Residential is thirty files and a hundred conditions. Commercial is six files and a hundred questions. The day looks calmer and is not.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
A commercial broker with six live files is running six small companies' financing at once, each on a 45 to 90 day clock with a lender, a lawyer, an appraiser and an environmental consultant attached. The day below is a composite of what commercial brokers here describe. Compare it with the residential day and the difference is not the hours, it is what fills them.
A discussion paper on the mixed use building: 65 percent, 1.25 DSCR, five year term, conditions attached. You read it twice before the client does, because the vacancy in unit three is going to be their first question.
A new file: a twelve unit building, purchase, closing in ninety days. The client sends a rent roll that does not match the operating statement. Twenty minutes of reconciliation before you know whether the file is real. It is, barely. Deal Desk submission by ten.
Presenting the discussion paper to the client. They wanted 75 percent. The underwriter briefed you on why the lender stopped at 65, and on the second mortgage that closes the gap. The client agrees to the structure and signs the engagement letter.
A builder's project: twelve townhomes, land already owned, presales at forty percent. You walk the site with the builder and the quantity surveyor, because the lender will ask you what you saw.
The appraisal on the industrial file came in 8 percent low. Call the lender, reprice the leverage, call the client. Then the lawyer on the owner occupied purchase closing Friday: the commitment condition on the lease assignment is still open.
Coffee with the accountant who sent the last two files. What is coming: a client selling a business and buying a building, another with a portfolio of four rentals who wants a fifth. Two files in the pipeline before the coffee is cold.
Six live files, four in analysis, two on term sheets. The renewal list for next quarter: three commercial clients whose five year terms are up, each one worth a conversation now, not in ninety days.
Fewer client conversations and each one matters more. A borrower paid fee that is agreed before the work, not after. Timelines measured in months, so income is lumpy and a good year has three big closings in it. And an underwriter's view of every file, which is why the Deal Desk exists: the second set of eyes on the structure before the lender sees it.
Bring it to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, and learn on the deal without losing it.
Most commercial brokers started residential and kept the first commercial file they would have referred away. Read what happens when one lands, why it scales a book, and the commercial track here.
Commercial is a pillar here, not a specialty someone dabbles in. The Deal Desk structures and places the commercial, B and alternative files you would otherwise refer away, while you stay the client's point of contact. It works in exchange for a commission split on that file, it is optional, and it is your call file by file.
There is no separate commercial licence. How residential mortgage agents move into commercial files: the skills, the lenders, how pay works and support.
Why commercial files are the fastest lever for a residential broker at $10 to $30 million, where the files already sit in your book, and how to start.
A practical path for residential brokers into commercial mortgages: which deals to start with, what lenders need and how an underwriting desk helps.
A commercial file at A.I.M.I. Collective, step by step: the first email, the 24 hour Deal Desk review, term sheet, reports, timeline and fee.
Book a discovery call. Bring a commercial file or a commercial plan and we will show you how the first three run here.