For residential brokers looking to expand their business and earn more, the small-balance commercial mortgage niche is a great opportunity. There are small business owners all over the country who cannot qualify for a bank loan and need assistance to find alternative financing. Here’s what you should do if you’d like to begin working in this niche:

Learn about the industry.

Educating yourself about small-balance commercial mortgage is crucial to your success as a broker. There are plenty of resources for brokers looking to get started in this field, from publications dedicated to the industry and company blogs, to webinars and in-person seminars aimed at helping brokers learn. Getting to know the small-balance commercial mortgage industry will help you to earn credibility and develop great relationships with lenders, sources and borrowers, leading to more closed deals.

Connect with reliable lenders and referral sources.

Another important piece of the puzzle for brokers new to the commercial industry is establishing partnerships with reliable lenders and referral sources. In order to increase your business and earn more, you’ll need a steady flow of deals from referral sources in your pipeline, as well as lenders with a consistent track record of closing these types of loans. Get to know financial professionals in your area, as well as lenders you’d like to do business with, and develop an understanding of how everyone can benefit from your services.

Get to know your borrowers.

To succeed in the small-balance commercial mortgage industry, you need to learn about the consumers who are most likely to utilize your services to find these loans. Generally, you’ll be working with small business owners who, for any number of reasons, cannot qualify for bank loans. You need to get a sense of the challenges these borrowers face in order to get them to the right lender and get the deals done.

Once you’ve done the legwork of getting to know the industry, lenders, referral sources, and borrowers, you’ll have a much better sense of how to use your experience as a residential broker to close small-balance commercial mortgages. With this knowledge, you can build connections and advertise your services in order to close more loans and earn more income.

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