About two-thirds of small business owners have stated that their business is still recovering from the Great Recession, according to Bank of America’s spring 2015 Small Business Owner report. Only one in five business owners feel their business has made a full recovery.

Despite the slow recovery, small business owners are feeling confident about the future, according to the report. Over 60 percent believe their revenues will increase over the next 12 months and 66 percent plan to grow their business over the next five years.

“Small business owners are optimistic about the future and are working extremely hard to achieve success,” said Robb Hilson, Bank of America Small Business executive. “As they have focused on recovery, many business owners have embraced a mindset of self-sacrifice. They are prioritizing their employees and customers above all else and it is often at the expense of their own personal or financial well-being.”

Many of these optimistic business owners will need small-balance commercial mortgages to continue recovering and expanding their businesses in the wake of the Great Recession. However, many will be ineligible for traditional financing because of their recovering status.  Mortgage brokers should develop relationships with non-conforming, small-balance commercial mortgage lenders in order to serve these potential borrowers. Here’s how to get started:

• Learn about the commercial mortgage industry. Before you begin offering small-balance commercial mortgages, you need to get to know the industry. You can do research by reading trade publications and participating in online forums.
• Choose the right lenders. If you want to close small-balance commercial mortgages for non-bankable borrowers, you need to find flexible lenders who take a common-sense approach to funding commercial loans. You’ll want to work with a variety of lenders so that you can place as many commercial mortgages as possible.
• Let borrowers know you can get them small-balance commercial financing. Now, you need to market yourself as a commercial broker and let potential borrowers know about your products. Take advantage of email and social media marketing to spread the word.

The small-business owners recovering from the Great Recession are determined to get their businesses back on track, and you should be just as determined to help them obtain the commercial mortgages they need. Once you’ve learned about the industry, chosen lenders with whom to do business and let borrowers know about your new loan products, you’ll be in a position to get them the capital they need to recover and thrive.

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