Mixed-use property loans.

Mixed-use is not really one property type. It is a spectrum, and where a building sits on it determines which lenders will look at the deal. At one end is an apartment building with a small storefront on the corner. At the other is a retail center that happens to have units upstairs. Those are financed by different lenders under different assumptions, even though both get called mixed-use.

The measure that matters is the share of income coming from the commercial space. Not the square footage, though that is a useful proxy. Lenders run the income split first, and everything else in the underwriting follows from it.

Residential-dominant is the easier deal by a wide margin

When apartments generate the clear majority of the building’s income, the property behaves like multifamily with an interesting amenity attached. The lender pool is broad, longer fixed terms are available, and agency programs can come into play where the commercial component stays within their limits.

Tip that balance toward the commercial side and the deal changes character. Now the building is underwritten as commercial real estate: tenant credit, lease duration, rollover exposure, and re-leasing cost all move to the front of the analysis. Fewer lenders participate, and the ones who do structure more conservatively around the commercial income.

Neither outcome is bad. But knowing which deal you have before you go to market saves weeks, and it prevents the specific frustration of being quoted by a lender who did not run the split until underwriting.

The ground floor gets read like retail

Whatever the mix, the commercial tenants get scrutinized the way retail tenants always do. Who are they, how long is left on the lease, what happens at expiration, and how quickly could the space be re-let if they left.

A long-tenured neighborhood service business on a lease with term remaining supports the loan. A short-term tenant, a specialized user who built out the space for a purpose nobody else needs, or a vacant storefront pulls the other way. Lenders will also want to see the leases themselves, not just a summary, because the terms buried in them determine who pays for what.

Physical separation matters more than owners expect. Separate entrances, separate metering, and clean demising between the uses make a building easier to underwrite and easier to operate. Buildings where the uses are tangled together are harder on every dimension.

Getting the file positioned properly

We run the income split, look at the leases, check the zoning and certificate of occupancy, and then decide which lenders should see it. That order matters. A residential-dominant building sent to commercial lenders gets priced as something it is not.

Send us the rent roll, the commercial leases, and recent operating numbers. Once we know where the income split lands, the file goes to lenders who will underwrite the building as what it actually is. No credit pull, no cost to start.