There are dozens of extremely good reasons why you should avail yourself of the services of a qualified commercial mortgage broker, from the simple fact that they are able to provide best advice on a full range of mortgage products from a variety of lenders, to their ability to deal with the complicated application process entirely on your behalf. Applying for a commercial mortgage is a complicated and log winded process, one that is best left to a professional with the knowledge and expertise to expedite the entire process as quickly as possible. Below are listed the main benefits to be had in employing a commercial mortgage broker.

1. A commercial mortgage broker has access to a far wider selection of lenders and products than a private individual. This allows them to correlate your requirements with a good selection of mortgage products, and advise you as to the best fit for your businesses situation.
2. The documentation that needs to be created and presented to a lender when applying for a commercial mortgage is far more in-depth than the equivalent residential of private counterpart. A business will be required to submit a set of company reports which have been fully audited, along with an accompanying business plan which displays adequate cash flow to cover monthly payments and demonstrates how the new property will benefit the business once acquired. A commercial mortgage broker will be able to assist in the creation of this documentation to the standards that the lenders require.
3. Individual companies are unable to approach lender en-masse, and are forced to begin an application process with each individual lender. A commercial mortgage broker is able to make a single application, to a range of lenders, requiring one set of documentation. This means that your application with each lender is vastly streamlined, and your commercial mortgage broker will monitor the situation and keep you advised of any potential problems that come to light.
4. Commercial lenders operate a far different set of lending criteria than lenders who provide personal mortgages. A commercial mortgage broker has knowledge of these criteria and is able to tailor your application to fit the requirements of the lenders more closely.

As we can see from these few simple points, employing the services of a commercial mortgage broker simply makes sense. As a businessman, your time is valuable, applying for a commercial mortgage with a range of lenders is a time consuming process, as well as complicated and logistically complex; a much better option is to use a commercial mortgage broker to represent you in your application.

All commercial mortgage brokers are regulated by the FSA (Financial Services Authority) and are licensed to give best advice on a full range of commercial lending products. It is recommended that you make sure that your chosen commercial mortgage broker is FSA authorised to act on your behalf, simply by checking with the FSA website.

Darren Horne is Managing Director of Best Commercial Finance Limited who are commercial mortgage brokers specialising in providing property development finance and short term bridging loans.