LoanDepot.com, an online mortgage lender started last year by Newport Beach multimillionaire Anthony Hsieh, is moving from Irvine to Foothill Ranch to set up permanent headquarters and claim room for growth.
The company has signed a five-year lease for nearly 83,000 square feet in three buildings at Arden Realty Inc.’s Towne Centre Plaza lll near the Foothill (241) Toll Road. The deal has an option for a five-year renewal.
Two of the three buildings are set to serve as a headquarters for LoanDepot.com. The other will house a wholesale lending company Hshieh said he expects to start next month.
Tenant improvements are under way with a move expected by August.
The lease fits with the company’s growth plans, according to Hsieh.
“The layout and opportunity for growth in the future, along with a great location, just worked out ideally for us,” Hsieh said.
Financial details of the lease weren’t disclosed. The deal is thought be the largest deal in the Foothill Ranch area in the past year, according to Los Angeles-based Arden Realty.
Monthly office rents in the area are going for about $1.93 per square foot, according to brokerage data. That would put the total value of a five-year lease at about $9.5 million.
Search Criteria
Hsieh said he started his search for a headquarters about a year ago and toured some 30 sites across the county. Shorter commutes for employees, marketing visibility offered by the lease and surrounding development weighed in favor of the Foothill Ranch location, he said.
The campus has plenty of parking and is near restaurants, shops and banks “that make life for employees very convenient,” said Hsieh (pronounced “shay”).
The lease allows signs on the building for LoanDepot.com or for Hsieh’s new wholesale lending company.
LoanDepot.com will be the largest tenant in the office complex, taking about 70% of its space, according to Paul King, an Arden Realty senior vice president who oversees the company’s operations in Orange County.
The buildings have a mix of smaller tenants, including law firms, a marketing company and offices of PepsiCo Inc.
LoanDepot.com’s growth has been tempered in the past few months as uncertainty plays out in the housing sector and amid regulatory changes.
Employment has stayed flat since November.
“You certainly can’t move as fast you want,” Hsieh said. “Government regulation around mortgage lending is so unpredictable these days.”
Tighter federal and state regulations have brought higher compliance costs for mortgage brokers since the sector’s meltdown a few years ago.
Lingering softness in the housing market also has strained business, according to Hsieh.
“Qualifications from consumers are getting that much tougher because values are now sliding again,” he said. “Business is still good. But getting a particular borrower approved is a challenge these days.”
LoanDepot.com offers flat-fee prices on fixed-rate mortgages, jumbo loans and adjustable-rate mortgages.
The company uses a line of credit to fund its loans.
Borrowers come to the company via its website, which allows them to enter information and get a list of possible loans.
They go through most of the process online. LoanDepot.com sends out employees to get documents signed, signatures notarized and closings recorded.
Industry Veteran
Hsieh is a 25-year industry veteran who has made his fortune building mortgage businesses and then selling them. He’s shown a knack for escaping the worst of times before they hit.
He founded Huntington Beach-based LoansDirect.com as an early online lender. He quickly grew it from 10 to 800 employees before selling to E*Trade Group Inc. in 2001.
Hsieh went on to found homeloancenter .com, which expanded to 1,000 employees within two years during the mortgage boom. He sold that company to LendingTree LLC in 2004.
Hsieh served as president of lendingtree .com for a while, appearing regularly as a mortgage expert on cable news outlets and other media.
He left the company in 2007 as problems mounted. LendingTree.com was racking up heavy losses in the housing slump, fighting lawsuits for allegedly failing to shop loans for customers and cutting jobs.
Hsieh started LoanDepot.com in early 2010 and has grown it to more than 500 employees and more than $300 million a month in lending.
He began with his own money and investments from private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners of San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C.-based investment bank Milestone Merchant Partners LLC, which has a Newport Beach office.
