Tulsa-based Homeland Federal Mortgage has closed for business.
The mortgage company’s officers, Daniel & Laura Newberry, filed a personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 5th in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Homeland Federal’s president, Dan Newberry, who also is an Oklahoma state senator, said the closing of his mortgage company and his bankruptcy filings is a “severe reminder that no one is immune to the current economic crises afflicting our nation.”
Newberry started his mortgage company at his home in 2003 with only two employees. When it ceased operations at the end of December, the company had grown to seven employees and was located in a suite at 5800 E. Skelly Drive.
For a short time, the business had a presence in Oklahoma City and considered the possibility of opening in other states. In 2006, though, the company decided to pull back and focus on its home market of Tulsa, according to Newberry.
“We have survived the ‘mortgage meltdown’ which began in 2006 while many of our competitors closed their doors,” Newberry said. “However, recent federal legislative initiatives that favor big banks have made it increasingly difficult for small family-owned businesses like ours to survive. Their actions have led to reductions in available funds to lend, approvable borrowers, and a significant increase in the time it takes to close a home loan. This combined with a weakening economy has forced us to close our company.”
Newberry noted that according to some reports, more than 70 percent of mortgage brokers in Oklahoma did not renew their licenses between 2006 and mid-2009.
Source: Tulsa World
