First Community Mortgage (FCM), which has been growing its Metro Atlanta presence rapidly over the past year, announced that it will acquire a Mortgage Boutique (AMB) in a transaction it hopes to close within the next month, pending regulatory approval.
Based in Middle Tennessee, FCM’s Atlanta branch is in Buckhead, and it originates mortgages in 46 states. Over the past year, FCM has added Atlanta-area lending teams from Douglasville to Decatur and Fayetteville to Johns Creek.
“We are excited to partner with the team at AMB,” says Keith Canter, CEO of First Community Mortgage, and one of the 18-year-old organization’s founders. “There is strong alignment between our two organizations, particularly in the value we place on people – employees, clients, and business partners – and the communities we serve. These strong FCM-AMB synergies will especially enhance our ability to serve additional clients.”
Canter notes that, upon completion and regulatory approval of the acquisition, FCM’s Wholesale Division will rebrand as a Mortgage Boutique. In addition to an enhanced local presence, Canter says adding AMB’s people and processes to FCM will strengthen the organization.
“We are pleased to join with our friends at First Community Mortgage,” says Retta Gardner, Co-Founder of AMB, who will become Executive Vice President of the a Mortgage Boutique Division at FCM, “knowing our combined organizations are truly better together. This merger will enable us to continue to serve our clients, while also enhancing the service experience by leveraging a deeper set of resources. As we begin working together, we’ll focus the strengths of our remarkable alignment on continued growth and leadership in the mortgage industry.”
First Community Mortgage is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Community Bank of Tennessee, and includes Wholesale, Correspondent and Retail divisions. FCM is a FNMA, FHLMC, and GNMA seller/servicer and offers mortgage solutions to consumers and financial institutions. It funded over $3.5 billion in home loans in 2020.
“The combined capabilities of our teams are exceptional,” Canter says, “so much so that we have been saying the merger math for this is 1 + 1 = 3. What matters most is that clients and business partners of FCM and AMB will have an even better experience. Our evolution and growth continues, and we will be excited to welcome the AMB family to ours.”