The lease read the way a lender reads it
A short remaining term, a single tenant, or an unusual clause can change the lending ratio or sink the deal outright. Far better to know that before you go unconditional than after.
Commercial property finance
The property has a settlement date. Your bank does not care.
Twenty-four years inside the big four banks, and a process built around your contract date. Book a complimentary conversation about what the property will actually support.
Book My Complimentary Conversation
100% private. No obligation. No spam.
- Speak directly with a senior broker
- Contract and leases read as a lender would
- Built around your settlement date
Adrian HardieDirector and Senior Broker, Mildura VIC
You’ll be talking to Adrian.
Director and Senior Finance Broker
- 24 years inside the big four banks
- Masters in Agribusiness, University of Melbourne
- Runs his own business, so he reads yours properly
24 yrsBig 4 banking
30+Lenders on panel
MFAAMember #856566
AFCAMember #119660
What you get
Three things you walk away with.
The real deposit, not the agent's number
Commercial lending ratios are lower than most people expect, and valuations can land well under contract. You find out what you genuinely need now, not a week out from settlement.
No pressure to go anywhere
The conversation is complimentary. If you choose to proceed afterwards, a one-off engagement fee applies and it is disclosed in writing before you commit to anything. After settlement, Adrian is paid a commission by your lender, not by you.
★★★★★
Adrian was fantastic in our appointment, making sure I understood all options, with high attention to detail. Super friendly and easy to talk to. High quality of professionalism. Highly recommend him for anyone wanting more knowledge or looking to get their future started.
Verified Google Review
Individual results vary. Your outcome depends on your circumstances and lender assessment.
Why Adrian
Five reasons this conversation is worth your time.
- He was on the other side of the desk for 24 years. He knows how commercial credit teams read a tenancy schedule and where their policies bend, because he spent his career applying them.
- The valuation gets managed, not just ordered. The valuation is the single most common reason a commercial deal falls over. A valuer given a proper brief and comparable evidence produces a better informed result than one sent a contract and an address.
- Settlement dates are the whole game. A commercial contract has a date and consequences for missing it. Somebody has to own the timetable across you, two solicitors and a lender, and that is the job.
- A panel of more than 30 lenders. Including non-bank and private capital, which matters when the timeframe is short or the asset is one a bank does not understand.
- It does not stop at settlement. Commercial terms are shorter than residential and come up for review. I am still your contact when that happens.
The complimentary assessment
Exactly what gets done, before you pay anything.
- We talk about the property and the plan. What you intend to do with it, your timing, and the contract position you are in or about to be in. Timing is the thing that kills commercial deals.
- The contract and leases read the way a lender will. Tenancy profile, remaining terms, options, outgoings and the GST treatment, and what a credit team will take issue with. This is a lending assessment, not legal advice. Your solicitor reviews the contract.
- What the property will actually support. Serviceability, rental coverage, lending ratio and deposit position, tested against realistic assumptions rather than the agent's numbers, including what happens if a tenant leaves.
- The deal pre-assessed and structured. Purchasing entity, security position, facility type, term, amortisation and interest-only period, built so it is approval-ready before it goes near a lender.
- Your position tested against lender credit appetite. Across my panel, including non-bank and private capital where the timeframe or the asset needs it. You get an indicative outcome: whether this works, roughly what it looks like, and what it would take.
Around 14 hours of specialist work, worth about $3,500 at typical market rates.
It costs you nothing.
Value calculated at $250 per hour, the typical market rate for comparable specialist advisory work. It is not a fee charged to you. Hours vary with the complexity of your situation.
Book My Complimentary Conversation
100% private. No obligation. No spam.
How it works
Three steps, and we do the running.
Pick a time
Choose a slot that suits you from Adrian’s calendar. It takes about two minutes, and you get a confirmation straight away.
We talk it through
Forty-five minutes by phone or video, or at the property if you are near Sunraysia. The contract, the tenancy, and how a credit team would read both.
You decide what happens next
You finish with an indicative outcome and a clear picture of what proceeding would involve. Whether you take it further is entirely up to you.
About
Who you’re actually booking with.
I spent 24 years inside the big four banks. I sat on the other side of the desk, applying the credit policies that decide whose loan gets written and whose does not, and I watched plenty of sound commercial purchases fall over on a valuation or a lease clause that nobody had looked at early enough.
I also run my own business and own commercial-grade infrastructure on my own block, so a settlement date with real consequences attached is not an abstraction to me.
That combination is the whole point of Hardie Finance Group. I know how lenders think, and I know what it looks like from your side of it.
Common questions
Before you book.
Does the assessment cost me anything?
No. Everything up to and including the indicative outcome is complimentary. If you decide to proceed afterwards, a one-off engagement and mandate fee of $1,800 plus GST applies, disclosed in writing before you commit to anything. It is the same fee regardless of how much you are borrowing. After settlement, I am paid a commission by your lender, not by you.
How much deposit do I actually need?
More than for a home loan, and it depends on the property, the tenancy and the lender. Commercial lending ratios are lower than most people expect. Working out your real deposit position is part of the complimentary assessment, before you commit to anything.
What happens if the valuation comes in under the contract price?
It is the most common reason a commercial deal falls over. That is why the valuation is instructed with a proper brief and comparable evidence rather than just ordered, and why the deposit position is stress-tested before you go unconditional.
Can you work to a short settlement?
Often yes, and it is the first thing assessed. Whether it is achievable depends on the lender, the valuation and how quickly information arrives. I will tell you honestly on day one rather than find out three weeks in.
Does the fee cover the valuation?
No. The valuation fee and any lender application fee are separate third party costs, and they are disclosed to you before they are incurred. The engagement fee covers my credit assistance and structuring work.
Who reviews the contract of sale?
Your solicitor. What I do is assess how a lender will read the contract, the leases and the tenancy schedule, which is a different job. Tax and GST treatment is your accountant's.
What if I change my mind after engaging you?
The engagement fee is retained once work has commenced, because the work has been done. That is why everything up to the indicative outcome is complimentary: you can see where you stand and walk away at no cost, before any of it applies.
Do you work outside the Sunraysia region?
Yes. I am based in Mildura, Victoria and travel a wide radius around the Sunraysia region. Clients further afield are looked after by video, phone and email, with the same process throughout.
Find out before you go unconditional.
Forty-five minutes with a broker who spent 24 years inside the big four banks, looking at the property the way a lender would. The conversation is complimentary and there is no obligation to go any further.