Survey: RE Brokerages Favoring Mortgage JVs

A new Weston Edwards survey of affiliated business arrangements shows that real estate brokerage firms are favoring joint ventures with mortgage lenders over operating wholly owned mortgage subsidiaries.The Weston Edwards survey of 220 of the top 350 real estate brokerage firms found that 36% have wholly owned mortgage subsidiaries, compared with 45% in 1998. Meanwhile, 41% of the real estate brokerage firms have joint ventures with mortgage lenders compared with 37% in 1998. The survey also found that 66% of RE brokerage firms offer title and closing services. The new survey is expected to be released the week of Aug. 30. Sue Johnson, executive director of the Real Estate Settlement Providers Council, gave a sneak preview of the new survey at the annual convention of state real estate mortgage regulators in Washington.