Exhibit 99.1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

        American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. Enters Into Agreement to
        Acquire Certain Mortgage Home Loan Centers of Washington Mutual

 Expands retail origination channel and offers additional scale and efficiencies

Melville, NY - July 28, 2004 - American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE:
AHM), a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT), today announced it has
signed a definitive agreement with Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE: WM) and its
subsidiaries to acquire certain residential mortgage home loan centers and
associated satellite offices that Washington Mutual previously slated for
closure in the following states: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Michigan, Minnesota Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Approximately 500 employees are currently supporting these home loan centers and
associated satellite offices.

Under the terms of the acquisition, American Home will assume Washington
Mutual's lease obligations and will purchase certain fixed assets in the
acquired offices. The acquisition will be funded from current cash reserves and
is expected to close on August 2, 2004. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Washington Mutual will retain all related customers and continue to fulfill all
loan applications and related loan commitments taken by these offices while they
were being operated by Washington Mutual. In addition, Washington Mutual
customers in these markets whose loans are presently being serviced by the
company will not be impacted.

In conjunction with this acquisition, American Home is working to hire
Washington Mutual employees who currently support these locations. These
employees consist primarily of sales professionals focused on retail loan
originations in the offices, as well as their managers. American Home expects to
pay sign-on bonuses and other one-time benefits to the Washington Mutual sales
professionals and managers it hires.

The new employees will become part of American Home's retail channel, which is
part of its taxable subsidiary. American Home projects that the newly hired
staff will add to its retail loan production in the third and fourth quarters of
2004. The hired group will report to Chris Dallas who will become a Senior Vice
President of American Home. Also leading the transition for American Home will
be Jim Lowery and Deborah Doll. All three of these professionals are employees
of Washington Mutual who have agreed to become employees of American Home
following the transaction.

Michael Strauss, chairman and chief executive of American Home commented, "The
newly acquired origination capabilities are projected to increase retail loan
production and improve the company's resiliency to the ongoing slowing of
mortgage origination activity nationwide. We are also very excited about the
high degree of professionalism of the group. Clearly they represent some of the
most talented loan officers, staff and management in the industry. We expect
this group to produce a strong quantity of adjustable loans that can be held in
securitized form by our REIT. The group has significant experience with
continuously repricing ARMs, which constitute some of the most attractive assets
we can hold. We are extremely pleased to welcome these capable individuals to
the American Home team."

"Today's announcement is a win for all parties," said Tony Meola, EVP of
Mortgage Production at Washington Mutual. "We are especially pleased American
Home has expressed strong interest in our affected staff, as we consider our
sales force to be one of the most dedicated in the business," he said. "While
exiting a market is never an easy decision, we are a growing company that's
focused primarily on markets where we can offer customers both home loans and
retail banking services. This move allows us expand our presence in those
markets. We wish our former sales force the best and hope they have rewarding
careers serving their customers."

Milestone Advisors, LLC. acted as advisor to Washington Mutual in this
transaction.

July 29, 2004 Conference Call

American Home will hold its regularly scheduled second quarter ended June 30,
2004 financial results conference call on Thursday, July 29, 2004 at 10:30 a.m.
ET. At that time management with discuss second quarter financial results and
the agreement to acquire certain residential mortgage home loan centers from
Washington Mutual. American Home would like to invite members of the public to
listen to a live conference call, including a question and answer session, on
its Web site on Thursday, July 29, 2004 at 10:30 a.m. ET. Anyone wishing to
listen to the conference call may log onto http://www.americanhm.com and click
on "Stockholder Info." The online broadcast will be available on the site
through August 12, 2004. American Home's second quarter 2004 conference call can
also be accessed online through Yahoo! Finance at
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ahm.

About American Home Mortgage

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE: AHM) is a mortgage real estate
investment trust focused on earning net interest income from self-originated
mortgage backed securities, and through its taxable subsidiaries, on originating
and servicing mortgage loans for institutional investors. Mortgages are
originated through a network of loan production offices as well as through
mortgage brokers and are serviced at the Company's Columbia, Maryland servicing
center. For additional information, please visit the Company's Web site at
www.americanhm.com.

About Washington Mutual

With a history dating back to 1889, Washington Mutual is a retailer of financial
services that provides a diversified line of products and services to consumers
and commercial clients. At June 30, 2004, Washington Mutual and its subsidiaries
had assets of $278.54 billion. Washington Mutual currently operates more than
2,400 retail banking, mortgage lending, commercial banking and financial
services offices throughout the nation. Washington Mutual's press releases are
available at www.wamunewsroom.com.

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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: This news release contains statements about future events and
expectations, which are "forward-looking statements." Any statement in this
release that is not a statement of historical fact, including, but not limited
to earnings guidance and forecasts, projections of financial results, and
expected future financial position, dividends and dividend plans or business
strategy, is a forward-looking statement. Such forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may
cause American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.'s actual results to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. Specific factors that might cause
such a difference include, but are not limited to: the potential fluctuations in
American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.'s operating results; American Home
Mortgage Investment Corp.'s potential need for additional capital; the direction
of interest rates and their subsequent effect on American Home Mortgage
Investment Corp.'s business and the business of its subsidiaries; federal and
state regulation of mortgage banking; and those risks and uncertainties
discussed in filings made by American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are
inherently uncertain, and stockholders must recognize that actual results may
differ from expectations. American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. does not
assume any responsibility to issue updates to any forward-looking statements
discussed in this press release.

AMERICAN HOME MORTGAGE INVESTMENT CORP. CONTACT:
John D. Lovallo, SVP
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
212-880-5216
john.lovallo@ogilvypr.com