Mortgage Grapevine

What do you guys think about Southstar?

I have an offer from them, Wilmington and a few others and I would like opinions of which company is the BEST one to go with.
by mortgageguyse January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

mortgageguyse - Wilmington is part of AIG (American International Group ) so it has strong backing. Small chance of them going out of business. Heard mostly good things about them. Their standard is a 5-year Pre-pay on fixed rate loans. Competitive on 1-loan No M/I. I believe they pay on margin..not bp. ( that´s a good thing ). Southstar - I believe they are privately held and have laid off a lot of Ops people. May want to do some research as to their stability. They´ve been a pretty good company but watch out if they depend on warehouse lines to fund loans. Good luck.
by May the force be with you January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

thanks, that´s pretty much what I´ve been hearing. Just hard to make up my mind, ya know? Southstar has some great products out there, more so than Wilmington but Wilmington definitely seems to be pretty sound
by mortgageguyse January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

SouthStar is great to their AE´s. Their Ops totally supports them.

They had a 20% layoff (nationwide) in October, but have brought some of those employees back already. (they also gave them decent severence packages.)

SouthStar isn´t going anywhere. Their owners have integrity.


by AlwaysRight January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

Who is southstar backed by?
by mortgageguyse January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

The main thing that bothers me with Southstar is they are/used to be in pretty deep with RFC. The 2 other players that had the similar type agreement with RFC haven´t faired so well (MLN & Sebring). I would explore this situation.
by Grim Peeper January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

As far as I know Southstar is a private company. I would ask them if there are any companies that have a partial ownership.
by Grim Peeper January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

Always right - Integrity doesn´t have a whole lot to do with a company shutting down. I would guess you are referring to MLN with the integrity shot. Southstar fits the same model as other lenders who have shut down recently by depending on warehouse lines. I never said that Southstar is a bad company. In fact, I think they are a very good company. If it makes you feel better beating the dead horse.....then go ahead.
by May the force be with you January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

by Guinder January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

mortgageguyse-

SouthStar is a good company, the President is a trustworthy honest guy. I worked with them for almost 5 years but could not get what I was promised from a senior manager and I got pissed and left. All in all good company! Just my 2 cents worth... They do take care of their employees.

Best Regards and Good Luck!

by subprimedowner January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

mortgageguyse,

Just to clarify

Like a lot of lenders we did lay off some people but it accounted for less than 10%, not the 20 someone suggested.

We are not in deep w/ RFC. We deal w/ Prime, Alt-A, and subprime so we have mutliple conduits.

We are privately held and are a financially sound company w/ plenty of room on the warehouse lines.

good luck
by Guinder January 15, 2007 12:00 AM

unprofessional and rude underwriters. the AE´s work really hard for you, but it does not matter when the UW won´t approve the loan. Why bother with the hassle? I would rather use Citi than Southstar.
honestly, they have had horrible customer service since the layoffs, beware...the company is going to go out of business.
by mortgageknows28 January 22, 2007 12:00 AM

I can assure you that SouthStar is not going anywhere and I personally can tell you that we did hire back most of the people that were let go to fill other positions (because we do care). We are going strong and hitting hard for 2007. Pretty much one of the few sub prime lenders to make a profit the last few months.


From a very happy AE with SouthStar Funding
by stizums January 24, 2007 12:00 AM

I can assure you that SouthStar is not going anywhere and I personally can tell you that we did hire back most of the people that were let go to fill other positions (because we do care). We are going strong and hitting hard for 2007. Pretty much one of the few sub prime lenders to make a profit the last few months.


From a very happy AE with SouthStar Funding
by stizums January 24, 2007 12:00 AM

I am as well looking to make a move from where I am and am looking at Southstar, for one, they are one of the only banks left that offer a good amount of sub-prime, but also, I like that they are privately owned, (small-town family felling), I think they have a bright future. Are there any brokers who deal with them now? What do you think?
by pookie123 February 1, 2007 12:00 AM

Reply