American Home Mortgage Investment Corporation was the 10th largest retail mortgage lender in the United States and was structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT). In 2007, it filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated. The company was focused on earning net interest income from self-originated loans and mortgage-backed securities, and through its taxable subsidiaries, from originating and servicing mortgage loans for institutional investors. Mortgages were originated through the company's employees as well as through mortgage brokers and purchased from correspondent lenders and were serviced at the company's servicing center in Irving, Texas. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Wilmington Delaware federal court, on August 6, 2007. The week before the filing, the company said that many of its lenders had demanded their money back, and that AHM was also unable to deliver on about US$800 million in commitments for housing loans, and had laid off nearly ninety percent of its 7,000 employees. History Founded in 1987 in New York City, the company became a publicly traded on NASDAQ in September 1999. The company moved its corporate headquarters to Melville, NY in 2000. Since its beginning as American Home Mortgage Holdings, Inc., it was engaged only in the origination and servicing of mortgages. Following its acquisition of Apex Mortgage Capital in December 2003, the Company became a REIT and changed its name to American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., the new parent company of American Home Mortgage and moved from NASDAQ to NYSE. The company has made numerous acquisitions since 1999 including Marina Mortgage of Irvine, CA, First Home Mortgage of Mt Prospect, IL, Columbia National of Columbia, MD, and retail branches from Principal Residential Mortgage, Waterfield Financial, Irwin Mortgage, and 86 Washington Mutual offices. On July 31, 2007, the company announced that it can no longer fund home loans and may liquidate assets, putting its survival in doubt. The Melville, New York-based real estate investment trust retained Milestone Advisors and Lazard to help it evaluate options and advise "with respect to the sourcing of additional liquidity including the orderly liquidation of its assets." American Home's announcement shows how concerns about credit quality and homeowner defaults have spread beyond subprime lenders, which lend to people with weaker credit, to lenders that make higher-quality loans. This announcement caused its stock price to plunge 90% that day to $1.04 on the NYSE. "The chances are pretty high that the company