Seattle-based HomeStreet Inc., which operates as HomeStreet Bank, earlier this week began doing business at two former MetLife Home Loans offices in the Spokane area.

Shawn Sterling, a Spokane-based branch manager for MetLife Home Loans, says HomeStreet has hired or plans to hire the 17 people who had staffed the two MetLife offices in the Spokane area, one just north of downtown, at 111 W. North River Drive, and another in Spokane Valley, at 16114 E. Indiana.

HomeStreet's expansion here is a result of MetLife Bank N.A.'s recent decision to exit the residential mortgage market nationally.

MetLife stopped accepting new mortgage applications on Jan. 13, and any new applications received prior to that will be processed and finalized by April 30, Sterling says. MetLife will continue servicing all of its existing mortgage accounts, he adds.

Sterling says the transition of employees between the two financial institutions is to take place in two phases, and that MetLife's former loan officers became HomeStreet employees on Feb. 1. The remaining employees who are responsible for processing mortgage applications will remain with MetLife until April 30.

The expansion gives HomeStreet a total of three offices in the Spokane market, counting a home loan office the company operates in the Rock Pointe Corporate Center that employs seven people, he says.

He says HomeStreet intends to take over the leases for the two former MetLife offices here, but that at this time it's unclear if a leaseholder transfer will occur for the office located just north of downtown.

Sterling says the switch from MetLife to HomeStreet also affects offices in Coeur d'Alene, Boise, the Tri-Cities, Seattle, Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore.

MetLife Bank is a subsidiary of the big insurance and financial services company MetLife Inc., based in New York City.

HomeStreet was established in 1921 and offers a full range of financial services but mostly specializes in residential lending. It has more than 30 bank branches and lending offices in Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii.