Know what you are buying. Get full value when you sell.
Garrett, McAuley & Co. advises buyers and sellers of mortgage banking companies and bank mortgage divisions. Our due diligence goes past the financial statements into operations, compliance, key-person risk, and the quality of earnings, and our valuations account for what a generic business valuation misses.
- Advising lenders since
- 2003
- Mortgage companies served
- 600+
- Banks and thrifts served
- 120+
- Reviews a year
- 40 to 60
How we help
- Buy-side due diligence on independent mortgage bankers and bank mortgage divisions
- Sell-side preparation, so the buyer's diligence goes smoothly
- Independent valuations for transactions, buy-sell agreements, and ownership transitions
- Production sustainability and concentration in key loan officers
- Secondary marketing, servicing, and compliance risk that affects price
- Identifying acquisition targets or buyers through our industry network
How it works
- 1A confidential call about your goals, timing, and the company or division involved.
- 2A review of financials, production, secondary marketing, servicing, and compliance.
- 3A valuation and a list of findings ranked by their effect on price and closing.
- 4Support through negotiation, closing, and the first months after the deal.
Talk with us about what you need.
A 30-minute call is the fastest way to see whether we are a fit. No cost, no obligation.
What you receive
- A clear view of what the business is worth and why
- Diligence findings ranked by their effect on price and closing
- A list of what to fix before going to market, or what it will cost to fix after closing
Why Garrett, McAuley
- Garrett, McAuley has worked with more than 600 mortgage companies, 120 banks and thrifts, and 25 institutional private equity investors since 2003
- Reviewers who know where mortgage earnings come from: pipeline marks, MSR values, and repurchase reserves
- Diligence built on the same safety-and-soundness review warehouse lenders rely on
Who you will work with
Joe Garrett
Co-Founder & Principal
Joe Garrett has worked in banking and mortgage banking since 1977, mostly in FDIC-insured and OCC-regulated banks. He served on the boards of four banking institutions and as Chairman and CEO of two of them.
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Michael D. McAuley
Co-Founder & Principal
Michael D. McAuley became a commercial banker in 1984, specializing in mortgage warehouse lending and commercial lending. He managed the warehouse lending business for Washington Mutual and JPMorgan Chase, and he has helped commercial banks set up, assess, and improve their warehouse lending operations.
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Steve Stone
Managing Director
Steve Stone has spent his career in independent mortgage banking, as an entrepreneur and as a senior operating executive. He founded and later sold an independent mortgage banking company, and he has managed loan production, servicing, secondary marketing, MSR strategy, and technology.
LinkedIn
Common questions
- How are mortgage banking companies valued?
- Buyers typically start with adjusted book value, then add a premium or take a discount for the durability of earnings, the origination franchise, servicing rights, and platform value. The premium depends on the cycle and on how much of the earnings a buyer believes will survive the transition.
- What does buy-side due diligence cover?
- It covers quality of earnings, production sustainability and producer concentration, secondary marketing and pipeline risk, servicing, compliance condition, systems, and people.
- When should a seller start preparing?
- A year before going to market is not too early. Cleaning up financial reporting and resolving known compliance items before diligence protects both price and certainty of close.
- Do you help find buyers or acquisition targets?
- Yes. We draw on relationships across the industry to identify buyers and sellers, and we keep every conversation confidential.
- Can you value a bank's mortgage division?
- Yes. We value independent mortgage bankers and bank mortgage divisions for transactions, planning, and litigation.