AHM AmeriHome Inc

MELVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE:AHM) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Flower Bank, fsb of Chicago, Illinois from Umbrella Bancorp, Inc. American Home's purchase of Flower is subject to regulatory approval. Flower Bank operates a single banking office and as of June 30, 2006 had $43.7 million of total assets. American Home's strategic purpose in acquiring Flower is to gain a franchise through which banking products can be offered to American Home's customers as well as to the general public. American Home expects to record goodwill of approximately $16 million as a result of its acquisition of Flower. If American Home is successful in its acquisition of Flower, Flower will be operated as a stand-alone institution, and will not be combined with American Home's existing mortgage lending or mortgage servicing operations. In addition, American Home does not expect Flower to provide a material benefit to American Home's financial results or to materially affect its financial condition for several years. American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. is a mortgage real estate investment trust ("REIT") focused on earning net interest income from self-originated loans and mortgage-backed securities, and, through its taxable subsidiaries, from originating and selling mortgage loans and servicing mortgage loans for institutional investors. Mortgages are originated through a network of loan production offices and mortgage brokers as well as purchased from correspondent lenders, and are serviced at the Company's Irving, Texas servicing center. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.americanhm.com/. This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based upon expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. Any statement in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact, including, but not limited to, earnings guidance and forecasts, projections of financial results and loan origination volume, expected future financial position, dividend plans or business strategy, and any other statements of plans, expectations, objectives, estimates and beliefs, is a forward looking statement. Words such as "look forward," "will," "anticipate," "may," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "opportunity," "potential," and similar words, or the negatives of those words, are intended to identify forward- looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict, and are not guarantees of future performance. As a result, actual future events may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed in or implied by this news release. Specific factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: American Home's limited operating history with respect to its portfolio strategy; the potential fluctuations in American Home's operating results; American Home's potential need for additional capital; the direction of interest rates and their subsequent effect on the business of American Home and its subsidiaries; risks associated with the use of leverage; changes in federal and state tax laws affecting REITs; federal and state regulation of mortgage banking; and those risks and uncertainties discussed in filings made by American Home with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and stockholders must recognize that actual results may differ from expectations. American Home does not assume any responsibility, and expressly disclaims any responsibility, to issue updates to any forward- looking statements discussed in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. CONTACT: Mary M. Feder, Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-631-622-6469, Web site: http://www.americanhm.com/

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