Boston Private Bank & Trust recognized for helping homebuyers

BOSTON --- The Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s SoftSecond Loan Program has recognized Boston Private Bank & Trust Company for its outstanding work helping low and moderate-income first-time homebuyers realize the dream of homeownership.

MHP presented a “Second to None” Award to Boston Private Bank & Trust Company Chief Executive Officer Mark D. Thompson, and special awards to vice presidents Martha Garcia and Carrie Carrizosa during a special ceremony on May 24 at the bank’s Boston headquarters. Boston Private was recognized for making the third highest amount of loans in Massachusetts in 2006 (159) and for being the top lender in Boston (87 loans) for the fourth consecutive year.

“Boston Private Bank & Trust Company has done an outstanding job working with first-time homebuyers and connecting them with SoftSecond,” said Clark Ziegler, MHP’s executive director. “They have built an outstanding reputation as a bank that works with their customers to help them buy their first home.”

“Second to None” is an MHP initiative that recognizes banks and community groups that connect homebuyers with SoftSecond, the state’s most successful affordable mortgage program. SoftSecond combines a first and second fixed-rate mortgage from a bank with a small state subsidy, thereby increasing a homebuyer’s purchasing power by about 20 percent. Since 1991, SoftSecond has helped nearly 10,000 low and moderate-income families purchase their first home, while maintaining historically low foreclosure rates.

Established in 1987, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company joined the SoftSecond Loan Program in 1996 and has steadily risen to become one of the state’s top SoftSecond lenders. It has now originated over 850 SoftSecond loans, totaling more than $142 million in mortgage financing to low and moderate-income first-time homebuyers.

“In this era of rising foreclosures, we believe consumers need solid, well-performing loan products like SoftSecond more than ever,” said Esther Schlorholtz, senior vice president and Community Reinvestment Act Officer for Boston Private. “In the past 10 years, we’ve grown from $96 million to over $2.2 billion in assets, while steadily increasing our SoftSecond volume and without experiencing any losses. This demonstrates that with SoftSecond, banks big and small can do well while also doing good.”

Boston Private Bank & Trust Company was one of four organizations recognized by MHP for its outstanding work connecting homebuyers with SoftSecond in 2006. Also recognized were Sovereign Bank, The City of Boston’s Home Center and the NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center of Worcester.

For more information about SoftSecond, go to www.mhp.net/homeowneship.