First Preferred Mortgage Company is finding its niche, growing in a industry that had been all but given up for dead since the housing collapse. We're talking mortgages here.
The Port Huron-based business has hired 250 people in Michigan over the last year, expanding its workforce to 375 employees and a handful of interns. The 20-year-old firm just opened up a new office in downtown Plymouth that will house five people and be up to a staff of seven within the next year.
"The major banks have been less than committed to the market based on their credit lines and loans," says Dan Sugg, vice president of retail mortgage at
First Preferred Mortgage Company. "We have seen a lot of growth in the market. We see a niche in the market for a community company to grow and take market share from the bigger players."
First Preferred Mortgage Company is a family-owned and operated company that specializes in full-service residential mortgage banking. Its products include home loans and refinancing mortgage services. Sugg says the company's family ownership structure is a big part of business philosophy that focuses on a commitment to the Midwestern communities it serves.
"It's very important for us to connect with a community like Plymouth," Sugg says. "We want to become engrained with them."
Source: Dan Sugg, vice president of retail mortgage at First Preferred Mortgage Company
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.