Irvine-based mortgage lender Greenlight Financial Services Inc. is starting a new division and plans to make 400 more hires in Orange County.
Greenlight said it expects to launch a wholesale division in the first quarter of next year.
“We’ve always been direct-to-consumer,” said Executive Vice President Mary Glass-Schannault, who joined the firm in September as part of the leadership team for the new division. “This is a good time for expansion for Greenlight—it’s a chance to diversify the revenue and income stream.”
The company has about 250 employees here, with additions expected to begin in coming weeks.
Hiring will kick off Nov. 5 with a fair at the Irvine Marriott, according to Aparna Ranganathan, recruitment manager for Greenlight.
Some of the hires will be for a recently launched reverse-mortgage division.
“We were brought on a couple of months ago,” said Dave Bancroft, manager of the reverse-mortgage division. “It adds pillars to the company—a reverse-mortgage division, and now you have a wholesale division.”
Glass-Schannault said wholesale mortgage lending is now an underserved market.
“There aren’t enough companies out there servicing the wholesale industry,” she said. “There are a lot of good brokers who got a bad rap during the mortgage crisis.”
The company is looking to work with mortgage brokers in California and a number of other states for business.
“It’s a strategy to choose states that are doing a bit better,” Glass-Schannault said.
Privately held Greenlight does not release financial data.
It has offices at 18200 Von Karman Ave. in Irvine and recently leased temporary office next door to accommodate new hires.
