First Financial's contract to market the loans is with IndymacCommercial lending, a First Financial spokeswoman tellsGlobeSt.com. The bid date is scheduled for Oct. 21, with a closingdate for the transaction scheduled for Nov. 6.

First Financial, which will market and manage all facets of thesale, says that the portfolio will be stratified into pools basedon collateral and geographic location. There are concentrations ofcollateralized properties located in California, Texas, Ohio,Washington, Arizona and Georgia, with loans ranging in principalbalance size from $205,000 to $5.75 million.

The loans carry a weighted average coupon of 6.8%, a weightedaverage maturity of 29 years and weighted loan-to-value ratio of71.6%. All of the loans in the portfoliowere originated after June1, 2007, "making this an exceptional investmentopportunity forqualified investors," First Financial said in a statement.