Mortgage brokerage aims for nationwide expansion

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 27, 1999

Unlike some of today's young businessmen, with innovative ideas that lack execution, Alan Rosenbaum, founder and president of GuardHill Financial Corporation, has made his concept a reality. The concept: to provide a level of service unprecedented within the mortgage industry, while delivering to clients the best mortgage rates in the market.

This vision has paid off. In 1997, GuardHill Financial transacted $280 million in high-end residential mortgages, a figure that more than doubled in 1998 to $620 million - an average of over $500,000 per mortgage.

Despite the explosive growth of GuardHill since its inception just seven years ago, Rosenbaum maintains his focus on quality, not quantity. "We're not about volume, he says. "Our primary goal is to combine the integrity, knowledge and sophistication of a private bank with the best wholesale rates available in order to build long-term relationships with luxury residential real estate buyers in America's most prestigious markets."

Rosenbaum accomplished this complex synthesis using remarkably simple means: He recruited top private bankers from the country's elite institutions, bringing their talents, service abilities and business relationships together under GuardHill's roof to create a unique and quite formidable luxury mortgage brokerage. This initiative began in 1995, three years after GuardHill was founded, at a time when consolidation within the banking industry presented tremendous opportunities for mortgage brokers to attract top talent, and continues today.

The result of Rosenbaum's vision is a brokerage enjoying the highest average loan amount in the industry, a reputation for outstanding personalized service and, a stellar client roster that includes entertainers, top Wall Street players and executives of Fortune 500 companies. Headquartered in New York City, GuardHill has already expanded into other key luxury residential markets, with offices in Bridgehampton, NY; Boston, MA; Upper Saddle River, NJ; and Naples, FL. The firm also anticipates opening offices in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, Aspen and Phoenix over the next several years.

"We are determined to make GuardHill Financial the dominant luxury mortgage provider in each and every major market in the United States," says Rosenbaum. "Judging from the response we've had up to this point, GuardHill is delivering a much-needed service to high-end buyers around the nation. And we're only at the beginning of our growth curve."

Even through the process of steady geographical expansion and a period of exponential growth in production, Rosenbaum has kept GuardHill sleek and efficient. Since its founding as a three-person operation, GuardHill's team has grown to total only 27 members around the country. "When you have a vision, you have to remember to keep an eye on the bottom line - and to only grow your staff with the direct objective of increasing profits," Rosenbaum remarks. "GuardHill functions effectively as a compact unit, especially since each individual is a key contributor. This philosophy has served the company very well since its inception, and we plan to stick to it."

A growing number of satisfied clients underscores the accuracy of Alan Rosenbaum's vision: GuardHill Financial Corporation has quickly gained recognition in New York City and other luxury markets as a model high-end mortgage brokerage, offering the outstanding service and superior rates that discriminating apartment and home buyers demand.