UFM Acquires Vision Mortgage Group

United Financial Mortgage Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has agreed to acquire Vision Mortgage Group, a privately-held retail mortgage originator headquartered in Rockford, Ill.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Vision has four branches, three in Illinois and one in the state of Washington. The founders, Cass Wolfenberger and Michael Urnezis, will remain after the deal is completed and become president and senior vice president, respectively of the Vision Mortgage division of UFM. Vision had a volume of $148 million in 2003 and $78.6 million for the first seven months of 2004. Steve Khoshabe, president and chief executive of UFM, said, "We are excited about incorporating Vision Mortgage's business model, which is focused on developing Realtor and builder relationships, into our retail origination network. We also anticipate that we will improve Vision Mortgage's financial performance as a result of our secondary market execution, lower cost of warehouse financing and the introduction of administrative synergies."