Ditech won’t have need of mortgage services

Paul Clinton

Ditech.com, one of the first online mortgage lenders, has elected not

to pull out of its headquarters using a trigger-clause in its lease.

Instead, the company, owned by GMAC Mortgage Corp., will stay at

its high-visibility offices overlooking the San Diego Freeway.

“With the current state of the [commercial] real estate market,

there were a lot of options,” Ditech General Manager Michael McCarthy

said. “We’re ideally located here. It’s a great centralized

location.”

Adding perhaps another silver lining to the news for local civic

leaders, GMAC Mortgage has also decided to base a new unit, CalDirect

Home Loans, at the Costa Mesa office.

The company considered a handful of locations outside of Costa

Mesa, including Anaheim’s Arena Corporate Center, at 1400-1600

Douglass Road.

After weighing the costs and benefits of a move, McCarthy said the

company determined to stay at its location at Two Town Center, the

twin 15-story, 300,000-square-foot office towers in South Coast

Metro. The offices are owned by L.A.-based CommonWealth Partners.

“We’re thrilled that they’re staying,” said Ted Bischak, the

senior vice president of property management with CommonWealth.

“They’re an excellent tenant.”

Ditech Funding Corp. occupies about 50% of the tower that bears

its name, McCarthy said.

Ditech holds a lease that runs until 2006. It includes an early

termination window that lapsed in April.

GMAC launched CalDirect, which began offering loans May 1, to tap

into a favorable lending environment that has seen interest rates

remain at historic lows. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in Orange

County averaged 5.24% on Friday, according to the Bankrate.com Web

site.

Ditech in 1999 signed a lease for space in Two Town Center, which

was developed by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons and then sold to CommonWealth

Partners. The lender employs more than 1,400.

“I’m pleased to hear they’re staying,” said Ed Fawcett, the

president and chief executive of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

“Their visibility and profile from that freeway has got to be hard,

if not impossible, to replace anywhere in Orange County.”

Last year, GMAC Direct Lending, which includes Ditech’s business,

originated $18.3 billion in loans from 174,000 transactions. About

30% of the inbound business is now coming from equity financing.

During the first quarter, Ditech alone funded $5.3 billion from

40,600 transactions.