Lender Sees Surge In Mortgage Loan Activity In March

Since opening in the TOPA Tower in downtown Honolulu two months ago, Honolulu HomeLoans has grown to include over 50 personnel and experienced an immediate increase in lending activity, closing $13 million in mortgage loans in March.

“We are working with first time home buyers, move-up buyers, and investors taking advantage of the still record low interest rates and the opportunities available in today’s residential real estate market,” said company President and CEO Tom Zimmerman, who founded HHL together with seven other mortgage industry leaders.

“What HHL is bringing to Hawaii’s lending marketplace is a wealth of experience…our team has combined for a total of over 750 years of successful experience in the Hawaii mortgage, finance, and real estate markets. We are also fortunate to have well-established relationships with Realtors, developers, title and escrow companies, appraisers, and others who help move along a real estate transaction and bring it to a successful conclusion.

“Relationships are very important in this business. Over the years you build up trust and familiarity with the way people work. The borrower benefits because

we can close loans in a timely manner…and time is of the essence in this market with multiple offers and back up offers coming in on many homes as they go on the market. We also have the expertise to guide a client through the sometimes complicated process of financing the acquisition of a distressed property.”

Zimmerman pointed out that, as a mortgage bank, HHL lends its own money. “Being able to make our own decisions and fund our own loans amounts to a real plus in customer service.”

HHL offers conventional 15 and 30 year fixed rate mortgage loans, FHA loans, VA loans, and US Department of Agriculture Loans and will broker construction and remodeling loans for clients.

The HHL team includes an “honor role” of long-time Hawaii mortgage lenders, some of whom worked with Zimmerman when he started his career in finance at Honolulu Mortgage 20 years ago, and subsequently at Bank of Hawaii. Together with company Chairman Ron Schmid and Executive Vice President Gayle Ishima, he founded Hawaii HomeLoans in 2001, a company that was acquired by Central Pacific Bank in 2005 and renamed Central Pacific HomeLoans. Zimmerman and his team managed Central Pacific HomeLoans for the past four years before leaving in August to form Honolulu HomeLoans.

“I think we have the best in the industry here…everyone has their own role and areas of expertise. One of our lenders, for example, is in charge of product management and responsible for keeping on top of the changes in mortgage banking regulations and lending parameters, which vary from week to week and sometimes daily.”

Zimmerman said he is optimistic about the Hawaii marketplace based on the relative stability it has enjoyed through the turbulent years following the subprime crisis.

One of the company’s new team members, HHL Executive Vice President/Loan Origination Anders Hostelley, noted, “If you look at the most recent statistics from the Honolulu Board of Realtors, you will see that sales prices have leveled out to the point where the average sales price for a single family home in the month of March rose to $599,000, which is a 4.2 percent increase over the same period in 2009. Furthermore, days on market for both single family homes and condominiums have decreased, which are additional signs of a healthy real estate recovery.”