You do not need to become a commercial broker. You need to stop referring commercial clients away.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
Commercial mortgage volume walks through residential brokers' doors constantly: the client with a rental fourplex, the dentist buying their building, the investor with a mixed use property. Most of it is referred out or declined. The fix is not a commercial licence, there is no such thing in BC, Alberta or Ontario. It is a process and an underwriter.
Five to twelve units. Underwritten on the building's income, often insured through CMHC MLI Select. The closest thing to residential in the commercial world.
A business buying its own premises. Underwritten on the business's financials, and the client already trusts you with their house.
Retail below, apartments above. Common in every Canadian downtown and rarely placed by the residential broker who noticed it.
Higher risk and higher fees. Learn these last, and only with an underwriter beside you.
Rent rolls, operating statements, environmental reports, appraisals with income approach, and a debt service coverage ratio instead of GDS and TDS. An underwriting desk that has the checklist saves you the first three declines.
Commercial finder's fees are typically negotiated per file and are often larger in dollar terms than residential because the mortgages are larger. Broker fees to the borrower are common. On a Deal Desk file the commission is split with the underwriter who places it, and the client stays yours. Our Deal Desk page covers the process and our Commercial Matchmaking Forum puts you in front of the lenders.
Bring it to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, and learn on the deal without losing it.
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.
Starting from scratch? Read how to become a commercial mortgage agent: the licence, the skills and a path in.
The case for scaling with commercial, the six deal types, how commercial brokers get paid, and the first file checklist.
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 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.
Multi family, mixed use, owner occupied, construction, land and agriculture: what each deal type needs, typical LTV and DSCR, and who lends on it.
Bring it to a discovery call. We will tell you whether it places and how the split works.