By Justin Ashcraft, Principal, Northern Ridge Capital (CA DRE #02093377). Last updated August 2026.
Commercial Mortgage Broker for $5M–$30M Commercial Real Estate Loans
A commercial mortgage broker places your loan with the lender most likely to fund it on the best terms, instead of you taking the deal to one bank and hoping it fits. Northern Ridge Capital is a commercial mortgage brokerage working exclusively in $5M–$30M middle-market commercial real estate debt. We underwrite your deal first, take it to the capital sources in our network of 700+ that actively want that profile right now, and make them compete for it. We're a broker, not a lender, which means we have no balance sheet to protect and no reason to push you toward one product.
Have a deal that needs financing? Fifteen minutes is usually enough to tell you whether it's financeable and roughly where it prices.
Talk to a debt broker →What a commercial mortgage broker actually does
The job is not making introductions. Anyone can forward an email. The work is in the three things that decide whether a deal closes and at what price.
Underwriting the deal before anyone sees it. We build the file the way a credit committee reads it: sources and uses, in-place and pro forma income, debt-service coverage at the rate you'll actually pay, a defensible exit. A deal that arrives at a lender half-assembled gets priced for the uncertainty, or it gets passed on quietly and you never learn why.
Knowing which desks are live this month. Lender appetite moves constantly. A debt fund that wanted lease-up multifamily in the spring may have filled its allocation. A regional bank that stopped quoting retail in 2024 may be back. That knowledge decays fast and it is most of what you're hiring. Sending your deal to the lender who was right last year is how a good file comes back smaller than it should have.
Creating competition. One lender gives you one answer, and you have nothing to measure it against. Several lenders bidding on the same file give you a market. Owners who work a refinance well in advance average roughly 2.3 lender offers, against about 1.1 for owners who start six months out. The second number is not a negotiation. It's an acceptance.
How the process runs, start to close
| Stage | What happens | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Call | Property, business plan, timeline, what you're trying to accomplish. We tell you if it's financeable and roughly where it prices. No cost. | 15–30 min |
| 2. Package | Rent roll, operating history, sources and uses, borrower background. We underwrite it and build the lender-facing file. | 2–5 days |
| 3. Market | The file goes out to the specific desks that want this asset, size, and story. Not a blast to a database. | 3–7 days |
| 4. Term sheets | Quotes come back. We compare them on true cost, not headline rate: proceeds, recourse, prepay, reserves, extension rights. | 1–2 weeks |
| 5. Close | Third-party reports, legal, and the diligence list. We run the checklist so nothing sits for a week unchased. | 2–4 weeks |
15 to 30 days from engagement to closing table is realistic on a clean file with a motivated lender. It is not realistic if the rent roll is three months stale, title has a surprise on it, or insurance is an estimate rather than a bound quote. Preparation decides the timeline far more than the lender does.
What a commercial mortgage broker costs
Brokerage fees on middle-market commercial real estate debt commonly run about 0.5% to 2% of the loan amount, with roughly one point typical in the $5M–$30M range. On some deals the fee is paid by the lender rather than the borrower. The fee is agreed in writing before we take the file to market, and there is no charge for the first conversation or for finding out that we're not the right fit.
The fair question is whether the fee earns itself, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on whether competition moved your terms. On a $10M loan, 25 basis points of rate is $25,000 a year. An extra 5% of proceeds is $500,000 of capital you didn't have to write a check for. When a competitive process moves either number, the fee is not close. When your bank was always going to give you the best available terms on a clean, simple, in-the-box deal, it isn't. We'll tell you which situation you're in on the first call, including when the answer is "go back to your bank."
When to call a commercial mortgage broker
These are the calls we actually take, in rough order of frequency.
Your loan is maturing and the bank won't renew
The most common one. A renewal you assumed was automatic comes back as a decline, a much smaller number, or a demand for a paydown. Banks have net-tightened commercial real estate underwriting standards across recent quarters, and a relationship that carried you through 2019 is being scored against 2026 credit policy. The property usually didn't change. The policy did. This has a full page at commercial property refinance.
You have a balloon payment coming due
A balloon is a date, and it does not negotiate. The work starts 9 to 12 months out, because that is the window where you still have enough time to create real options rather than accept the one in front of you.
Your DSCR is too low to refinance at the number you need
The trap that catches good operators. Debt written at 3% to 4% now reprices into a 6% to 7%+ market, roughly doubling debt service on unchanged income, and a property that cleared a 1.25x coverage test comfortably drops under the 1.20x to 1.25x most banks require. The building is fine. The math moved. There are structural answers, and finding them is the job.
You have a CMBS loan maturing
Conduit maturities carry their own problems: defeasance or yield maintenance, a servicer rather than a lender on the other end of the phone, and no relationship to lean on. These need a longer runway than a bank loan does.
You need to close in 30 days or you lose the deal
Acquisition contracts with a hard date, 1031 exchange windows, and sellers choosing certainty over price. Speed comes from a pre-underwritten file and a lender who is genuinely liquid this week, not from asking everyone to hurry. See commercial bridge loans.
