Online guaranty.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NC TREND: Charlotte Region

It took a decade longer for Keith Leudeman to sell his online lending business Goodmortgage.com than he expected when he started in 1999. But after its May sale to First Guaranty Mortgage, the 75-employee company is part of an organization that Leudeman thinks is poised to become among the nation's five largest nonbank mortgage lenders.

That's because a private-equity unit of Pimco, the world's largest holder of mortgage-backed securities, bought a big stake in Frederick, Md.-based First Guaranty last year. Pimco also owns about 11% of PHH, one of the 10 largest U.S. mortgage lenders. With its new backing, Goodmortgage.com will expand from 18 states and the District of Columbia to a 40-state footprint and may add as many as 200 new employees at its Charlotte office over the next 18 months.

Pimco, which manages $1.5 trillion, is expanding in mortgages as many banks pull back because of rules forcing them to hold more capital and avoid investments that can be more difficult to sell. "A lot of the big banks are focused on [making home loans to] high net worth borrowers...