California B&C Lender Goes Bust

Harbourton Mortgage Investment Corp., Santa Rosa, Calif., closed its doors in late December, the apparent victim of loan buyback requests that it could not handle.According to one correspondent buyer, Harbourton was producing about $80 million a month. Harbourton's failure is just the latest in a wave of collapses that is reshaping the struggling subprime sector. In December, OwnIt Mortgage of Woodland Hills, Calif., went bust, as did Sebring Capital of Texas. As of MortgageWire's deadline, telephone calls to Harbourton's operations center in Virginia had not been returned. The company was founded in 2001 and is a subsidiary of Harbourton Capital Group of McLean, Va., according to its website. Kevin J. Ryan is listed as its chief executive officer. (For full details, see the Jan. 8 issue of National Mortgage News.)