Urban Financial Group is moving into a brand new 20,000 square foot corporate office on Monday in South Tulsa to accommodate its growing reverse mortgage operation.  The company currently employes 81 people in Tulsa and 120 throughout the country, will use the new office to expand into all 50 states.

“With the support of our parent company Urban will solidify its place as one of the top reverse mortgage lenders in the country. Having such a strong company supporting Urban will allow us to continue to grow and add additional jobs to the community,” said Bryan Hendershot, President and founder of Urban Financial.

Last year, Knight Capital Group acquired Urban after the two companies started working together to provide additional warehouse capacity in return for Urban’s production.  “Once the products investor changed from FNMA to GNMA, we needed the warehouse support from someone like Knight,” he said during an interview with RMD.

With all the warehouse capacity it needs, Knight has big plans for the company.

During a conference call with investors in November 2010, Jim Smyth, EVP, Senior Advisor and Senior Relationship Officer at Knight said it sees a significant upside in the acquisition and aims to more than double market share, reaching 20% by 2013.

To see that level of growth, Urban will need to expand its business into the north east, where it doesn’t have much of a footprint.  To help, Urban announced it plans acquire the assets of Guardian First Funding Group, a reverse mortgage lender based in New York, NY.  Expected to close in early 2011, the acquisition will help boost Urban’s retail platform and instantly provides it with one of the most recognized brands in the industry – the Robert Wagner commercials.

According to data from Reverse Market Insight, Urban is the 6th largest reverse mortgage lender, endorsing 1,295 reverse mortgages in 2010.