Commercial Loans and Fun Blog

How to Get Commercial Loan Packages in the Door

Posted by George Blackburne on Mon, Dec 29, 2008

Includes George's Famous Pooh-Pooh Soup Story

You're a commercial mortgage broker. You've just quoted a commercial real estate loan to a borrower over the phone. The borrower appears interested, and you want to convince the borrower to send his commercial real estate loan application to you, as opposed to a competing mortgage broker or bank.

Free List of 3,159 Commercial Lenders  Sort By Your Own Criteria

The key thing to remember is the Theory of Momentum. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.  A potential commercial real estate borrower is therefore going to want to keep sitting on his hands.

To convince a potential commercial borrower to send his loan package to you, never ask for too many documents at one time.

If you ask for a huge checklist of documents, the borrower will surely procrastinate, during which time he'll speak with a competing commercial lender or mortgage broker, and you'll lose the deal. Instead, ask for just two or three documents at a time. Gather the six-inch-thick stack of required documents slowly over a period of weeks.

"But George, it will take months to close a commercial loan at that pace."

We've all heard the story about the young bull and the old bull standing at the top on the hill and looking down over a herd of beautiful heifers. The young bull turns to the old bull and says, "Hey, Pops, let's run down and kiss one of those cows." The wise old bull replies, "Son, let's walk down and kiss them all."

The point of the story is that if you rush things, your success rate is often much lower. If you ask for a huge checklist of documents, you'll only close one deal in fifty. If you gather the required documents in small, easy waves, you might be able to convince all fifty borrowers to send you a package.

But you have to give the borrower reassurance that his commercial loan application is looking good ... and this leads us to my famous Pooh-Pooh Soup Story:

Have you ever noticed that whenever you order anything to eat at an expensive French restaurant that the snooty waiter always says, "Ah, good choice. The duck a la orange is delicious!" And when you order dessert, "Wonderful choice, sir. The Crepes Suzette are
delicious!"

I've therefore often wondered that if I ever asked for Pooh-Pooh Soup (you guessed it, a log floating is broth ..... eeuuuuu!) whether the French waiter would say, "Ah, the Pooh-Pooh Soup is delicious!"

Now back to our training. We've pointed out that you absolutely need to ask for the documents in five or six waves of three or four easy documents to fetch. But the borrower will need reassurance, before fetching a whole new wave of documents, that at least so far his commercial real estate loan application looks good.

So when you get the first wave of documents - his current schedule of leases (rent roll) and his last year's actual operating expenses - quickly scribble out a pro forma operating statement and do a debt service coverage ratio calculation. Then, assuming the numbers look good, you can tell him, "I've crunched the numbers, and so far your deal looks very do-able!"  (The pooh-pooh soup is delicious!) "Now all I need is a financial statement and two years tax returns."

With these documents you can pull a credit report and report back to the borrower, "I've looked at your financial statement, tax returns and credit report, and everything continues to look very favorable!" (The pooh-pooh soup is delicious.") "Now all I need is a copy of the leases and a financial statement and two years' tax returns on the LLC that actually owns the property." And so on, being sure to reassure the borrower that his loan package looks good (the pooh-pooh soup is delicious) after receiving each wave of documents.

So, to summarize, the object of the game is to convert a telephone lead into a loan package. To get your commercial loan borrower finally moving in your direction, you must not ask for a huge checklist of documents. Instead, ask for a very short list of easy documents to gather. After receiving each wave of documents, be sure to tell the borrower that his deal looks great (the pooh-pooh soup is delicious!). It will take you slightly longer to close a commercial loan this way, but you'll close far, far more deals (you'll kiss them all!).


Do you need to place a commercial real estate loan right now? You can submit your commercial deal to 750 different commercial real estate lenders in just four minutes using C-Loans.com. And C-Loans is free!


Perhaps as many as 10% of all of the practicing commercial mortgage brokers in the industry are my former trainees. If you would like to really learn how to broker commercial real estate loans like a pro, please click here.

Topics: commercial real estate loan, commercial loan, commercial real estate financing, commercial mortgage lenders, commercial mortgage rates, commercial lender, commercial real estate lenders, commercial financing, commercial mortgage

Submit Your Commercial Loans Using PDF's

Posted by George Blackburne on Mon, Dec 15, 2008

C-Loans Just Introduced a Free, New Tool to Create PDF's

Let's start from the basic proposition that commercial lenders are picky and unpredictable. A commercial mortgage broker often has to shop his commercial real estate loan package to a dozen different commercial lenders before he finds a good home for the deal.

Free List of 3,159 Commercial Lenders  Sort By Your Own Criteria

If you, as a commercial mortgage broker, have to pay Fed Ex charges to a dozen different lenders, your package delivery charges will cut deeply into your profits. In addition, shuttling your commercial loan package between a dozen different lenders will take weeks, during which time your commercial borrower may find a cheaper bank on his own. Wouldn't it be great to be able to submit your commercial loan package by email?

If you create your commercial loan package as a PDF, you can submit your deal instantly to a dozen different commercial lenders across the country by email. The problem is, however, is that you don't have the $350 version of Adobe software to create the PDF's. Even if you did have the software, you really don't know how to use it.

C-Loans.com has just added a feature that will allow you to create a gorgeous PDF presentation of your commercial loan for free. Just come to C-Loans.com and enter your commercial deal as usual. Go ahead and submit your commercial loan to six lenders.

On the departure page you will find a new button that will allow you, with one click, to "Create a PDF". Be sure to save the PDF of your commercial loan package on your desktop. You can then attach this gorgeous PDF to an email to a dozen of your best commercial lenders.

What does one of these PDF commercial loan packages look like? Simply click here to see a sample commercial loan package as a PDF.


Do you need a commercial real estate loan right now? You can submit your commercial real estate loan request to 750 different commercial real estate lenders in just four minutes using C-Loans. And C-Loans is free!


Are you the owner of a commercial property? Do you want to hire George Blackburne personally to place your commercial loan? George charges one point upon closing, regardless of the loan size, to serve as your mortgage broker. Please click here if you would like to contact him directly.

Topics: commercial loan, commercial real estate financing, commercial mortgage lenders, commercial financing, commercial mortgage

Use Demographics to Check Out Your Commercial Loan Applications Early

Posted by George Blackburne on Thu, Dec 4, 2008

Free Online Demographics Tools Warn You When Your Loan is in a War Zone

Your commercial lender will be pretty sore at you if he spends two hours to drive out to inspect your client's commercial property, only to find out that his life is in danger because the area is a war zone, with hookers and drug dealers on every corner. That's your fault - the commercial mortgage broker - for not warning him in advance.

Free List of 3,159 Commercial Lenders  Sort By Your Own Criteria

It's pretty easy these days to determine online whether or not a commercial property is located in a tough area. Just go to City-Data.com and read the free demographic information they provide. The income levels, the education levels, and the crime statistics will all help paint a fairly accurate picture of the neighborhood.

The wise commercial mortgage broker will turn down commercial deals in low-income, high-crime, high-drug-use areas. These loans are almost impossible to place. Instead, he'll use his precious time to work on his marketing and his mailing lists.


Need a commercial real estate loan right now? You can apply to 750 different commercial lenders for free in just four minutes using C-Loans.com.

Topics: commercial loan, commercial real estate financing, commercial mortgage loans, commercial financing, commercial mortgage