Bankers Funding Co., LLC, a Joint Venture With Wells Fargo Bank, Is Launched to Secure & Expand Mortgage Financing Offerings

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June 20, 2008

IRVINE, Calif., April 28 /PRNewswire/ — First Team Real Estate, the number one independent real estate company in Southern California and the tenth largest by volume in the nation, is pleased to announce the successful launch of a joint venture between Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and one of the nation’s leading providers of residential mortgages, and Blue Diamond Enterprises, LLC. The joint venture, Bankers Funding Company, LLC, is co-owned by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Blue Diamond Enterprises, a firm that is owned by Cameron Merage, CEO and founder of First Team Real Estate.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Bankers Funding have agreed to originate, process and fund mortgage loans collaboratively. The joint venture will offer customers of Bankers Funding and First Team, as well as other home buyers, a wide range of home financing products and services through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, expanding the options of financial services available to home buyers.
As the mortgage crisis grew last year, many of the largest mortgage lenders in the U.S. have seen their funding capabilities shrink as investors fled. Unlike those lenders, Bankers Funding now has rock-solid backing from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a leading bank that met their loan commitments during last year’s funding crisis, adding financial strength & credibility to Bankers Funding.
In today’s competitive real estate and mortgage environments, First Team is flourishing and growing, in part because the company makes it a top priority to offer the most comprehensive range of mortgage services available. First Team will leverage its relationship with Bankers Funding to provide services that were previously unavailable to the company as mortgage brokers.
Bankers Funding saves First Team’s homebuyers time and money with the speed and convenience of ‘one-stop shopping’ and the expertise to execute flawlessly throughout the entire loan transaction.
Bankers Funding’s new offerings include:

— Private Mortgage Banking, offering high-net-worth individuals
discounted interest rates on many programs, and outside-the-box
underwriting exceptions.
— A Home Opportunities Program that provides up to 95% financing with
loans up to $500,000 for public employees such as police,
firefighters, teachers, school staffers and medical personnel.
— Close-on-Time Guarantee
— Priority Buyer

“The market will soon begin to respond to the new economic stimulus package, which makes more expensive mortgages affordable,” said Mr. Merage. The economic stimulus package which President Bush signed into law in February would raise the limit on the loans that government-insured mortgage institutions can buy, to a new level based on 125 percent of the region’s median home price (with an upper cap of $729,750).
“Our strategy is simple: to deliver superior services and a full range of financing options,” he added. “The Bankers Funding joint venture will ensure that we can fulfill our firm commitment to finding the right loan for every customer,” Mr. Merage concluded.
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