet and exceed your mortgage lending needs.

Michael Brooks

CEO

At such at time when BrooksAmerica resumes loan originations, we will reevaluate and likely remove their entry from the "imploded" list. Stay tuned!

Original posting:

Licensed by the California Dept. of Real Estate since 1986, BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corporation is owned by Michael Brooks, and described as one of the "good guys" by those who worked with him. Based in Orange County, California, our source reports the following:

"Notified AE's on Friday (10-12-07) that they were ceasing lending operations. All files 'in the door" must fund by EOM (Oct). Too bad...they are (were) a GREAT COMPANY... They have been around for a long time. Alt-A lender. Known for doing quality, no BS loans."

There is no indication or announcement of this shut down on the company web site. On October 17th, 6 AE's listed were listed on their site, one of them being the owner's son Ryan Brooks. We attempted phone contact with them and discovered 3 had already left, and a fourth was on "personal leave." The next day, the AE page was changed to 2 AE's, one of them being the sales manager, Terry Cabiniss (without a phone number beside her name at the time of this writing).

Ryan Brooks did confirm the information received by our tipster. Terry Cabiniss may or may not know about the closure, but informs us by telephone that the years they have been in business, the peak employees and peak or current volume is something "we never disclose."

Per HUD records, BrooksAmerica consistently produced over $100 million per month, and current figures may have been as high as $200 million.

If you have more information regarding this year's volume, or current number of employees, please let us know.