RICHMOND, Va., /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG), a provider of real estate transaction services, announces 1st Metropolitan Mortgage, a division of Empire Equity Group, Inc., has chosen LandAmerica to be its vendor of choice for mortgage processing services.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, 1st Metropolitan is a national full-service mortgage broker specializing in first and second mortgages, conventional refinancing, debt consolidation loans, commercial and investment property funding, FHA/VA streamline refinancing and construction/rehabilitation loans.

Daniel Jacobs, Chief Operating Officer of Empire Equity, is excited about this joint opportunity. "1st Metropolitan Mortgage has been working hard to find a processing partner to help our branches succeed. After exhaustive due diligence, we chose LandAmerica because of their commitment to superior service, their 125 years of experience in the real estate settlement service business, and their proven expertise in mortgage processing."

1st Metropolitan expects to roll out LandAmerica's Mortgage Processing Services to 250 branches around the country in the first quarter 2004. LandAmerica Mortgage Processing is available nationwide and offers clients the opportunity to achieve smoother overall transactions at a significant savings compared to in-house operations. Benefits to loan originators include:

• A turnkey processing solution
• An ability spend more time on income-generating activities such as cultivating real estate and builder partners, as well as prospecting for borrowers
• A way to adapt to rapid loan volume increases and decreases
• A means to contain cost per loan
• Access to world-class processing talent without the expense
• Instant, secure, on-line access to complete loan pipeline information and document images.

Source: LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc.