Appel peels off to Preferred Empire

After mulling various offers, top mortgage broker Jeff Appel in June left the Manhattan Mortgage Company, where he was managing director, to join Preferred Empire Mortgage Company as senior vice president.

Appel was the second-biggest loan originator in New York City last year in dollar volume and ranked 11th nationally, according to a survey by Mortgage Originator magazine. Appel’s loan volume of $343 million in 2004 was second in New York only to his former boss, Manhattan Mortgage owner Melissa Cohn, who originated $613 million in loans, according to the survey.

Appel told The Real Deal that he had received several offers from other firms, but thought that Preferred Empire’s offer was the “smartest.” He said he was taking five people he worked with at Manhattan Mortgage, including his senior account executive Steve Moran, with him to Preferred Empire. (Moran worked directly for Appel, not Manhattan Mortgage.)

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Appel’s departure loosens Manhattan Mortgage’s hold on the top-ranking brokers cited in the Mortgage Originator survey, which was released in April. Nine other New York-based brokers finished in the top 100 nationally, including four from Manhattan Mortgage.

Before his work with Manhattan Mortgage, Appel owned his own full-service real estate firm in Los Angeles for several years, and holds real estate brokers licenses in New York, Massachusetts and California.

“We’re very excited to have Jeff as part of our team,” said Marcia Kaufman, president of Preferred. “His exceptional talents and accomplishments in the industry are well known.”

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