Homeloancenter Com Company

Online mortgage finder LendingTree has agreed to buy Internet-based direct mortgage lender HomeLoanCenter.com of Irvine. Terms weren't disclosed. The transaction, which is expected to close by year's end, would expand LendingTree's operations beyond its core business of matching consumers with lenders into direct lending. Privately held HomeLoanCenter.com employs about 800. Charlotte, N.C.-based LendingTree is a division of IAC/Interactive Corp. IAC shares fell 55 cents to $22.19 on Nasdaq.

When Anthony Hsieh isn't running his Irvine-based online mortgage company, he regularly skippers a 60-foot yacht, plying the seas in search of quarter-ton marlin and other outsize billfish. But this month, it was Hsieh who was hooked. The 39-year-old is selling his Home LoanCenter.com to LendingTree, a unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp that matches borrowers and lenders. Terms of the deal, expected to close by year's end, were not disclosed.