Commercial Lending

What We Help With

Commercial lending covers a wide range of situations. Our clients come to us with four main needs and each one requires a different approach, a different lender conversation, and a different structure.

Purchasing an Established Business

Buying an existing business is one of the more complex lending scenarios a broker will navigate. Lenders want to understand the business's trading history, the deal structure, what security is available, and how the new owner plans to sustain and grow what they are acquiring alongside experience in the industry. We work through all of that with you before a single application is lodged, so you are presenting to lenders from a position of strength, not scrambling to answer questions after the fact.

Cash Flow Finance for Existing Businesses

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, and even profitable operations can find themselves stretched at the wrong moment. A large order to fulfil, a slow-paying client, a seasonal dip, or an unexpected opportunity that requires capital fast. We work with lenders who understand the realities of business cash flow and can structure facilities that give you breathing room without locking you into arrangements that do not suit how your business actually operates.

Purchasing Commercial Property for Your Business

Owning the premises your business operates from is one of the most effective ways to build long-term wealth while running a business. Instead of paying rent to a landlord and building nothing, your repayments build equity in an asset you own. Commercial property loans are assessed differently to residential, lenders look at the property type, location, lease arrangements, and business serviceability and having a broker who understands those requirements makes a material difference to your outcome.

If you are also exploring this inside an SMSF structure, we handle that too and it is worth a separate conversation given the additional compliance requirements involved.

Commercial Property Investment

For investors building a commercial property portfolio, the lending dynamics are distinct from residential investment. Yields tend to be higher, lease terms longer, and tenants typically responsible for outgoings but lenders assess these deals differently, and the deposit requirements, loan-to-value ratios, and serviceability calculations all operate on different rules. We work with investors across the country who are acquiring commercial assets for rental income and long-term capital growth.

Refinancing Commercial Properties

Business Banking is one of those things that we usually just set and forget. Reviewing your business banking is just as important as refinancing and reviewing your Home Loan. Think of it this way, your business continually changes, grows and goes through life stages, just like we do as people. If you’re not reviewing your options, you could be leaving money, convenience and business opportunities on the table.

Where We Work

Our commercial lending clients are based right across the country. Luckily, we’re not set in a particular location, and whilst our main office is located in Noosaville, that doesn’t mean that you need to be as well. Commercial lending is not a local product; the right lender for your deal may operate nationally, and we have the panel to access them regardless of where you or the asset are located.

The Broker Society Commercial Credentials

✓     20 years of experience in the finance industry

✓     13 of those years dedicated specifically to commercial lending

✓     Every broker on our team is a business owner, not just a finance professional

✓     Kate and Talia both support their husbands' businesses outside of broking. A trade business and a travel business, on top of running their own

✓     Tyler operates a separate business as a licensed Buyers Agent alongside his broking practice

✓     Our team understands SEO, cash flow management, Xero, BAS, accountant relationships, and the realities of growing a business from the inside

✓     We currently support business owners and their personal finance across printing, pet supply, vending machine operations, ice cream retail, trade businesses, e-commerce, and real estate agencies

✓     We work with both the business itself and the personal financial lives of the owners behind it — because the two are rarely separate

✓     As a well-established brokerage operating across a wide range of industries, there is very little we have not encountered — and nothing that will catch us off guard

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Why Commercial Lending Is Different

Commercial lending does not follow the same standardised assessment process as residential finance. Each deal is assessed on its own merits, the borrower's financial position, the asset being purchased or financed, the security on offer, and the purpose of the funds all influence how lenders respond. There is heavy influence on the Sponsors or Guarantors, that being the Directors and sometimes shareholders of the business, their resume, experience and their own financial status.

This means lender selection matters more, not less. A lender who is well-suited to one commercial scenario may not be the right fit for another. With a panel of over forty lenders including major banks, non-bank lenders, and specialist commercial financiers, we have the range to match the right lender to your specific situation rather than defaulting to whoever is easiest.

What to Have Ready Before We Talk

Commercial applications require more documentation than residential ones, but you do not need to have everything perfectly prepared before you pick up the phone. A good starting point includes:

•       Two to three years of financial statements for your business or the business being acquired

•       Details of the property or asset you are looking to finance

•       An outline of the deal structure — purchase price, proposed deposit, intended use

•       Your personal financial position including existing assets, liabilities, and income

•       Any existing lease agreements if the property is tenanted or will be leased back

•       For an “existing” business or purchase, resumes or high level experience of the main stakeholders in the business is advantageous

•       A detailed business plan for a Business Purchase or Growth strategy

If you are at an earlier stage and do not yet have all of this, that is fine. We will tell you what you need and help you get there.

We Are Not Just Your Broker. We Are a Business Owner Too.

There is a difference between a broker who understands commercial lending in theory and one who has lived the reality of running a business. At The Broker Society, every single broker on our team owns and operates a business. We are in the thick of it with you, the late nights, the Xero reconciliations, the accountant meetings, the tax planning, the slow months, and the ones where you cannot hire fast enough.

We have been where you are. That is not a marketing line, it is just the truth about who we are.

What This Means for You

When you sit across the table from a broker at The Broker Society, you are not explaining what it is like to run a business to someone who has only ever read about it. You are talking to someone who filed their own BAS last quarter, who has had the cash flow conversation with their own accountant, and who understands the difference between what your financials say and what your business actually looks like.

That context changes the quality of advice you get. And it changes what we are able to present to a lender on your behalf.