Brokers argue for hours over a five point split difference and then refer out a $3 million commercial file because it looks hard.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
A residential broker sees a commercial file, a private second mortgage or a self employed borrower with messy income a few times a month. Most of them get referred out or quietly dropped. Each one is a client who now has a relationship with someone else, and their residential renewals follow. Over a year that is more lost income than any split negotiation could ever recover.
Owner occupied commercial. The client already trusts you with their house. You send them to a commercial broker and never hear from them again.
Bruised credit or a business for income. It fits at B or private, but you have never placed one and the client cannot wait while you learn.
Payment shock at renewal breaks the ratios. The bank keeps them on a worse rate because you had no alternative to offer.
Nobody taught you B, private or commercial, and the first three attempts on your own would be three declines. So the rational move is to refer out. Until someone structures the file with you, that never changes.
Bring it to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, and learn on the deal without losing it.
The Deal Desk is a dedicated underwriter for the files you would otherwise decline. You submit through the portal, the underwriter structures and places it, you stay the broker of record and split the commission. Most brokers use the first few files as the education they never got. Read how the Deal Desk works, how residential brokers add commercial files, and how the A, B and private tiers actually work.
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.
Bring it to a discovery call. We will tell you on the call whether it places and how the split works.