You won an auction and the financing is non-contingent
You raised the paddle, the deposit is at risk, and the seller will not wait for a lender who needs 60 days. This one is arranged before the auction, not after. See commercial auction financing.
You were declined and never got a straight reason
A decline is information if you can get at it. Usually it is one fixable thing: the wrong lender type for the asset, a gap in the file, or a story nobody translated into credit language.
If any of those describe your situation, the first call is free and it's short.
Book a 15-minute call → or send us the dealWhat we finance
| Loan size | $5M–$30M, smaller by exception |
| Property types | Multifamily including apartment buildings, industrial, retail, mixed-use, office, self-storage. Commercial real estate only, no residential. |
| Loan purposes | Acquisition, refinance, bridge and value-add, construction and build-to-rent, permanent |
| Capital sources | Banks, debt funds, family offices, CMBS, life companies, agency, hard money, private capital |
| Geography | National within our licensed footprint, with deep coverage in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Indiana. See markets we serve. |
Program-by-program detail on what we place and how each product is underwritten is on loan programs.
How to choose a commercial mortgage broker
Ask these before you sign anything, including with us.
- Do they work in your deal size? A broker whose business is $500K deals has a different lender list than one working at $5M–$30M, and lender relationships do not transfer across those bands.
- Will they underwrite before they market? If the plan is to forward your rent roll to fifty lenders, you're getting a mail merge. Ask to see what the lender actually receives.
- Can they name the desks? Not the institutions, the programs. "Three debt funds that are quoting lease-up multifamily in the Southeast this quarter" is knowledge. "Our network of lenders" is a brochure.
- Is the fee in writing, before marketing? Amount, who pays it, and when it's earned. Any hesitation here is the answer.
- Are they licensed? In California that means a DRE or NMLS license you can look up. Ours is DRE #02093377.
- Will they tell you not to hire them? A broker who has never talked a borrower out of using a broker is selling, not advising.
If you're still weighing whether to use a broker at all, we wrote that one out honestly in commercial mortgage broker vs. direct lender, including the cases where you should skip us and go straight to the lender.
Why one lender is the wrong first call
A direct lender has one credit box, one appetite for your asset class, one view on leverage, and one answer. Take your deal there first and you've bet the timeline on whether it happens to fit. The cost is rarely a flat no. It's a quote 5% light on proceeds, or recourse you didn't need to give, or six weeks spent before a decline that a broker would have predicted on day one. You don't find out what the market would have paid, because you never asked the market.
That is the whole argument for a commercial mortgage broker, and it's why our hero line is stop wasting deals on the wrong lenders. We match deals to specific lenders. We don't blast the database.
Commercial mortgage broker FAQ
What does a commercial mortgage broker do?
A commercial mortgage broker underwrites your commercial real estate deal, packages it for lenders, takes it to the capital sources most likely to fund that specific profile, and runs the competitive process through to closing. A broker arranges the loan; a lender funds it. Northern Ridge Capital is a broker.
How much does a commercial mortgage broker charge?
Commonly 0.5% to 2% of the loan amount, with about one point typical on middle-market deals, and sometimes paid by the lender instead of the borrower. The fee is agreed in writing before your file goes to market. The first conversation costs nothing.
Is a commercial mortgage broker worth it?
It depends on whether competition moves your terms. On a straightforward in-the-box deal with a bank that already knows you, often not. On a deal that is time-sensitive, transitional, larger, or already declined once, a competitive process usually recovers far more than the fee in rate, proceeds, or recourse. We'll give you our read on the first call, including when the answer is to go back to your bank.
What size loans do you broker?
$5M to $30M in commercial real estate debt. Commercial only, no residential.
How fast can you close a commercial loan?
15 to 30 days from engagement to closing table on a clean, lender-ready file. The variable is almost always document readiness rather than lender speed. Clear title, current rent roll, complete operating history, and a bound insurance quote rather than an estimate are what keep that number real.
Do you lend your own money?
No. Northern Ridge Capital is a licensed commercial mortgage broker (CA DRE #02093377), not a lender. We place your deal with the right capital source out of 700+ and make them bid for it. Having no balance sheet is the point: nothing steers us toward one product.
What states do you work in?
Nationally within our licensed footprint, with the deepest lender coverage in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Indiana.
My bank already gave me a quote. Is it too late?
No, and a quote in hand is useful. It sets a floor. The question worth answering is whether it's the best available, and the only way to know is to put the same file in front of lenders who want to win it.
About
Justin Ashcraft is the principal of Northern Ridge Capital, a commercial real estate debt brokerage placing $5M–$30M in multifamily, retail and industrial financing nationwide within its licensed footprint, with $600M+ in deal experience across underwriting and brokerage. Licensed in California, DRE #02093377. More about Northern Ridge Capital.
Bring us the deal you're not sure is financeable. Those are usually the ones where a broker earns the fee.
Book a 15-minute call → or send us the dealPrefer to call?
Northern Ridge Capital is a licensed commercial mortgage broker (CA DRE #02093377), not a lender, and arranges financing on commercial real estate only (no residential). Fee ranges and timelines shown are typical and are not an indication or offer of terms; actual terms are set by third-party lenders subject to underwriting. For informational purposes only; not financial, legal, or tax advice. Full disclosures.