Mortgage brokers who haven't fled the industry or been forced out are in survival mode. They're coping with little or no business as the economy slows, accusations that they're to blame for the mortgage meltdown, stricter lending standards and the threat of new regulations. Efforts to persuade would-be customers that they're ethical and helpful abound. "The general consensus is we're all holding on by our fingernails," says Melbourne, Fla., mortgage broker Ritch Workman, whose 21-employee company closed an estimated $35 million worth of home loans in 2007, compared with $100 million in 2005,...
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