Lender Mortgage Second
Mortgage firm expands
The lender said Thursday that it's acquiring Greenwood Village- based Premier Mortgage Group for an undisclosed amount.
Cherry Creek Mortgage, also based in Greenwood Village, did about $1.7 billion in lending last year, both in new mortgages and refinancings, across 25 to 30 states, Vice Chairman Will Armstrong said.
With the addition of Premier Mortgage Group, which operates primarily in Colorado, Armstrong said he expects Cherry Creek Mortgage to surpass $2 billion in loans and crack the top 50 companies nationwide in production.
It's the second deal this year for Cherry Creek Mortgage; it added Chicago-based Majestic Mortgage in May.
Mortgage companies are coping with a drastic shift in their business. As interest rates rise, the refinancing market has evaporated.
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County mortgage default notices surge
Mortgage defaults in San Luis Obispo County rose sharply in the second quarter of this year, mirroring a trend occurring in housing markets across California.
Seventy-nine default notices were sent to homeowners during the period from April through June, up from 42 in the same period a year ago. The 88.1 percent rise in default notices is a huge jump from a 7.1 percent increase in the first quarter of this year.
Its also higher than the 67.2 percent second-quarter increase statewide from 12,408 to 20,752, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a Southern California real estate research firm.
But local real estate experts say the rise in notices, an initial step lenders take in the foreclosure process, isnt cause for concern at least not yet.