John Walsh contends direct lenders and mortgage brokers were not to blame for the housing crisis. Despite that, he says, lawmakers and regulators have come down hard on the industry.
The result has been that firms such as Total Mortgages Services L.L.C., a national mortgage lender based in Milford, are more regulated than banks when it comes to the licensing of brokers and loan officers, said Walsh, the firm”™s president.
“We are more regulated than the banks from a licensing perspective,” Walsh said. “That”™s a change based upon the financial crisis.”
Now, loan officers for mortgage lenders must pass federal- and state-administered courses in order to be certified.
“The mortgage industry got blamed for everything, and mortgage brokers in general and mortgage lenders,” Walsh said. “Although the banks were the ones who put out the products, for whatever reason, they (regulators) decided that only the places that aren”™t actual banks have to go through this rigorous testing process.”
While that represents a benefit to consumers, “it”™s not necessarily a level playing field for us to compete with the big banks,” Walsh said.
Taking those challenges in stride, the firm, which originated in Fairfield in 1997, is in the midst of expanding both its corporate functions and its retail branches.
Total Mortgage opened a retail office in Fairfield last month after unveiling a new Ridgefield office in May. The firm, which has grown to have a presence in more than two dozen states, also announced it had closed on the purchase of a 144,000-square-foot office complex at 185 Plains Road in Milford to serve as its future headquarters.
Walsh said the moves will help accommodate the company”™s growth, both within its corporate suites and its home market of southwest Connecticut.
“We got our start in Fairfield down on Sherman Street ”” we were there for a couple years and then we moved up to Milford,” Walsh said.
“We”™ve grown from a three-person office to about 150 people here in Milford,” with loan officers situated across 29 states and Washington, D.C., Walsh said. “We thought it was an opportune time to open up a smaller retail office in Fairfield to get a little more local and to reach out to the community on a more local level.”
The new Fairfield retail branch is at 1873 Post Road, where it will primarily serve residents in Bridgeport, Easton, Norwalk, Westport and Weston, among other areas, the company said. The office will be managed by Joe Bartolomeo, a co-founder of Total Mortgage, and Thomas Bepko, a mortgage industry and U.S. Army veteran. It will initially be staffed by six to eight employees, with room for up to 15, Walsh said.
Total Mortgage closed on its purchase of the 16-acre Milford Place Corporate Center in late June for $5.25 million. The seller, whose identity was not disclosed, was represented by Gene Pride of CBRE Group Inc.”™s Stamford office and Tim Fegan and Dave Hansen of the firm”™s New Haven office.
The company said it plans to occupy about 30 percent of the building and that it would be moved in by this fall. The firm”™s production, marketing and operations teams will all be housed in the new offices. All credit decisions are centralized at the Milford headquarters, Walsh said.
“Everything is done under one roof,” he said. “That”™s for control purposes, and we want to make sure we can keep our track record of 16 years of not having to buy back a loan.”
