Local mortgage company Intracoastal Mortgage is dropping its overt affiliation with local real estate giant Intracoastal. Intracoastal Mortgage is now Watermark Mortgage as of mid-December.
“Walking away from a very strong brand seems very counter intuitive,” said Watermark Mortgage President Martin Barbee.
“Really, we’re going from an in-house lender to an outside lender. To really grow in this market, and recruit people to come over, we’ve gotta have our own independent name.”
Intracoastal Mortgage was started in 1998 and currently employs five people. Jim Wallace, president and founder of Intracoastal Realty, is
also a partner in Intracoastal Mortgage, now Watermark.
Barbee said the name change was not fully attributed to the tough economic climate, but to more business opportunities, especially with homebuilders.
“When we deal with a lot of the builder communities, they list with other real estate companies. It gives us more avenues to go over,”
Barbee said.
Barbee became a partner with Intracoastal Mortgage in July of 2008, and was previously a mortgage broker with Bank of America, though Barbee said the name change was considered before he came on board.
“Honestly, it seems like a crazy time to do it, but it gives (us) something to go out and talk to people about,” Barbee said.
Watermark is looking to add a few more loan officers in 2009, and Barbee thinks that this will not be last change in the local mortgage market.
“I think one of the things you’ll see is more consolidation,” Barbee said. “It’s really getting back to the basics, getting the loan, and going out and prospecting, it’s going back to relationships.”