Sherman Oaks, CA, April 13, 2005 - Metrocities Mortgage, a leader in the residential mortgage lending market, has appointed Gene Morris as Executive Vice President, Southeast/Midwest Regional Manager. In his new role, Morris will be responsible for managing loan production within the company’s growing Southeast-Midwest area which encompasses Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, Washington DC, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. He will be working out of Charlotte, North Carolina.

"We're very pleased to welcome such an outstanding professional to our leadership team at Metrocities," explained Art Ringwald, President, Eastern Division. "Having worked with Gene for many years, I can attest to his great skills, professionalism and ability to develop new business. We are looking forward to his contributions in growing the Southeast-Midwest regions of the country."

"My appointment at Metrocities represents a fantastic opportunity," added Morris. "Having led other teams within the Southeast-Midwest areas, I am greatly excited about growth opportunities there, specifically with regard to Metrocities' successful Affiliated Business Arrangement (ABA) program, in which partnerships are formed between lending companies and realty firms or others to provide home shoppers with the desired 'one-stop shopping' experience."

Morris comes to Metrocities with more than 26 years of experience working within the mortgage and banking divisions of Bank of America, most recently serving as a National Direct Sales Strategy and Process Executive. In that capacity, he led the company's delivery of mortgage products and services to a nationwide team of 14,000 sales associates and was responsible for over $100 billion in mortgage originations and ABA sales in 2003.

In other roles at Bank of America, Morris served as National Director of Retail Sales, where he oversaw mortgage sales/fundings of $27 billion; and National Sales Manager, where he managed sales philosophy and strategies for 1,600 retail account executives and 120 telemortgage sales associates, as well as oversaw the Construction Lending Division and its annual production of over $1 billion. During his 26 years with Bank of America, he also served as Eastern Retail Division Manager, National Director of Retail Sales and National Director Commercial/Corporate Credit Training.

Within the community, Morris has chaired the Leadership Team at his church, and also served on various boards including the local YMCA, United Way of North Carolina (Treasurer), Charlotte Urban League, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Athletic Foundation (President) and Alumni Board of Governors. Morris has a Bachelor of Art's Degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Attn. Editors: A photo of Mr. Morris is available online: click here to download.

ABOUT METROCITIES MORTGAGE

Established in 1989, Metrocities Mortgage is ranked in the top 1 percent of residential mortgage lenders nationwide for closed loan volume, closing over $6.3 billion* in 2004. Headquartered in Sherman Oaks, California, Metrocities Mortgage has become a leading nationwide lender based on unique loan programs and successful joint ventures (affiliated business arrangements) with key real estate companies, credit unions, financial advisor/business management companies, builders and other affinity groups. Loan Officers have access to over 7,000 loan programs and proprietary search engine technology enabling them to find the best loan products for their clients. As America's Best Relationship Lender^sm, Metrocities Mortgage is renowned for its in-house lending expertise, wide selection of loan programs and Heroic Customer Service^sm.

*Includes Metrocities' family of companies.