Craig S. Higdon is president of Excelsion Mortgage, a direct lender that provides commercial financing to real estate investors and small business owners throughout the United States. He publishes commercial financing information for investors at www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com and operates an industry coaching and educational web site at www.CommercialLoanCoach.com.

He has been in the mortgage business since 1993 and is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the state of California. He has also been a member of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), The National Association of Realtors (NAR), and the California Mortgage Association (CMA). He is currently a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California and subsequently earned a Masters in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has extensive background in both residential and commercial mortgage loan transactions, including construction financing.

After leaving school, he decided that working as an engineer, wearing a pocket protector, and hanging a calculator on his belt was not an effective fashion statement. He consequently took a job on Wall Street as a retail stock broker. This began 25 years of work in the financial services sector where he held jobs as an investment banker, business owner, mortgage broker, and eventually as a direct lender.

One of his personal missions is to help real estate investors enjoy the benefits of debt-free, high cash flow commercial property by helping them learn the benefits of the “total cost” approach to managing their financing.

He has another mission related specifically to the mortgage industry. As a second degree black belt in Shaolin Kenpo, he considers it his personal duty to protect real estate investors from commercial loan misinformation and inadequately trained mortgage brokers. Thus, he has authored a complete course and developed an on-going coaching program geared towards helping mortgage brokers reach the next level in their commercial mortgage professional development.