Mortgage loan clients of The Company sputtered these words:

"Isn't this a mortgage company?!"

"Frankly, this whole thing has been like a Saturday Night Live episode."

Can you relate?

Revealed for the first time, those who were in the thick of it are writing about the mysterious underbelly of the mortgage banking industry from the origination side. Like a comical set of stories from a corporate frat house, these unique, real-world vignettes of a mortgage lender will open your eyes. They are far from representing the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of some backwoods company with obscure mortgage brokers. The Company was the preeminent mortgage banking firm in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, during the late 1980s to mid-1990s.

This book wipes the lipstick off the mortgage banking industry while answering the question borrowers wonder most about: Can I afford to buy a house? The American dream of homeownership - the most significant financial decision in the lives of many Americans - was entrusted to the hands of an infamous cast of characters, The Bugeater Lunch and Supper Club. How could this group, reminiscent of The Three Stooges, generate millions of dollars in revenue while carrying on like a bunch of frat guys on Spring Break?

The good folk who punched a clock and followed the rules while conforming to the corporate way of life will be astonished when they dig into this story. Readers who might question the reality of the events depicted herein will soon realize that nobody could make this up. Like Prohibition, this short-lived golden age of mortgage banking spawned in swindelous style cannot - and will never - happen again.