You Need to Learn How to Create PDF's
It is in the nature of commercial loan brokerage that you will probably have to submit your typical commercial mortgage loan request to a half-dozen, or maybe even a dozen, different commercial lenders before finding the right commercial lender for your deal. This shopping process takes time, and in the meantime the borrower is likely to be getting calls from other commercial loan brokers and competing direct commercial lenders. Anything you can do to speed up the process of shopping your commercial deal will greatly increase your chances of getting paid.
In short, you need to be able to shop your commercial deal to a dozen lenders in less than two days. By far the best way to do this is to submit your commercial deals, not by snail mail, but rather by email. Therefore it is essential that you learn how to create a commercial loan package as a PDF.
In order to create a PDF, you will need to buy Adobe Acrobat software. This software only costs around $350, and you will recover your investment in just a few months from your savings on postage and express mail service.
You'll download the software to your desktop and extract it. The software will automatically install itself into your Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel programs, and it will add a button whereby you can then instantly create a PDF with just one simple click.
Then you can create an Executive Loan Summary using Word. Be sure to import color pictures into your document. Then create a PDF using the new Create a PDF button in Word. You will probably also want to create a Pro Forma Operating Statement using your Excel software. Once completed, you can use your new Create a PDF button in your Excel software to create a PDF of the spreadsheetl.
As a commercial lender myself, I dislike receiving two or three different PDF's for the same commercial deal. It's a pain to have to open several different PDF's. Therefore you should combine the Executive Loan Summary PDF with the Pro Forma PDF into a single PDF, including any documents, such as tax returns, that you have scanned.
To combine several PDF's into a single PDF, you can use the Combine PDF's feature of Adobe Acrobat. It's easy and very intuitive.
Be sure, however, that your initial PDF is not too large. Many email programs will block the receipt of any document, including a PDF, that is too large. In addition, when most commercial lenders look at an initial package, they greatly prefer a brief summary package, rather than some sort of "complete package".
To keep the initial commercial loan package thin, you should only include the front page one of the borrower's tax returns. You can scan and forward a more complete package if the commercial lender expresses interest in your initial package.
It's easy to learn how to create PDF's, and once you know how, it will make your job as a commercial mortgage loan officer far easier. More importantly, you will be able to shop your deal to a dozen different commercial lenders in just 24 hours.