Good morning and welcome to the 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of HomeStreet, Inc . I am Mark Mason, and I am the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the CEO and President of HomeStreet. Pursuant to HomeStreet's bylaws, I will act as Chairman of this year's meeting, and in this capacity, I hereby call the meeting to order. Godfrey Evans, HomeStreet's General Counsel, will act as Secretary of the Meeting. We will first go over some administrative matters for this meeting. We will use the rules of procedure that can be accessed at any time during the meeting under the heading "Meeting Materials" located at the bottom right of your screen. By following the rules of procedures, everyone will have an opportunity to participate in the meeting, and we'll be able to handle the business of the meeting efficiently and fairly.
As an additional matter, we will only take questions pertinent to this meeting. Questions relating to the merger that was announced on March 31st 2025, will be addressed in the upcoming special shareholder meeting to be announced soon. The polls are now open, and we would ask that you vote your shares as soon as possible since the polls will be closing shortly after we go over the proposals. As a reminder on voting procedures, if you have already voted by mail, phone, or internet, we will count your proxy, and you do not need to vote again unless you wish to change your vote.
If you have not voted, or if you would like to change your vote, you may vote on this webcast by using the "Vote Here" button, but you will only be able to vote the shares associated with the control number you used to log on to this meeting. If you hold shares in more than one account, you would have been given separate control numbers for each of those accounts. If you have voted the shares associated with the control number that you used to log into this meeting and you wish to vote the shares held in a different account, please log in with the control number associated with the other account and vote those shares prior to the polls closing.
After the formal business portion of the meeting is concluded, all shareholders properly in attendance will be permitted to raise questions and comments pertaining to all matters being voted on today during the question and comment period. Questions can be asked on this webcast by typing in the box located at the bottom left corner of your screen under "Ask a Question." In the interest of time, if we are unable to address your questions at this meeting, we will follow up with you after the meeting. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. I would like to introduce Laura Cisneros with CT Hagberg & Associates LLC, who has been retained by Broadridge Financial Solutions to serve as our independent inspector of elections for this meeting. Ms. Cisneros is also a participant on this webcast and will be tallying the preliminary and final votes.
Ms. Cisneros' oath of office will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. Ms. Cisneros will confirm the presence of a quorum when she completes her tally of shareholders, proxies, and ballots. Godfrey Evans, Secretary of this meeting, will now present proof of the due calling of this meeting. Mr. Evans.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, everyone. I would like to present the following. First, a completed and certified list of the company's shareholders as of the close of business on March 31, 2025, the record date set for shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. The link to the registered shareholder list is available for viewing during this webcast if you are a shareholder of record and can be accessed at the bottom of your screen under the link "View Registered Shareholders List." The list also provides the number of shares eligible to vote at this meeting. This list shows that as of the close of business on the record date, there were 18,920,807.6 shares of common stock of the company outstanding. Second, a copy of the notice for this meeting stating the time, place, and purpose of this meeting.
This notice was included in the proxy materials mailed to each shareholder of record as of the record date to the address in the company's records. Copies of the company's proxy statement and proxy card for this meeting were first made available on or about April 15, 2025, to the shareholders as of the record date. These items are also available for you to view under the link for "Meeting Materials" located at the bottom right side of your screen. Third, we confirm receiving the affidavit of mailing from Broadridge Financial Solutions, the company's transfer agent, which shows that on or about April 15, 2025, a notice of annual meeting and copies of the company's proxy statement and proxy card for this meeting were mailed to each shareholder of record as of the record date.
Copies of the certified list of shareholders, notice, affidavit of mailing, proxy statement, and annual report will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. Our inspector of elections has advised me that we have present in person and by proxy a sufficient number of shares to constitute a quorum, subject to final verification by the inspector of election. Mr. Mason.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary. We are now ready to proceed to the proposals that you will vote on today. We will dispense with formal motions regarding each nominee for election to the Board of Directors and each of the other proposals. As all nominees have been duly nominated and all the proposals have been duly introduced and presented, as set forth in the company's proxy statement, the shareholders are to consider three matters of business, which are described in detail in the proxy statement. The first proposal is the election of eight directors to serve until the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their respective successors are elected and qualified. The Board of Directors has nominated eight director candidates, which includes Scott Boggs, Sandra Cavanaugh, Jeff Green, Joanne Harrell, James Mitchell, Nancy Pellegrino, Craig Tomkins, and me, Mark Mason. The company has not received notice of any other nominees.
I hereby declare the nominations for directors closed. The second proposal is the approval on an advisory non-binding basis of the executive compensation of the company's named executive officers for 2024. The third proposal is the ratification on an advisory non-binding basis of HomeStreet's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st 2025. Additional information about all proposals can be found in the company's proxy statement. Because no further business is on the agenda for this meeting, we will pause momentarily to finalize voting. The time is now 10:07 A.M. Pacific Time. I declare that the polls are now closed to voting.
