Let us party like it is the end of the world

The U.S. home-mortgage industry is in the dumps. That doesn't mean the party is over for mortgage bankers. Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender by loan volume, will host about 30 representatives of smaller mortgage banks for three nights next week at the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch ski resort in Avon, Colo. At one of the country's most-glamorous skiing spots, a regular room on a weekday starts at $750.