Advice to residential mortgage brokers: Go commercialGregg Wolferdirect private lender, commercial adjustable-rate mortgage, commercial real estate
Rewards of working with a direct private lender often go
unnoticed
Sometimes, it's all too easy to overlook something, or look at it
and simply not see it -- especially when it's in our own backyard,
so to speak. Things that are relatively close to us are, for some
strange reason, harder to spot, and sometimes we overlook them to
our detriment. So it may be with the residential mortgage broker
and the commercial real estate arena.
The fact is that there is indeed money to be made for the
residential broker in the commercial world. Regardless of whether
the rest of the real estate market slows, plateaus or zigzags, the
commercial adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) seems invulnerable to any
such vicissitudes. It somehow remains strong, as there is no lack
of investors, developers and entrepreneurs ready, willing and eager
to join the commercial fray, which is where direct private lenders,
and brokers, enter the picture.
Direct lenders provide hard money bridge loans for commercial
property. Thanks to creative financing expertise and an
international network of private lenders, some are able to close on
equity-based commercial loans between $1 million and $100 million
or more in as few as five dayssometimes even less.
But what about those loans out there that we don't see? What
about those loans that, as a residential mortgage broker, you may
see every week and not think about, simply because they're not in
your area? It could be time to change your thinking, because such
loans can be in your area, and they are much easier and more
profitable than you may realize.
For instance, say you come across someone looking for a loan to
finance, or refinance, a multi-family property, commercial office
building, retail outlet or manufacturing facility. Or suppose you
hear of someone interested in acquiring a piece of undeveloped
property and is looking for a raw land loan, where the land itself
becomes the collateral. All you need to do is speak to the people
involved, refer the business to a commercial real estate lending
company and complete your follow-through as you would in any
residential real estate transaction. When the loan is closed, you
receive a well deserved commission -- and perhaps the incentive to
further investigate a previously unsuspected and lucrative career
move.
It really is that simple.
Gregg Wolfer is co-CEO of Kennedy Funding, a
commercial real estate lending company. He may be reached at
[email protected].