Based upon a review of the proxies received by the company, the preliminary results indicate that HomeStreet shareholders have voted one, for the election of Scott Boggs, Sandra Cavanaugh, Jeff Green, Joanne Harrell, Mark Mason, James Mitchell, Nancy Pellegrino, and Craig Tomkins as directors to serve until the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their respective successors are elected and qualified. Two, for the approval on an advisory non-binding basis of the executive compensation of HomeStreet's named executive officers for 2024. Three, for the ratification on an advisory non-binding basis of HomeStreet's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. Shareholders should be aware that these preliminary results are not official and are subject to change based upon the official tabulation by the inspector of election.
Final voting results will be reported in a Form 8-K to be filed with the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This concludes the formal business of our meeting, and that portion of our meeting is adjourned. Before moving on, I want to express my personal thanks and the thanks of your board of directors for your attendance and participation today, as well as for your support of our company. Thank you for your attention today during the formal part of our annual meeting. Before we provide time for questions that any of you may have, I'd like to make a few comments on our financial results last year. Please note that during our discussion today, I may make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views and expectations about the company's performance and financial results.
These are likely forward-looking statements that are made subject to the Safe Harbor Statements included in our recent earnings release, our investor deck, and the risk factors disclosed in our other public filings. Additionally, reconciliations to the non-GAAP measures referred to on our call today can be found in our recent earnings releases and investor decks available on our website. I will now discuss certain strategic activities and our results for 2024 and a little bit about the first quarter of 2025. After termination of the merger previously announced in the fourth quarter of 2024, we implemented a new strategic plan under which we sold $990 million of multifamily loans in the fourth quarter of 2024, which allowed us to reposition our balance sheet and accelerated our return to profitability.
The loans sold had a weighted average interest rate of 3.30%, and the proceeds were used to pay off Federal Home Loan Bank advances and brokered deposits with a weighted average interest rate of 4.65%. As a result of the loan sale, we improved our liquidity position, increased our available contingent funding, and reduced our commercial real estate concentrations and our loan-to-deposit ratio. Additionally, we continue to manage our non-interest expenses lower through reductions in its staffing and the elimination or deferral of discretionary expenses. Our net loss in 2024 was $144 million. Our core net loss, which excludes the loss on the sale of multifamily loans, the impact of merger-related expenses, and the deferred tax asset valuation allowance, was only $21 million.
During the first quarter of this year, our core net loss was 44% less than the fourth quarter of 2024 core net loss, and our net interest margin improved from 1.38% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 1.82% in the first quarter of 2025. Importantly, HomeStreet Bank, on a standalone basis, realized $1.1 million in net income in the first quarter of 2025, achieving our strategic goal of returning HomeStreet Bank to profitability in the first quarter. Given the scheduled repricing of our remaining multifamily and other commercial real estate loans, future anticipated reductions in higher-cost borrowings, the repricing of our term deposits to lower rates, and continued effective non-interest expense management, we anticipate core earnings in 2025 and continued growth in earnings for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, as a result of the deferred tax asset valuation allowance recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, we do not expect to recognize any income tax expense on our earnings for the next few years. On March 31st 2025, we announced that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement providing for an all-stock business combination between HomeStreet, Inc and Mechanics Bank. Under the terms of the merger agreement, HomeStreet Bank will be merged with and into Mechanics Bank, with Mechanics Bank surviving as the banking corporation subsidiary wholly owned by HomeStreet, Inc. Existing shareholders of Mechanics Bank will receive common stock in HomeStreet, Inc in exchange for their Mechanics Bank shares. Upon completion of the merger, HomeStreet, Inc will be renamed Mechanics Ban corp and remain a publicly traded company.
We believe this merger validates the intrinsic value of HomeStreet's loyal customer base, strong management, and dynamic markets in which we operate, and allows our shareholders to participate in the benefits of the combination going forward. The combined company will have a strong branch footprint and deposit market share in the best markets in the West, strong core deposit funding, a well-diversified, conservatively underwritten loan portfolio, and a growing wealth management and trust business. We believe this merger will improve our customers' experiences and create new opportunities for many of our employees, enabling the company to retain and attract top talent. Both organizations share very similar banking strategies, strong credit cultures, and a deep commitment to our customers, community service, and being good corporate citizens.
We're in the process of completing the S-4 filing and proxy that will be provided to our shareholders as part of the special shareholders meeting to approve this merger. The meeting is expected to be held in July of this year. That concludes my prepared comments today. We will now make some time for questions and comments from shareholders or shareholder representatives regarding the matters presented at the meeting or other business matters. These questions or comments can be made by typing in the box located at the bottom left corner of your screen under "Ask a Question." Again, we will continue to observe the rules of procedure that are posted on our website. I'll stop now to see if we have any questions. There are no active questions at this time, so we will conclude the meeting.
On behalf of your board of directors, I would like to again thank you for your continued support of HomeStreet and for attending our virtual meeting today. This now concludes our agenda. I hereby declare the meeting adjourned.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining and have a pleasant day.
The host has ended this call. Goodbye.