Two Michigan based mortgage companies have merged to create the largest reverse mortgage lender in the state.

1st Financial Reverse Mortgages has become part of Success Mortgage Partners (SMP) said Mike Gruley, President of 1st Financial Mortgage in an email to RMD.

“I merged my company with SMP for one simple reason; we are stronger together than we were each individually” he said. “From the beginning, our plan was to eventually partner with a strong, well established FHA Full Eagle lender, and the track record of SMP mirrored that of mine when it comes to producing an ethical result.”

Odds are this won’t be the last broker joining with a mortgage banker in light of changes made by the Federal Housing Administration to eliminate correspondents and provide more authority to Mortgagees.  In the current market environment, many lenders and brokers are seeing the value in joining forces to enhance their strength and execution options said Gruley. 

He will head up all expansion operations for the entity which has approximately 14 originators on the reverse mortgage side and hopes to add additional people in the near term.

“Our immediate growth plans focus predominantly on Michigan and Florida based seniors; however, we are in discussions with other additional conversion candidates in the mid-west and other parts of the U.S.,” said Owen Lee, Esq., President of the Success Mortgage Partners.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have attracted Mike Gruley and his team. Never before have I met a group of caring, knowledgeable professionals who represent the interests of their clients at such a high level. Their previous success has been tremendous and we are ecstatic about our partnership and its ability to further enhance the service level to seniors in regards to this extremely important product offering” said Kevin Broughton, VP of Operations of the parent Company.

For Vincent Lee, majority shareholder of parent Company SMP, the merger helps complete his goal from 2005 to become the largest reverse mortgage lender in Michigan.  “Through this merger, we have achieved my stated goal from 5 years ago and my desire to catapult this Company and further service seniors has never been higher,” said Lee.

Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.

Check out ReverseBase for additional data on Success Mortgage Partners and 1st Financial Mortgage.  To see the list of the top 100 lenders in Michigan click here.