Commercial mortgage work does not need a separate licence in Ontario, BC or Alberta. What it needs is different skills, different lenders and usually help on the first files.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published October 2026 · Last reviewed 6 October 2026
Official sources: Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
You become a commercial mortgage agent with the same provincial mortgage licence you use for residential files. The difference is the work: commercial files are underwritten on the property's income and the borrower's experience, placed with different lenders, take longer and pay differently. Most agents start by co brokering their first commercial deals with someone experienced.
Debt service coverage on the property's net operating income, not the borrower's GDS and TDS.
Banks' commercial desks, credit unions, insurers, CMHC multifamily programs, MICs and private lenders.
Appraisals, environmental reports and term sheets stretch files to months, not weeks.
Often a lender fee plus a borrower fee agreed in writing, rather than a standard finder's fee.
The licence is the same. Residential volume pays the bills while you learn.
Net operating income, debt service coverage, cap rates and loan to cost on construction.
Small mixed use, rental properties and owner occupied buildings for existing clients.
Work alongside an experienced commercial broker and learn the lenders on live files.
Commercial realtors, accountants and lawyers who see deals before anyone else.
Bring it to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, and learn on the deal without losing it.
Commercial is a core pillar at A.I.M.I. Collective. Residential brokers bring their first commercial files to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, so they learn on real deals without losing them.
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.
Multi family, mixed use, owner occupied, construction, land and agriculture: what each deal type needs, typical LTV and DSCR, and who lends on it.
Lender fees, borrower fees and how they are disclosed.