The Commercial Mortgage marketplace is booming, with new Lenders and innovative products. As such there has never been a better time for a Small/Medium Advisor Practice (S.M.A.P) to take advantage of the great earning opportunities.

At the forefront of the Commercial Mortgage revolution are the Non Conforming Lenders, who offer products to the increasing numbers of clients who for various reasons cannot obtain funding from conventional High Street banks.

Their products are straight forward, easy to understand and offer the S.M.A.P. an alternate funding solutions for their clients and additional income streams through procreation fee payment and cross sales such as Life Cover, Residential Mortgages (deposit raising), Key Man Insurance, Pensions, etc.

By utilizing Commercial Mortgages as part of their service offering, the S.M.A.P, benefits from more than just financial rewards. A complete range of services minimizes the risk of losing clients to other advisors who are already involved in the Commercial Mortgage sector.

It also opens avenue’s to attracting more cliental. It is a great way to network with other Professionals such as Accountants, Insolvency Practitioners, Solicitors, Prime Banking Contacts, Surveyors, Estate Agents, Business to Business Advisors and reach out to local Business’s.

A question that S.M.A.P’s must ask themselves is “How many of our existing clients are Sole Traders, Partners or Directors”? By offering Commercial Mortgages, S.M.A.P’s have a good opportunity to increase their client base and increase revenue streams.

Within the Commercial Mortgage sector, Prime High Street deals are mainly dealt with directly with between Lenders and their clients. Most will have a current account and an established relationship. However when a Prime Lender cannot provide funding for various reasons, i.e. Loan To Value, new start up businesses etc, S.M.A.P’s have the opportunity to place the deal using a Non Conforming Lender. Clients want to know all their options to ensure they get the best deal and are turning to their Financial Advisors for help.

When a Commercial Mortgage closes they pay well, an example is a Self Certification Commercial Mortgage that pays 1.5% of the loan amount, and on a common £ 200,000 loan, £ 3,000 plus any broker fee and additional cross sales makes it worthwhile.

However, this marketplace is fraught with risk, not so much in a financial sense but time and effort. The reality is Commercial Mortgages take time to close, there is a lot of paper chasing from the Client including numerous meetings, dealing with the Lender to satisfy their requests and liaising with Solicitors and Surveyors. There are always hidden pitfalls to overcome.

To take on an extra service to your clients means you need to support this draining on your individual and company resources. How to get round this is to use a Commercial Mortgage Master Broker who will package and process your case, to use their knowledge and expertise that can take the deal through to completion. They liaise with your client, update you on ongoing developments, and pay the same commission as the Lender and allow you all the cross sell opportunities.

ICE Commercial Property Finance Limited (ICE) does exactly this and we do it very well as testimonies show and references dictate. We only work with Professional Introducers and work to Best Practice of giving your clients choice and explanations, to fully advise them of what an Offer from a Lender involves. We recognize that these are your clients and we handle with care, an example of this is even if the deal does not go ahead, by explaining the reasons they stay with you and recognize the service given. There are low completion rates in Commercial Mortgages but if you work with the right partners this is increased, you have an additional income stream and focus 100% on the main parts of your own business.

Not all Master Brokers who package cases are the same, indeed at ICE we only specialize in Commercial Mortgages and have access to every lender. All personnel have Commercial Finance backgrounds and take a deal head on to place it. There is a real concern within the industry that the correct advice is not being given and this goes to Residential Mortgage packagers entering into the Commercial arena only offering 1 or 2 Lenders, not be fully trained and if the deal does not fit rejecting it meaning loss of potential income to you and a disappointed client. This tick box mentality can cost dearly.

We know that the reasons why Brokers have not done Commercial Mortgages in the past is they fear they are too complex, too time consuming, spend too much time and not getting paid, do not know the correct lenders to place the deal, do not understand the clients needs or are generally too busy.

To help you overcome all this ICE offer free training modules, free fact find questionnaires, dedicated help lines with trained personnel. We regularly conduct free Training workshops with Lenders, to make brokers aware of the products and show where to get the business from. We give marketing tips and can produce free material in your companies branding. This is exciting times and to get involved all the words that need to be said by you are “We do Commercial Mortgages”