With residential originations expected to exceed $0.6 billion this year, a Florida-based mortgage banker is looking beyond the Sunshine State for mortgage brokers to help it grow. Last year it added more than 70 employees and more than doubled its branch count.
Last month was the best December in the five-year history of FBC Mortgage LLC.
The Orlando, Fla.-based company reported 294 loans closed for $54 million.
Annual production at FBC was $463 million. This year’s production is expected to increase by between 30 percent and 40 percent.
Headcount at the “employee- and community-owned retail mortgage banker” rose from less than 100 employees at the end of 2009 to nearly 170 people as of Dec. 31, 2010.
FBC said it expanded statewide last year to 10 Florida branches from just four in Central Florida, while another branch was opened in Jackson, Miss. Licenses have reportedly been obtained for six other states — where it plans to open more branches.
Mortgage brokers are being recruited for FBC’s mortgage-banking platform, which reportedly includes in-house underwriting, on-site processing and technology utilization. Alabama and Texas are the first two targeted states.
Brokers are empowered “to be more competitive and more profitable than they would with other employment opportunities they considered prior to joining FBC.”
