ABA Banking Journal - August 2008 - (Page 32) COVER STORY ume,” says Stephen Greene. Greene is vice-president of residential lending for EagleBank, $894.7 million-assets. He says the Bethesda, Md., bank hasn’t seen an increase in volume, but it is pulling in loans that it wouldn’t have a year ago. Greene says it is clear that “suddenly, there has been a flight to quality, and safety matters. Borrowers understand that if I disappear tomorrow, EagleBank will still be here. And I’m sensing that that is helping us.” In California, Rabobank, N.A., is the result of a string of mergers, the most recent of which accounts for much of the mortgage growth the bank has seen over 2007. However, some growth has come from recapturing share. Not that it’s been easy, according to Margaret Bond. “We’ve had to put a lot more effort into generating business,” says Bond. Bond says the bank was a bit ahead of the curve, because it had a line of mortgages it believed suited the market, and didn’t have to rethink and retool. The decline of the mortgage brokers helped. Even Steven, and happy enough “Things have been pretty constant for us,” says banker Scott Stafford, president and CEO at Evolve Bank & Trust. “Our highs are more moderate and our lows are more moderate here.” Stafford says the Parkin, Ark., bank, with $92 millionassets, has seen some opportunity as players left the field, but for the most part he’s been trying to keep the bank liquid and playing things conservatively. Indeed, in much of the “middle” of the country, we found that, thus far, things have been relatively unchanged. Richard McGinnis, president and CEO, at $70 million-assets Home Federal Savings and Loan Association, Lexington, Neb., says his rural markets didn’t see a runup in housing prices and mortgage broker onslaught. In some rural areas, the impact of dis- appearing mortgage brokers hasn’t meant much. “I don’t see it as a tremendous boon for community banks, as we once thought it might be,” says J. Peter Clements, president and CEO of $474.9 million-assets Bank of Southside, Carson, Va. The builders his bank finances tended to be conservative, too, so the bank hasn’t found itself with borrowers stuck with inventories of homes. In rural Minnesota, Erick Gandrud, president of $93.1 million-assets Eagle Bank, Glenwood, says volume has been steady, as have been home values. Only about two hours south, in Minneapolis, foreclosures have been running high. In some rural markets, there has been growth, but it is a relative matter. Gary Fox, president and CEO, at Bartow County Bank, Cartersville, Ga., says volume is up 20%, in the wake of the departure of about a dozen mortgage players. But Fox says that that rate translates to between eight to ten mortgages a month at his $381.8 million-assets bank. (Cont’d.) 32 AUGUST 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.eaglebankmd.com http://www.bsvnet.com http://www.ebtonline.com http://www.eaglebankmn.com http://www.rabobankamerica.com http://www.eaglebankmn.com http://www.bartowcountybank.com https://www.homefederal.com http://www.bartowcountybank.com https://www.homefederal.com http://www.jeffersonwells.com/ABABanking http://www.jeffersonwells.com/ABABanking http://www.ababj.com
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