First California Mortgage Company Hires Michael Lamka, Expands to Southerm California

Petaluma, Calif (PRWEB) March 27, 2008 -- First California Mortgage Company (First Cal), a full-service wholesale and retail mortgage banking company specializing in prime, Jumbo and FHA loans, announces that Michael Lamka, formerly an executive with Countrywide Financial, has been appointed to the position of Chief Production Officer with responsibility for wholesale loan origination and operations. The company recently expanded its wholesale loan origination activity to Southern California under the direction of Karl Wood, Regional Manager.

"We welcome Mike to our team and expect that his leadership will significantly contribute to our efforts to position First Cal as a leader in California," says Spencer Carlsen, president of First Cal. "As we continue to expand our operations and our broker network, we are confident that Mike's extensive experience in sales and operations will serve our partners well."

Lamka's career in the mortgage industry spans 25 years and includes 10 years with Mortgage Service America, formerly First California Mortgage Company's national wholesale lending operation, which was sold to a Fortune 100 company in 1995. Most recently, Lamka served in an executive capacity for Countrywide's Wholesale Lending Division which spans the U.S.

"It's great to be back with the First Cal team with its focus on California brokers. I particularly enjoy having responsibility for loan production, which is what I did the first time I had the privilege of working for First Cal," said Lamka. "This is a closely-knit company with great ideas and a sound business plan driven by the partnerships with its brokers."

First Cal offers hundreds of loans programs financed by more than two dozen investor relationships through DealWorks, its proprietary Web application. Using DealWorks, First Cal's business partners can instantly price hundreds of loan programs, match loans to borrowers using pricing, credit and property details, lock loan rates, electronically upload loan files for immediate processing and check the status of any loan.

Now entering its 28th year of operation, First Cal has funded more than $450 billion in residential loans in California as First California Mortgage Company and nationally as Mortgage Service America. Originally founded in 1977, the two companies grew to employ 2,800 people in 108 offices in 42 states.

In 1986 the firm expanded its operations, opening a wholesale division called Headlands Mortgage. First California Mortgage Company sold its loan and servicing operations to GMAC (currently Homecomings Financial) in 1995. Three years later, Headlands was taken public (NASDAQ: HDLD) prior to being sold to GreenPoint Mortgage in 1999.

First Cal resumed mortgage lending operations in 2003 to serve the needs of mortgage brokers and retail borrowers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its wholesale operations now extend to Northern and Southern California, managed from its headquarters in Petaluma. The company remains privately owned.

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