MORTGAGE SERVICE PLANS FLEXIBLE LOANS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993                   TAG: 9304020225
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MORTGAGE SERVICE PLANS FLEXIBLE LOANS
Mortgage Service America Co., which took over the loan-origination offices of Dominion Mortgage Corp. on Thursday, said it plans to offer more flexible products.
Larry Hamilton, president of the company's mid-Atlantic region, said it will expand as it enters business on the East Coast. Hamilton, a Roanoke native, had worked for Dominion Mortgage in McLean for 13 years, the last eight as executive vice president.
Mortgage Service America, based in Phoenix, Ariz., bought Dominion's mortgage banking production division from First Union Corp. after First Union acquired Dominion last month. Financial terms were not disclosed. First Union said it prefers to sell mortgages through its branch banks.
Mortgage Service bought 11 stand-alone production offices: five in the Washington metropolitan area, five elsewhere in Virginia and one in Tennessee. One of the offices is in Roanoke. The offices deal primarily with real estate and home-building companies.
Hamilton said the purchase saved 250 jobs, 180 in the branches and 70 at the old Dominion headquarters in McLean. The 70 people had been laid off by First Union.
Mortgage Service has 41 offices in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Colorado and funded more than $5.1 billion in residential loans last year.
Dominion's mortgage production division had business of $1.2 billion last year, including $65 million in Roanoke.
Hamilton said Mortgage Service plans to increase the capabilities of its Virginia branches and expand the number of branches in Maryland and Tennessee.
He said the company will enhance its lock-in, or the time mortgage loan interest rates are promised, beyond the traditional 15 or 60 days. It will lock in rates at the time of application for seven, 30, 45 or, in some cases, up to 120 days. It also will offer second mortgages and adjustable-rate loans.
Hamilton said the company has systems just for home builders. One protects interest rates up to nine months, during which a home can be built and occupied.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB