More Industry Shake-ups!

I hope everyone reading this has had a great week. June was a very strong month for Professional Mortgage Group. We want to thank all of our clients and referral partners that made this possible. July will hit us next week and we will back at it to try and do it again!

As always PMG will move forward with a full head of steam even though the Mortgage Industry continues to throw us cureveballs. Anyone who has read this blog in the past is aware of all of the industry changes that have taken place in the past 2 years. We continually adapt to these changes, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating! By looking at the news today you can read about the Bank of America purchase of Countrywide. The takeover price is now only $2.6 Billion instead of $4 Billion. They are also laying off 7500 employees! WOW! This is on top of the 12,000 Countrywide already announced back in September they were cutting. It is pretty scary when the #1 lender is having problems like this! Indymac is also on the ropes. Their stock is now trading under $1! Not looking so hot. It doesn't look like they will be able to weather the storm much longer. Lastly, at least 2 small mortgage broker offices in Columbia are closing down as well. All of these changes have really made it hard for small businesses and it is sad to see!

Along the same lines, Stewart Title Insurance also has had a tough time. They reported a 1st Quarter Net Loss of $25.2 Million and has continued to down size. Since 2005, 2500 have been let go. To help combat the housing downturn that has obviously affected their bottom line, they are forming Stewart Default Services. This is aimed to capitalize on the increase in foreclosures.
They will offer loss mitigation, foreclosure processing, bankruptcy / eviction referral and monitoring, vacant property insurance, post-sale conveyance, and of course, title and escrow services.
This definitely looks to be a good business move. There is no doubt a shortage of these types of services during a time that foreclosures are at the peak!

Unfortunately from reading this you can see that industry shake-ups and change are still taking place at a high rate. Lets just hope all of this starts cooling down a bit! As always please check back. We will keep you posted.

Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
"Your Columbia, MO Mortgage Broker"