Host Len Lane sits down with Sam Dayal, a CPA and seasoned commercial underwriter with Dominion Lending Centres. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Sam shares practical insights into the nuances of commercial financing, breaking down the differences between business loans and commercial mortgages. He explains how factors like cash flow, collateral, amortization periods, and risk profiles play major roles in determining the right lending solution for each scenario.

The conversation dives deep into the types of properties that fall under the commercial financing umbrella, including multifamily apartment buildings, office units, industrial spaces, strip malls, and hotels. Sam also shares candid perspectives on more complex or stigmatized properties such as cannabis facilities, tattoo parlors, and nail salons, explaining the risk perceptions lenders have and how borrowers can prepare. Whether you’re a mortgage broker, investor, or business owner, this episode provides valuable knowledge to help you navigate the commercial lending space more confidently.

About Sam Dayal, CPA
Sam Dayal is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and seasoned commercial underwriter with over 15 years of experience in the mortgage and finance industry. Currently with DLC Commercial, Sam specializes in structuring complex commercial mortgage solutions across Western Canada. His expertise spans a wide range of property types, including multi-family apartment buildings, retail strip malls, office spaces, industrial buildings, land development, and specialized sectors like hotels, churches, and cannabis-related businesses.

Known for his practical approach, deep industry knowledge, and responsiveness, Sam provides strategic financing guidance to real estate investors, professionals, and business owners. His background in accounting, including experience with a publicly traded hotel chain, further enhances his ability to assess financials and navigate high-stakes commercial lending decisions.

Sam is a trusted resource for mortgage brokers and borrowers alike, offering transparent advice and efficient assessments, often within hours of an initial inquiry.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• CMHC Multi-Family Program 
• CMHC MLI Select

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Contact Len Lane | Brokers for Life: 

• BrokersForLife.ca
• Linkedin: Len Lane
• LinkedIn: Brokers for Life
• Facebook: Brokers for Life
• X: @Brokers4Life
  

Contact Sam Dayal | Commercial Underwriter, DLC Commercial: 

• Website: samdayal.ca
• Email: [email protected] 
• Tel: 604-960-9600 ext 236 
• LinkedIn: Sam Dayal
  

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Transcript 

Len  00:02

Welcome. My name is Len Lane, and I am the founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc., and we are Dominion Lending Centers in Western Canada. The topic of our podcast will be about what we consider to be Real Life Mortgage Solutions.

Len 00:19

Welcome back. My guest today is Sam Dayal. He is a CPA, which is formerly known as an accountant. I guess. I’m not sure what that change made, but Sam works for us as a commercial underwriter with the DLC commercials. So Sam, welcome. Welcome to the show. 

Sam 00:39

Thanks, Len. Thanks for having me on. 

Len 00:41

You know, it’s always interesting. Although majority of our business is commercial, we are constantly asked questions about different types of loans. Liquor stores come up quite often. People want to buy a liquor store or and, of course, we get lots of requests about apartment buildings, small commercial you and I have done several different versions of that over the years. So really, for the listeners, what’s probably the biggest difference between a business loan and a commercial mortgage?

Sam  01:12

Yeah, so a few key differences between the two. One, a business loan is unsecured lending for a bank, so it’s all based on cash flow, whereas a commercial mortgage is typically backed by security, and generally speaking, you know, a property of some sort. And so a bank or a lender, any type of lender, can take a charge on that property. And so it comes down to, so commercial loan is based on the income of that property. If it’s a piece of land, though, where there is no income, they look at the security value of that property and what’s going to be done to it in the future. Now, the other big difference between security and unsecured lending or a business loan compared to a commercial mortgage is a the higher interest rates. So for business loan, higher rates are again quite higher. It’s all based on risk tolerance and risk for a business loan is considerably higher. Again, no security involved. They do it more… there’s more due diligence involved. They’ll look at the owner, or the person looking to purchase their experience in operating in that industry and offering that type of business. They’ll look at the not only the cash flow, but also just whether they can operate a business successfully, they’ll want a business plan performas and and projections and see what the team is involved. Also, the amortization is shorter for a business loan, you know, maybe maximum 10 years, compared to 25 years for commercial mortgage. And for an apartment building, you can do 50 year amortizations, which I’ll talk about later on, but that’s kind of the key difference is also the cost involved, both whether it’s a business loan or commercial mortgage, everything is more expensive than a residential loan. There’s the rates are slightly higher, the fees, the banks charge a fee. We as mortgage brokers have to charge a fee on commercial loans because we don’t get paid by the banks. You have to have two lawyers involved. And so it’s just way more costly.

Len  03:06

Right, so, so what? Actually talked a little bit about the different types of property that you see in commercial, I know we’ve done everything all the way up to a hotel with you at one time. So what? But I know it’s quite the gamut, and you just mentioned there that raw land is a different category for commercial as well. So what are the, I guess, types of properties that generally fall into that commercial category? 

Sam  03:32

Yeah, so there’s a mixed bag of them. And I actually get phone calls pretty much four or five times a day right now for commercial financing business loans. Which is unheard of when I first started, it was, you know, one call a month, maybe. And now I’ve been doing this for 15 years here, and so people have gotten to know me, and I guess they trust what I tell them. And so I get a lot of phone calls on all kinds of applications. …