UMortgage has acquired Motto Mortgage Apex located in Cincinnati, Ohio, a Motto Mortgage brokerage franchise.
The branch has been headed by mortgage broker Breon Price for over three years. Following the acquisition, it was renamed to UMortgage Cincy. It is uncertain how many employees will transition to the Philadelphia-based mortgage company.
Price announced the acquisition via his LinkedIn page, noting that he started the company from his condo "with the slowest internet imaginable" and that he put "everything [he] had into the company."
"For the last 3 years, I've been the number one broker in Ohio. By the end of this year, it'll be announced that my company was the number one brokerage for the second consecutive time," he said.
"I never thought I would sell, but I'm even more fired up to take it to UMortgage. We're partnering with UMortgage for many reasons, but the one that stands out the most is their winners mindset," Price wrote in a message on LinkedIn.
At the time of publication, UMortgage did not respond to a request for comment. However, days prior, the CEO of UMortgage, Anthony Casa, teased the acquisition to his LinkedIn audience.
"We've made a big acquisition of one of the biggest independent mortgage companies in the country," said Casa. "We're gonna be welcoming a great group of people. They're coming here to help us get better."
Before being acquired, Price's company was among the 200 offices open nationwide under Motto Mortgage franchising, a member of the RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. family of brands. Motto claims to have a "unique national franchise mortgage brokerage model" that is the "first of its kind."
UMortgage also announced earlier in December that Todd Bitter would be joining their company as a chief sales officer. Bitter is a veteran in the mortgage industry with over 14 years of experience running his own brokerage shop called JKS Mortgage.
This is not the first mortgage brokerage to join UMortgage. In early January, UMortgage announced that a Michigan-based brokerage called Bally Team would be coming aboard.
Per a press release, the Bally Team is the second-largest brokerage in Michigan. The company was led by loan officer Amer Bally.
In December, Bally announced that he would be starting his own venture, separate from UMortgage.
