Number of mortgage-related firm failures approaching record

There have been 164 mortgage-related firms that have collapsed or been closed so far this year, according to Mortgage Graveyard, a journal on failed lenders, already 40 more failures than were seen in all of 2008 and two failures away from breaking the record for the most in one year. Additionally, 98 federally insured institutions have failed in 2009, 300 percent more than was seen in 2008. Sam Garcia, publisher of MortgageDaily.com, which manages the Mortgage Graveyard, said that this trend could continue through the coming months. “We are likely to see 2009’s mortgage-related closings rise to more than 200 firms by the end of the year,” Garcia said. “Based on the rising number of regulatory orders being issued against financial institutions — the pace of bank failures is likely to get worse before improving.” TRD