First Security Loan Corp - Retail - Agency, Jumbo, Reverse

The Marin Independent Journal reports that San Rafael, CA based First Security Loan Corp. (view cached) will "close its doors at the end of this month."

"At the peak of the real estate bubble in early 2007, First Security had 20 offices throughout the Bay Area, 197 salaried employees and 185 loan agents working on commission, said owner Jim Chapman. In 2006, First Security closed almost $5.5 billion worth of loans.

Today, the mortgage broker has just 12 employees and about 10 loan agents. Its only remaining branch office, in San Francisco, will close sometime next month, said Chapman, who co-founded the firm in 1983 together with Mary Alger."

First Security Loan Corp's wholesale operation, Residential Mortgage Capital, imploded in January of 2008. We interviewed CEO Jim Chapman at that time, who said the retail operation was "ongoing and healthy, with 1.2 billion funded in 2007." Today, Chapman told us it was First Security's specialization in Jumbo Stated-Income loans (as were typical for the market there) that became the company's undoing. "Those programs just don't exist anymore," he said, which led to the decision to wind down. San Rafael's median home price is $860,000, well above the limits of conventional financing.

Feel free to post your comments below or email us with any additional information on this company.