Evaluating commercial lenders can be a difficult task. But preparing a list of criteria to use for selecting the best lender to meet your needs can be a great time saver.

As a business professional, both your time and your money hold a great deal of value. So it is important to find a lender who will meet all of your needs. Ideally, you will be able to evaluate enough commercial lenders to select a few to forge long term relationships with to ensure continued financial prosperity. The process will undoubtedly take some time but the long term benefit will be a good working relationship with a primary lender as well as other secondary reputable lenders.

Commercial lenders are all about money. You would not be seeking a commercial lender if you did not need money. But you should look at these relationships as you would any other vendor who is supplying a good or service to your business. You need to compare the merits or the service each lender is willing to provide to you. This means what type of fee structure are they offering, what is the interest rate and how quickly can they deliver on their product; your loan funding.

You will also want to evaluate the core qualities of the lenders existing clients. Do they cater to a certain industry or type of loan? Do they have a specific loan size that they tend to service? Are they familiar with your business and the type of loan that you are looking for? All of this information will help you to determine the level of responsiveness and the quality of the service that you will receive if you do business with the lender. Customer service might not jump out as an important factor when securing the loan but if you ever have an issue or want to restructure your loan, then customer service could be one of the most important features the lender offers. Think long term for customer service and product lines available. Meeting your long term needs with a single lender will save you a great deal of time in the long run.

Comfort and Compatibility

Think of your lender as a strategic partner. You will need to discuss confidential financial information as well as other proprietary information about your business. It is important that you are working with a lender with whom you have a certain comfort level. The more honest and up front you can be with your lender the more benefits they can provide to you.

Invest Time to Evaluate for Long Term Success

Creating a list of criteria to evaluate commercial lenders will require an investment of your time today. But the benefits will continue to reward you each time you complete a new loan from your lender or seek advice. Carefully consider the fees and interest rates associated with the different lenders, but also recognize the added value that customer service and fast response time can add to your relationship. Knowing that you have a lender who will meet all of your needs for the long term is worth the time involved in a careful selection process.

Dennis Dahlberg
Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC  Private Hard Money Lender
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the Author:  Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true. Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

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