LendingTree LLC has agreed to buy SurePoint Lending, a traditional mortgage originator in Louisville, Ky., giving the online-focused company a branch network for the first time in its 12-year history.
LendingTree, whose core business is generating leads for sale to lenders, has had a direct lending operation since 2004, when it bought HomeLoanCenter.com, in Irvine, Calif., and renamed it LendingTree Loans. That outfit operates exclusively online and by phone. SurePoint has four branches, one each in Louisville, Nashville, Tenn., Tampa, Fla., and Indianapolis, and nearly 500 employees, including more than 300 loan officers.
It has bought leads from LendingTree for 11 years and has written more than $10 billion of loans since it was founded in 1995.
Doug Lebda, the chairman and chief executive of Tree.com Inc., LendingTree's parent company in Charlotte, N.C., said in a press release Tuesday that its strategy for direct lending "also includes expanding our team of loan officers headquartered in Irvine" and "increasing our marketing spend[ing]."
LendingTree Loans agreed to pay $6 million in cash up front, with an additional payment of up to $17 million depending on earnings over the next three years. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.
