Origination News Feature Story

1st Met Plans To Join Hestia

By Paul Muolo

CHARLOTTE, NC-1st Metropolitan Mortgage here, once a top-ranked loan brokerage and net branch operator, has struck a deal to merge with another lender and then become part of Hestia Financial of Dallas.

Daniel Jacobs, president of 1st Metropolitan, has confirmed the sale arrangement but declined to talk about price.

1st Metro is slated to merge with Mirad Financial Group, a subsidiary of Hestia. Mirad and 1st Metro both have government approvals to fund Federal Housing Administration loans.

Mr. Jacobs noted that being a loan brokerage is really no longer an option for the company going forward.

"The broker environment is becoming more and more hostile," he said, citing the number of firms leaving wholesaling and the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct rules that went into effect on May 1.

He said 1st Metropolitan has wanted to be a mortgage banker for quite some time.

Little is known about Hestia Financial but a notice on a financial website for Texas companies notes that its business plan is "to combine mortgage brokers into a mortgage banking platform."

Its CEO is Patrick McGeeney but there is no listing for the company in the Dallas phone book.

Hestia notes that it has signed letters of intent with a mortgage banking firm, and at least one loan brokerage.

According to the Mortgage Industry Directory, an ON sister publication, 1st Metropolitan ranked fourth nationwide among all loan brokerage firms in terms of loan production with $2.4 billion.