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A commercial second mortgage is an important commercial real estate tool. Commercial second mortgages are often used in conjunction with a new first commercial mortgage loan. Typically, the commercial second mortgage will have a term of one to five years with interest only payments. While commercial second mortgages can be critical in some financing scenarios, consideration must be given as to whether or not you have the ability to service both loans.

There are some clear advantages to this type of creative financing. The most frequent use is that a commercial second mortgage reduces the LTV (loan to value) of the first mortgage in order to allow you to more easily qualify for the first mortgage. An example would be where the primary lender (first mortgage holder) will only lend 70% LTV and you only have a 20% (or less) down payment. A commercial second mortgage can be used to make up the difference. Other uses for a commercial second mortgage are to finance business expansion and construction, working capital, to consolidate debts, pay tax arrears (lets face it, this does happen), or for renovations.

There are a variety of options available to you such as: interest only payments, annual payments, exit fees, etc. that will help keep your immediate payments down and defer the costs of the commercial second mortgage. The idea is to give the property time to appreciate and thereby allow you to refinance and consolidate both the first and second mortgages at a later date at a then lower LTV.

One main reason for getting a commercial equity mortgage loan is to obtain a line of credit. A line of credit is an amount of money made available for you to borrow from whenever you wish. When you get a line of credit with a commercial equity mortgage loan, what you're actually doing is getting a new 'mortgage-loan' on your commercial real estate for a particular amount. For example, instead of taking that amount, say $500,000 out of your commercial real estate in cash, you leave that cash in, but make it available as a line of credit. Of course, this line of credit is accessible whenever you need it, paying interest only on the amount you use, and only when you are using the line of credit. If you took the $500,000 out in cash, you would have to pay interest on that full $500,000 until you completely paid it back. So a line of credit is a money-saving option as opposed to getting full 'cash out' with a commercial equity mortgage loan, especially if you don't need to use the entire amount of equity in your commercial real estate all at once. If you get a line of credit by getting a commercial equity loan, it can act as a safety blanket for you in case of financial emergencies. Also, you can get a line of credit with a commercial secured equity loan far cheaper than you can get a regular line of credit from a bank.

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Donna Lewczuk is the owner of Donna's Mortgages, http://www.donnasmortgages.com . She has worked in the financial services industry for over 21 years, with most of those years involved in the mortgage field.

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