As many of you have noticed, several emailed or called, I have not been very active from the mortgage standpoint for the last several weeks. Those of you who have known me for a while have known me as the outspoken, painfully honest lender from Novation Mortgage in Atlanta, Georgia.

After almost 9 years of holding the license, being the broker then the lender, then the broker, Novation Mortgage is closing our doors. Today, September 30, 2009, is our last day accepting loan applications. We have no regrets and outlasted all of our "direct competition" for what that's worth. We saw years where thousands of applications came in to our offices and we closed almost $1 Billion in home mortgages in Georgia alone.

As a lender we had the ability to close loans we may not otherwise have been able to close and as a broker we had the options to choose from a list of the best lenders in the nation. Our faithful relationships have been one of the reason we have made it two years longer than much of our competitors but unfortunately we can no longer service our clients because of the way the banks and big lenders are relating with brokers and smaller lenders and because of rules like HVCC and MDIA. Like them or not, agree with them or not, they are deal killers and are impeding the industry.

Hold still! I have interviewed with and met with many people over the last few weeks. Late night conversations with bankers out of California have been commonplace as have lunch meetings with local managers and Vice Presidents. Finally, I feel confident I have found a good home for my clients and my real estate relationships.

Midweek the first week of October I will announce the name of the company. In the mean time you can know that, should this deal consummate, by the end of the year they will be licensed in all 50 states and a federally chartered bank. Currently they are licensed in all the states I have been working in including Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas as well as 23 others. The ones I know of for sure are Arizona, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

In the mean time you have seen me writing about online marketing and that's not something I decided to "pick up since the market slowed down". That was my background until 2000 and one of the most important reasons NovaStar and Novation we successful. I will still be using my 20+ years experience of marketing and Internet development to help my industry partners be more successful. If you are an agent, appraiser or builder and we have not worked together call me and see what I can/will do for my strategic partners.

By Wednesday I'll be announcing the name of the new company and giving you regular updates of what can be done.