Mortgage lenders GO Mortgage and PacRes struck a deal to merge their businesses, allowing them to gain scale and reduce the cost of originating a loan in a higher-for-longer mortgage rate environment. The financials of the transaction were not disclosed. 

“By uniting our unique capabilities and resources, we will achieve significant operational improvements,” Michael Isaacs, CEO of GO Mortgage, said in a prepared statement. Matt Stashin, CEO and founder of PacRes Mortgage, added that “in today’s lending environment, a focus on driving down the cost to originate a loan is critically important.”

The parties expect the transaction, announced on Friday, to close in the third quarter of 2024. 

Loan volume has the potential to double in the combined company. Mortgage tech platform Modex shows that Columbus, Ohio-based GO Mortgage originated about $690 million in mortgage loans over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, Portland, Oregon-headquartered PacRes produced about $440 million in the same period. 

According to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS), GO Mortgage is combining its 91 sponsored loan officers and 26 active branches with PacRes’s 63 sponsored LOs and 16 active branches. 

The companies are complementary geographically. GO Mortgage gets most of its business in states such as Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while PacRes is focused in Oregon, California, and Utah, per Modex data. Both companies are focused on originating purchase mortgages. 

According to the merger agreement, Stashin will join the GO Mortgage board of directors, Isaacs will be the combined company CEO, and Melissa Stashin, the president and cofounder of PacRes, will become president of the merged business.

PacRes cofounder and executive vice president Eric Wiley will be chief experience officer, and GO Mortgage’s Andrew Panagos will become chief operating officer. 

Mortgage industry experts anticipated more merger and acquisition transactions in 2024 amid a challenging landscape. In 2023, HousingWire reported on 62 mergers, acquisitions, exits, and bankruptcies.  

So far this year, Utah-based Capital Community Bank (CCBank) acquired Security Home Mortgage (SHM), and California-based Mountain West Financial sold its retail assets to competitor ML Mortgage Corp. 

Earlier in the year, CrossCountry Mortgage acquired Amcap Home Loans, Guild Mortgage struck an agreement with Academy Mortgage, and New American Funding (NAF) nabbed Draper & Kramer Mortgage Corp. In addition, CMG Financial acquired Norcom Mortgage’s retail assets.