ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Commercial mortgage

Okay, so you know how when you want to buy a toy or candy, you can use your allowance to pay for it? Well, when someone wants to buy a big building, like an office building or a store, they usually don't have enough money to pay for it all at once. So, they go to a bank or a lender and ask to borrow money to help them buy the building.

This is called a commercial mortgage. It's like when your parents borrow money from the bank to buy a house, but instead of a house, it's a big building. Just like your parents have to pay back the money they borrowed with interest, the person buying the building has to do the same.

The bank or lender will look at different things, like how much money the person wanting to buy the building makes, how much the building costs, and how much they think the building will be worth in the future. If they think the person can pay back the money and they think the building is a good investment, they will lend them the money.

Once the person buying the building gets the money, they can use it to pay for the building. Then, they will have to pay a certain amount of money back each month, called a mortgage payment, until they have paid back all of the borrowed money plus interest.

So, a commercial mortgage is just like borrowing money to buy a big building, and then paying it back over time. It's kind of like when you borrow your friend's toy and promise to give it back later, but on a much bigger scale!