Western Regional Show to Close Doors

The Western Regional Mortgage Lenders Conference will shut its doors after the 2006 event, according to the show's organizers.At the same time and in a related move, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers has decided to postpone its first-ever NAMB West event. Originally the two shows were to take place just weeks apart in Las Vegas this fall. In its statement, the organizers of the WRMLC said the show "fulfilled its mission by delivering quality education, the best mortgage conference in the country and by creating a unique revenue sharing model that provided 14 state mortgage associations over $1.4 million dollars in the past nine years." In addition, the WRMLC made $160,000 in grants and charitable contributions, including $76,000 to Habitat for Humanity, the organizers said. "The organization expects to make substantial distributions after what is planned to be the final and most successful event for WRMLC," they added. NAMB president Jim Nabors said his group understood that "it would have been difficult for NAMB's state affiliates to change their 2006 meeting plans so quickly. The NAMB Board wanted to help our state affiliates and others honor long-standing relationships and commitments without having to choose between NAMB and the Western Regional Conference."