Commercial loans are still quite hard to close these days. Here are ten practical tips that will help you qualify for a commercial loan:
- Instead of calling random commercial mortgage companies for your commercial real estate loan, focus your phone calls on commercial banks. Commercial banks make the most number of commercial loans these days. You can also save yourself countless phone calls by simply using C-Loans.com.
- Don't forget about credit unions. Credit unions, who historically never made commercial loans, have come out of nowhere to seize 5% of the commercial real estate lending market over the past two years.
- Use local lenders. Many commercial mortgage borrowers are under the mistaken belief that some mystical nationwide commercial lender offers lower rates than a local bank. This is simply untrue. You'll get your best commercial mortgage deal from a commercial lender located close to the subject property.
- You can find all of the banks and credit unions located close to your commercial property by merely plotting your property on maps.google.com. In the left column you'll see a photo. Click the hyperplink underneath the photo that says, "Search Nearby." Simply enter "banks" and hit return.
- If you are trying to buy a commercial property, and you don't qualify for an SBA loan, you are about to discover that you have a problem. Most commercial banks will not make conventional (non-SBA) commercial mortgage loans in excess of 58% to 63% loan-to-value these days. This means that you have to put 37% to 42% down. Yikes! Who has that kind of money?
- You can solve this problem by using preferred equity investments from Blackburne & Sons.
- What if you have a $2 million balloon payment coming due on your commercial property, but the bank will only lend you $1.6 million? A $400,000 preferred equity loan from Blackburne & Sons might save your property. (Technically our $400,000 is not a loan but rather an equity investment; but its easier to think of it as a tiny mezzanine loan.)
- If you are in the commercial loan business, make sure you are building your list of referral contacts every day. I am a huge fan of list advertising. The cold weather has greatly slowed commercial loan demand this winter, but my own commercial mortgage company, Blackburne & Sons, was able to respond by doubling the number of email newsletters and fax newsletters that we send out every day. I am pleased to report that we did this, and my loan officers are once again deliciously buried with commercial loans.
- Don't give up on your commercial mortgage newsletters too soon. Your first five newsletters may not generate a single lead, but if you send out a fun, folksy, unprofessional commercial loan newsletter every 10 to 21 days religiously, your sixth newsletter will be a hit. I promise you! Why? It takes a while for The Newsletter Effect to kick in, but once it does, it is a powerful force. This is what happened to my own son, Tom. "Dad, these stupid newsletters aren't working. No one is calling." Then his sixth newsletter hit. Bam! His phone have been ringing like crazy ever since. I've got to tell you, it felt good to be vindicated in front of my own son. Need more help with your commercial mortgage marketing?
- You could easily be closing three times more commercial loans than you are today, but you keep making 67 different mistakes. I recently finished my training masterpiece, my Commercial Mortgage Broker Practice Course. The course contains 67 different, very practical lessons on commercial mortgage brokerage, including the very first thing to say to a commercial lender when you call him to run a deal by him and including the single most important lesson in all of commercial real estate finance. It's a five-hour audio course, designed to be listened to in your car on long drives. Ideally you should listen to it at least five times, but if you listen to it just three times, I promise you will triple your income as a commercial mortgage broker. "But George, I'm as poor as a church mouse right now. I can't afford $199." No problemo. Simply submit two commercial loans using C-Loans.com and earn $100 Blackburne Bucks for each submission. Then you can buy this amazing course without it costing you one penny out of pocket. Folks, it will change your life!