Props to S Crow for pointing out the demise of yet another local mortgage company: Merit.
Kirkland-based mortgage company Merit Financial will meet with its 300 employees this morning to let most of them go as executives decide whether to file for bankruptcy, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.
Merit Financial will keep a skeleton staff to process loans in progress, but otherwise will be working to liquidate the company, said the sources.
Merit was founded in 2001, making residential loans during a hot real-estate market. It grew quickly from a company with 12 employees and $50 million in loan volume its first year to passing the $2 billion mark in cumulative loans last May, after just four years in business, according to the company’s Web site. At that time, it had 430 employees and planned to hire more.
Like others in the mortgage business, Merit fell on hard times as the refinancing market dried up. Six months ago, it laid off about 20 people in its lending division and stopped making loans itself, acting only as a broker.
Hey at least there’s always Senor Cartgage Mortgage. But don’t worry your little head about the steady collapse of the mortgage lending industry in our back yard… real estate in Seattle is H-O-T HOT. Get in while you still can, before you get priced out forever!
(Melissa Allison, Seattle Times, 05.04.2006)