You already know the deal. A client comes to you with a solid story, a clear need, and a file that the banks won’t touch. Maybe they’re self-employed. Maybe they had a rough couple of years. Maybe they need to move fast and their bank or credit union just isn’t built for that.
That’s where a good private lender becomes one of the most valuable relationships in your book of business. But “private lender” covers a lot of ground, and not all of them will make your life easier or serve your clients well.
Here’s what’s worth paying attention to when you’re evaluating a private lending partner.
1. Do They Make Decisions, or Do They Make You Wait?
Speed is often the whole point. Your client may have a possession date coming up, a bridge situation, or a time-sensitive situation. A lender who takes two weeks to come back with a “maybe” isn’t helping anyone.
The question to ask isn’t just “what’s your turnaround time?” It’s “who is actually making the call on this file?” At a well-run private lender, decisions are made by people, not committees buried in compliance layers. You should be able to get a real answer quickly, and when something is on the edge, someone should be willing to pick up the phone and talk it through with you.
If you’re chasing down status updates more than you’re serving clients, that’s a sign the lender’s internal process isn’t working for brokers.
2. Are They Flexible, or Just Lenient?
There’s a difference between a lender who is genuinely flexible and one who simply has loose standards. What you want is a lender who can think through a file on its merits, not one who says yes to everything (which usually means the pricing reflects the risk) and not one whose approval checklist looks just like the bank’s.
Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs) are heavily regulated and often constrained in the decisions they can make. A private lender operating outside that structure can take a common-sense approach: looking at the whole picture, understanding the borrower’s situation, and making a decision that actually fits.
When you’re evaluating a lender’s flexibility, ask them about a borderline file they approved and why. Their answer will tell you a lot about how they think.
3. Are Their Terms Transparent Upfront?
Surprises at the table are bad for everyone. Fees that weren’t mentioned, conditions that change after commitment, rates that shift. These don’t just hurt your client, they reflect on you.
A good private lender will be clear about their rates, fees, and terms from the first conversation. They won’t bury costs in the fine print or move the goalposts once a deal is in motion. If they’re cagey about pricing early on, that’s worth noting.
Transparency also means being honest when a deal doesn’t work. A lender who tells you early that a file isn’t a fit rather than stringing you along is respecting your time and your client’s.
4. Do They Understand What Brokers Actually Need?
A lender who has never really worked closely with brokers will often make your job harder without realizing it. They may not understand how your compensation works, why communication timing matters, or what your client is experiencing on the other side of the transaction.
The best private lending relationships feel like a partnership. The lender understands that your reputation is on the line too. They communicate clearly, they’re reachable, and they don’t make you feel like you’re bothering them when you follow up.
A quick test: how does the lender respond to your first inquiry? Are they easy to reach? Do they treat your question like it matters? That first interaction is usually a preview of what the relationship will look like.
5. What Products Do They Actually Offer?
The more situations a lender can handle, the more useful they are to you. A lender limited to first mortgages is going to cover a fraction of the complex files that land on your desk.
Look for a lender whose product range reflects the real situations your clients face: second and third mortgages, home equity lines of credit and deposit loans for buyers who need to move before their current home sells. The broader the toolkit, the fewer calls you have to make to solve a problem.
And find out how they handle investments, if they’re funding deals through a private investor pool rather than institutional money, the lending criteria can be more flexible, which often benefits your more complex clients.
6. Do They Have a Track Record You Can Trust?
Private lending is a space where reputation matters. You want a lender who’s been around long enough to have seen different market conditions and still stands behind their commitments.
Ask how long they’ve been operating, what markets they serve, and whether they’re expanding into new regions. A lender growing their footprint, say into Alberta, is usually doing so because their model is working, not because they’re desperate for volume.
Look for a lender who’s honest about who they are and what they’re good at. The ones worth working with aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. They have a clear lane, they operate well within it, and they’ll tell you if a deal doesn’t fit rather than take it on and make it everyone’s problem later.
The Short Version
The private lender you want as a partner is one who makes your job easier, not harder. They’re fast without being reckless, flexible without being sloppy, transparent without being transactional, and honest enough to tell you when something won’t work.
That kind of relationship is worth building and worth protecting once you find it.
If you’re working through a file that needs a solution, we’re happy to take a look. Reach out to the Spark Mortgage team and let’s talk through it.
Spark Mortgage is a private lending company based in Vancouver, BC, offering customised mortgage solutions, home equity lines of credit, deposit loans, and investment opportunities across BC and Alberta.
