Countrywide at home in Burbank

Countrywide Home Loans is working to lei a foundation for homeowners

in Burbank.

The company’s newest branch, which was opened by manager May

Shalhoub in March, celebrated its grand opening with its customers

and clients Thursday with a luau.

The new branch is a model for the company’s low-overhead strategy

-- open small, expertly staffed financial centers, rather than larger

traditional bank branches. Since the company was launched in 2001,

Countrywide Bank, N.A. has grown from $65 million in assets to more

than $70 billion, according to Countrywide.

Shalhoub, a 20-year home loan veteran, recently began hiring

agents to work in the Burbank and Toluca lake branches.

“Countrywide is now the number one lender out there, and didn’t

have any office service in the Toluca Lake area,” Shalhoub said.

“When you’re a big lender and when you want to service more people,

you want to move to a different location.”

Just six months after opening the new branch office by herself,

the office now buzzes with the work of 17 people working on loans for

first-time home buyers, owners and investors.

The newest Countrywide office deals primarily in home mortgage

loans for up to four-unit properties.

Several of the people that now work with Shalhoub, like Sheila

Ventura, have joined her after working with her at Washington Mutual.

Ventura, a production assistant who works to make sure the loan

closing process is smooth, worked with Shalhoub for 15 months, and

joined her because she saw potential in working with her in Burbank.

“I think this is a great market just waiting to be worked at and

explored, so we’re doing just that,” Ventura said.

It will not be the first time the company has made a foray into

Burbank.

The company opened its first office at the Empire Center about

three years ago, according to the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Burbank Chamber of Commerce Executive

Director Gary Olson said. “The real estate market is holding up, the

bubble hasn’t burst yet, and good things are happening so people need

to have loans and do mortgages.”

Members of the chamber have reported that the California Assn. of

Realtors is forecasting the influx of another 10 million people into

the state within the next 10 years, he said.

“We have people coming and they need housing,” Olson said. “It

certainly suggests that everything is going to keep rolling.”

BIZ BIT

Countrywide Financial Corporation, the parent company of

Countrywide Home Loans Inc., was founded in 1969.