1,000 employees, 48 states and 80 branches are all being ‘wound down'
In what will come a s huge surprise to many in the industry, residential mortgage lenderWJ Bradley Mortgage Capital has suddenly ceased lending, posting a notice on its website to that effect. “After consulting with its advisors, the company determined that an orderly wind-down is in the best interest of the company, its creditors and other stakeholders,” the site announced. "The Company ceased operations and stopped funding new loans on March 13, 2016. It is hoped that undertaking the wind-down through this orderly process will reduce costs, avoid additional liabilities, minimize the impact on existing customers and maximize the value of the Company’s assets."
Based in Centennial, Colo., W.J. Bradley was founded in 2002 and was licensed in 48 states. It operated about 80 branch locations and had more than 1,000 employees. It made the Inc 5000 list in 2013 and then 2014 – adding 550 jobs the previous year and achieving a revenue of $240M. In $2015 is made nearly 9000 loans, originating $2.459 Bn
WJ Bradley began offering Alt-A mortgages and hard-to-finance loans to clients that wanted to buy into condos last year – but after several months the company was getting nowhere. Borrowers felt that 7% interest rates were too high COO Dan Baruch told the WSJ. As recently as this February the company was trying again – hoping to be able to offer rates around 5%.“There’s capital on the sidelines ready to deploy, but the marketplace isn’t fully ready to accept it,” Mr. Baruch told wsj.com.
