Lehman Shutters Maryland Aurora Loan Services Office

Lehnman Brothers, the Wall Street giant that closed their subprime mortgage origination arm BNC Mortgage in August has shuttered the Maryland branch of their Alt-A mortgage unit, Aurora Loan Services (hat tip friends of Blown Mortgage readers!) amid continually deteriorating market conditions. From Yahoo! Business: Aurora Loan Services LLC, owned by investment banking giant Lehman Bros. Holding Inc., specialized in mortgages that often featured no-money down options and didn't adhere to stricter lending standards established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lehman representatives could not be reached for comment, but the decision to shutter the Gaithersburg office was part of a broader strategy unveiled by Lehman in September that resulted in 850 layoffs. Market conditions necessitated "a