The Deal Desk is the reason a residential broker can say yes to a commercial file and the reason an established commercial broker can take on more of them. Here is what it actually does.
Most brokerages describe commercial support as a name to email. The Deal Desk is a working desk: experienced commercial underwriters who look at the scenario the day it arrives, structure the file with the broker, present it to the right lender, and track it to funding. The broker keeps the client. The desk carries the parts that need a specialist. These are the nine things it does.
Banks, credit unions, trust companies, life companies, CMHC approved lenders, MICs and private funds across BC, Alberta and Ontario. The desk knows current appetite, pricing and turnaround because it places files every week, and it presents the file to the lender most likely to say yes first. Read more
Loan to value against debt service coverage, term against amortisation, interest only periods, second mortgages, vendor take backs, cross collateral, holdbacks. The desk builds the structure that gets funded and explains the reasoning so the broker learns it. Read more
Rent rolls reconciled to operating statements, normalised net operating income, vacancy and expense assumptions a lender will accept, borrower and guarantor strength, exit analysis. The file goes to the lender already underwritten, which is why it moves faster. Read more
Thin income history, a property with a story, a borrower with a credit event, an environmental report with a finding, a tight closing. The desk has placed files like these and knows which lender reads past the first page. Read more
Land, servicing, vertical construction and presale requirements. Cost to complete, draw schedules, quantity surveyor reporting, builder experience, and the lenders who fund each stage of a project. Read more
Bridge loans, short terms, equity based lending and higher leverage through MICs, private funds and individual lenders, with the borrower disclosure and the lender due diligence each province requires. Read how the tiers work. Read more
Conventional and insured multifamily including CMHC programmes, from a fiveplex to a purpose built rental. The desk has run the applications and knows the timelines and the documents. Read more
Portfolio borrowers with many doors, refinance sequences, blanket and portfolio lenders, corporate and holding company structures, and the residential to commercial line that portfolios cross. Read more
Where a file benefits from a commercial specialist inside the collective, the desk pairs the broker with one. Roles, fees and communication are agreed in writing before the file starts, and the client relationship stays with the broker who brought it. Read more
The broker sends what they have. The desk comes back with a first view: real or not, what is missing, likely routes.
Underwriter and broker agree the structure and the story before any lender sees it.
The desk selects the lender, prepares the submission and, on early files, joins the presentation.
Discussion paper, term sheet, engagement letter, commitment. The broker manages the client; the desk manages the lender.
Appraisal, environmental, legal, insurance, lender conditions tracked at the desk with the broker kept current.
The file funds, the fee is paid as agreed, and the renewal date goes into the broker's book.
It is not a lead source and it is not a gatekeeper. Established commercial brokers use it when they choose to. New commercial brokers use it on every file until they do not need to. Either way the client, the relationship and the renewal belong to the broker.
Residential broker with a commercial file in front of you: read the new to commercial path and what happens next. Working commercial broker: read the established broker path. Not sure which asset class a file is: read commercial deal types, and run the numbers through the DSCR check.
Send a commercial scenario, live or hypothetical, and an underwriter aims to come back within two working days with the lender types worth approaching and a time to talk it through.