Thousands of Residential Mortgage Brokers Prove Interest in Small-Balance Commercial Lending is on the Rise

MIAMI, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Mortgage brokers are bridging the gap between residential and commercial lending with education in an effort to take advantage of opportunities in the small-balance commercial market. While a recent study of residential brokers nationwide found that small commercial may be the next big alternative product, the survey also found that the majority of brokers who have not previously closed a commercial loan are looking for lender-provided training to give them a jump-start in the market.

Case in point: In under two months, thousands of brokers had downloaded "The Insider's Guide to Small-Balance Commercial Mortgages," a white paper introduced in May, made available by small-balance forerunner Silver Hill Financial. The report was designed to provide residential mortgage professionals with an overview of small-balance commercial lending, along with tactical suggestions for getting started in the market. According to experts at Silver Hill (http://www.silverhillfinancial.com/), broker interest in learning about the small commercial market is at an all-time high, based on its tracking of a variety of educational opportunities.

"More than 15,000 brokers have taken advantage of Silver Hill's value- adding training options in the last 18 months," says Salomon Wancier, Vice President Marketing Communications for the national real estate lender. "Right now, training registrations, website visits and online learning center users are at record high numbers," says Wancier, adding that the company began tracking participation in 2005. Silver Hill pioneered the application of a residential underwriting approach to commercial loans in 2003, and says that a cornerstone of its program is increasing the comfort level of residential brokers working with commercial transactions. Industry reports by research firm Boxwood Means, Inc. point to a $100-billion-plus small commercial market [defined as loans up to $5 million].

According to Wancier, the importance of broker education was recently validated through research, namely an online "2006 Lending Market Survey" conducted in March and administered by national firm Infosurv, Inc. The study revealed that 80 percent of residential mortgage brokers who had not closed a commercial loan in the past year would consider the commercial market if a lender provided training and marketing support to get them started. In addition, brokers selected small-balance commercial loans as the second-ranked product to replace diminishing residential refinance business, as named by 51 percent of respondents in the survey. Sub-prime residential was first with 57 percent, and Alt-A residential third with 50 percent.

"For small-balance commercial to be named as a top-three alternative in the company of these popular products is a great indicator of its growing acceptance, which can in part be attributed to increased training and education. We expect to see more residential brokers taking advantage of the opportunity to grow their business with small commercial loans," concludes Wancier.

Brokers interested in learning more about the small-balance commercial opportunity should visit http://www.silverhillfinancial.com/.

About Silver Hill Financial, LLC

Headquartered in Miami with regional offices throughout the country, Silver Hill Financial(R) is a nationwide commercial real estate lender that offers financing to borrowers through a network of mortgage brokers and correspondents. The company's innovative residential-style program makes commercial lending easy as residential, using flexible underwriting criteria ideal for borrowers seeking loans from $100,000 to $1.5 million. For more information on Silver Hill Financial, please visit http://www.silverhillfinancial.com/ or call us at 888.988.8843.