To find commercial real estate lenders for a deal, start with the deal, not the lender list. Define the loan (size, leverage, coverage, asset, location, structure), identify which lender types fit that profile, then build a shortlist of specific lenders whose current box matches it and send them a consistent package. Most wasted effort in debt placement comes from pitching lenders who were never going to fund the deal.
Step 1: Define the deal in lender terms
Before you look for lenders, write down the eight facts every lender will filter on:
| Criterion | Example |
|---|---|
| Loan amount | $14,000,000 |
| Purpose | Refinance, acquisition, construction, recapitalization |
| Asset class | Multifamily, office, retail, industrial, hospitality, self-storage, mixed-use |
| Location | City, state, and whether it is a primary, secondary or tertiary market |
| Leverage | LTV or LTC |
| Coverage | DSCR and debt yield on in-place NOI |
| Business plan | Stabilized, value-add, lease-up, ground-up |
| Structure | Term, interest-only period, recourse, prepayment flexibility |
If you have not sized the loan yet, do that first. How to size a commercial real estate loan and the loan sizing calculator show how.
Step 2: Identify the lender types that fit
Each lender type has a typical sweet spot. Ranges vary by lender, asset and market, and shift with the credit cycle.
| Lender type | Commonly fits | Typical trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| Banks and credit unions | Local relationships, smaller loans, construction, owner-occupied | Often recourse, shorter terms, deposit relationships |
| Life insurance companies | Low-leverage, high-quality stabilized assets | Conservative leverage, strict asset quality |
| CMBS conduits | Stabilized income properties, non-recourse | Rigid servicing, defeasance or yield maintenance |
| Agency lenders | Multifamily, including affordable and senior housing | Multifamily only, program rules |
| Debt funds and bridge lenders | Transitional, value-add, speed | Higher cost, shorter terms, floating rates over SOFR |
| SBA 504 lenders | Owner-occupied small business real estate | Occupancy rules, personal guarantees |
| Mezzanine and preferred equity | Filling the gap above senior debt in the capital stack | Higher cost, intercreditor terms |
A stabilized 200-unit apartment refinance points to agency, life company and bank lenders. A half-leased office building with a renovation plan points to debt funds and bridge lenders. A ground-up industrial project points to banks and construction lenders.
Step 3: Check each lender's box
Within a lender type, every lender's box is different. Check the criteria that cause hard fails:
- Loan size: minimum and maximum
- Geography: states or metros they lend in
- Asset classes: what they will and will not touch
- Leverage and coverage: max LTV or LTC, min DSCR and debt yield
- Loan types: construction, bridge, permanent, mezzanine
- Sponsor requirements: net worth, liquidity, experience
- Recourse: full, partial, or non-recourse
Hard fail versus soft miss. A loan below the lender's minimum is a hard fail. A DSCR of 1.22x against a 1.25x target is a soft miss; the lender may quote at lower proceeds. Send soft misses. Skip hard fails.
The hard part is keeping boxes current. Lenders change appetite with markets, fund cycles and internal concentrations. A box you wrote down last year may be wrong today. See what lenders look for in a CRE loan request for the underwriting behind each criterion.
Step 4: Source the contacts
Where brokers commonly find lenders:
- Past closings. Lenders who closed similar deals with you are the best first call.
- Relationship managers and originators. Most lenders have regional originators whose job is to source deals.
- Published programs. Many lenders publish term sheets or program summaries with size and leverage limits.
- Public records. Recorded mortgages show who is lending on comparable properties in a market.
- Industry events and associations. Mortgage banker and broker events put you in a room with originators.
- Lender databases. Faster than building from scratch, but only as useful as the criteria are current.
Track every lender in one place: contact, box, recent quotes, deals declined and why. That history is the most valuable asset a debt desk has.
Step 5: Build a shortlist and rank it
Rank lenders on fit, not familiarity:
- Strong fit: inside the box on every criterion, active in the asset class and market
- Possible fit: one or two soft misses, worth a call
- No fit: any hard fail
A shortlist of well-matched lenders creates real competition. A mass send creates noise, and lenders remember brokers who waste their time.
Step 6: Run the outreach
The first email:
- Subject line with the asset, location, loan amount and purpose. Example: "$14.0M multifamily refi, 180 units, Phoenix MSA"
- A three to five line summary: request, leverage, coverage, sponsor, business plan
- The loan package attached or linked
- One clear ask: "Can you quote?"
Follow-up: follow up on a schedule. Track who opened, who replied, who passed and why. A "no" with a reason updates your view of that lender's box for the next deal.
Term sheets: when quotes arrive, compare them side by side on proceeds, rate, amortization, interest-only period, recourse, prepayment, reserves and fees. See term sheet.
Matching examples
Three deals, three different shortlists:
Deal A: $6.5M refinance, 64-unit apartment building, stabilized, Midwest secondary market, 62% LTV, 1.38x DSCR. Strong fits are agency lenders (small balance multifamily programs), local and regional banks, and possibly a life company if the asset quality is high. A debt fund is a poor fit: the deal does not need bridge financing, and the cost would be higher than necessary.
Deal B: $22M acquisition, 140,000 SF suburban office, 68% occupied, renovation and re-leasing plan. Strong fits are debt funds and bridge lenders comfortable with office lease-up. Most life companies and CMBS lenders will pass: in-place coverage is too thin and the plan is transitional. Banks may be possible with recourse and lower leverage.
Deal C: $3.2M purchase of an owner-occupied light industrial building by an operating business. Strong fits are SBA 504 lenders and community banks. Institutional lenders with $5M minimums are hard fails on size alone.
The same broker, the same week, needs three completely different lists. That is why a single "lender list" never works.
Learning from declines
Every decline is data about a lender's current box. Ask for the reason, and log it:
| Decline reason | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| "Outside our footprint" | Geography is a hard fail; remove for similar deals |
| "Too small for us" | Their real minimum is higher than published |
| "Not lending on office right now" | Asset appetite has changed; check again next quarter |
| "Coverage too thin" | DSCR minimum is above your figure; resubmit at lower proceeds if it fits |
| "Sponsor too light" | Experience or balance-sheet requirements; a stronger guarantor may fix it |
Brokers who track decline reasons build a box for each lender that is more accurate than anything published. Brokers who do not keep re-sending the same deals to the same wrong lenders.
Keeping your lender data current
A lender database is only as good as its last update. Practical habits:
- Log every quote and decline against the lender, with the date and the reason.
- Re-check boxes quarterly for lenders you use often, and before sending any deal to a lender you have not spoken to in six months.
- Record the person, not just the firm. Originators move; relationships move with them.
- Note recent closings. A lender that just closed a similar deal in the same market is the strongest signal of current appetite.
Mistakes that slow lender searches
- Starting with a lender list instead of a defined deal
- Treating all banks, or all debt funds, as the same box
- Using criteria that are a year old
- Sending a different version of the numbers to different lenders
- No tracking, so follow-ups depend on memory
- Ignoring the reasons behind declines
How Dori helps
Dori turns the lender search into a ranked list. Upload the deal and Dori scores it against more than 800 lender profiles, each carrying its real box: loan size, max LTV, min DSCR, asset classes, geographies and sponsor requirements. Soft misses stay in the ranked list; hard fails are surfaced separately. Outreach goes out in your name with tracked replies and automatic follow-ups, and every deal's stage sits in one pipeline the whole desk can see.