discussion draft not for quotation mortgage brokers and the subprime market amany el anshasy george washington university gregory elliehausen credit research center georgetown yoshiaki shimazaki may 2004 1 2 i introduction a broker is an intermediary that brings borrower creditor together to obtain loan takes application performs financial evaluation produces documents closes underwrites funds service play major role in 2003 about 44 000 brokerage firms originated 65 of all mortgages schneider originate over half suggests might perform useful function descriptive literature on industry indicates provide benefits both borrowers creditors typically deal with several different reduce search costs enable lower cost than they could find themselves similarly often origination through economies scale specialization by using
