Jackie Chimera – KBW
Ok. So things are progressing along in funding in a time period that you considered to be reasonable?
Damon Rose – Senior Vice President & Chief Credit Officer
Yes.
Jackie Chimera – KBW
Ok. And then probably a question for you, Mick. Was any of the M&A expense this quarter tax deductible?
Mick Reynolds – Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Was any of it? Yes, there would have been, some of it was tax deductible.
Jackie Chimera – KBW
Okay. So it wasn’t a 100% tax impact?
Mick Reynolds – Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
That’s correct.
Jackie Chimera – KBW
Ok. And then also, I’m sorry, but I missed your NIM guidance in your prepared remarks.
Mick Reynolds – Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
We expect first quarter to be relatively stable with the fourth quarter loan yield. New loans are still not being booked at rates that would be accretive to the overall portfolio. So very small declines in yield on the loan portfolio because of the lower long term rates. We expect the yield on the mortgage-backed portion of the securities portfolio to be down as prepayments were probably are expected to accelerate. That will increase the amortization of premiums on those mortgage-backed securities. But we think the earning asset mix will create stabilization with more loan growth and higher yielding loans as a bigger percentage of the portfolio.
Jackie Chimera – KBW
Okay. That makes sense. Do you, is there a variance between in-footprint and outer-footprint dental lending in terms of the yield that you are able get on those?
Damon Rose – Senior Vice President & Chief Credit Officer
Hi, Jackie, this is Damon Rose. Actually given the age of the in-market portfolio, the yield is slightly higher today overall. The new loans we are booking, they are very similar in pricing.
Jackie Chimera – KBW
Ok. That’s helpful. Thank you very much. That’s all I had.
Roger Busse – President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Jackie.
Operator
All right. Thank you for those questions. We have our final caller in the queue. We’ll go ahead and move that caller up. Again, please identify yourself and the institution that you represent.
Eric Grubelich – Highlander Capital Group
Hi, it’s Eric Grubelich again. I just had one follow-up question, a little bit more big picture not necessarily about the results. But you did mention and there was a press release out weeks or months ago about the expansion of the Vancouver office. And I was just interested perhaps in hearing from Roger. What is it about that market that is different from a customer perspective or a calling effort perspective then on the other side of the river in Seattle?
Roger Busse – President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, thanks, Eric. There is a lot of similarities actually. But what you have in Southwest Washington is a fairly vibrant in-migration into that area. And the city has had also the Southwest Washington area and the city has had some disruption due to acquisitions that have taken place. So as a result – yeah.
Eric Grubelich – Highlander Capital Group
Let me just correct myself. I meant Portland, not Seattle, I have the geography wrong. Well, give me that, ok.
Roger Busse – President & Chief Executive Officer
I’ll move over to Portland. On the Portland side, the economy is improving nicely and the disruptions aren’t as focus as they were in Southwest Washington. We can target clients and those that are looking for, they are dissatisfied, they are looking for new homes.
In the Portland market, we have active teams that are out there. We have growth expectations. We have robust situation with clients that are starting up new projects. Business formations taking place. Inward migration is also taking place in Portland now and Oregon in general, but it’s one of the top states where inward migration according to the latest reports.
