RCN Capital goes all-in on brokers

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Real estate starts local, and so does RCN’s strategy. SVP of sales Christopher Dorin discusses why the lender is embracing the broker channel to scale smarter and serve better

RCN CAPITAL has long held a reputation as a leader in business-purpose lending, but it’s the company’s latest move – shifting exclusively to broker-driven distribution – that heralds a bold evolution in its strategy. While some lenders try to do it all, RCN is doubling down on what’s worked best: putting brokers at the heart of their business. It’s not a pivot, says senior vice president of sales Chris Dorin – it’s a natural progression.

RCN Capital is the leading nationwide wholesale lender that provides residential investment loans for the purchase or refinance of non-owner-occupied single-family and multi-family properties. RCN specializes in providing wholesale partners with financing options for ground-up construction projects, fix and flips, and rental properties for their real estate investor clients. RCN lends to both new and experienced real estate professionals throughout the country.

“That’s the power of our brokers – they know their customers, they can sit and talk to them face to face. Brokers are really the secret sauce to the real estate business in general”

Christopher Dorin, RCN Capital

Why brokers are at the core of RCN’s future

Published May 5, 2025

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“This side of the industry is very steady. There’s always business to be done; it’s not the boom-bust cycle that you might see in the conventional space”

Christopher Dorin, RCN Capital

A steady climb with a clear direction

Founded in 2010, RCN Capital quickly carved out a niche in the real estate investment

space, offering fix-and-flip loans, bridge financing, and rental property loans to investors across the country. Since Dorin joined in 2014, the company has grown to fund approximately $2 billion in deals annually. “I loved the uniqueness of the commercial space that we were in, and the uniqueness of the deals that we got to see,” Dorin says. “I really enjoyed working with brokers and investors who ran small businesses, and we were helping them fulfill their dreams.” That passion hasn’t waned, and it’s become central to RCN’s forward path. Over the years, broker partnerships have grown not just in volume but in value, and the numbers speak for themselves. “The majority of our business was coming from the wholesale and broker channels for some time, and that’s now a supermajority,” Dorin explains. “This side of the industry is very steady. There’s always business to be done; it’s not the boom-bust cycle that you might see in the conventional space. When times are tougher in the conventional world, we often see brokers making their way to RCN to maximize their earning potential.”

According to Dorin, RCN Capital’s decision to step back from direct lending and go all-in on the broker channel was about recognizing where the true value and opportunity was coming from. It was also about understanding something that often gets lost in the race for efficiency: real estate investing is local. Investors want to talk to someone who knows their zip code, their local market dynamics, and even the quirks of the neighborhoods they're targeting. Brokers bring that context in a way that a centralized lender never truly can, and RCN knows it.

“Our growth has really been paired with the growth of our broker partners,” Dorin says. “That means having boots on the ground and local expertise in every state where we do business. That’s the power of our brokers – they know their customers, they can sit and talk to them face to face. Brokers are really the secret sauce to the real estate business in general.” And when a deal isn’t a fit for RCN? Brokers still aren’t left empty-handed. “We want to be able to give a quick yes or a quick no – and if it’s a no, we can refer you to a lender or broker who might be able to help you,” Dorin explains. “The aim is just to make sure the customer is getting served for their needs.”

Investing into local expertise

Over the last year, RCN Capital has made it a priority to invest in tools that support brokers at every stage of a deal. That includes everything from training platforms to branding services – all designed to help brokers move faster, work smarter, and deliver a higher level of service to their clients. One of the standout offerings is Amplify, RCN’s in-house education platform that helps brokers better understand the nuances of business-purpose lending. It’s particularly

useful for professionals transitioning from the residential mortgage world into investment-focused lending. The platform offers a mix of video courses, quizzes, and practical content that brokers can also use to train their own teams. “It’s designed to get brokers acclimatized with the products and educate them on the nuances of our industry,” Dorin explains. “We don’t charge a nickel for that. If there’s value in what we’re giving to brokers, we know that will be returned in deal flow at some stage. At RCN, we’ve always held the motto of ‘How can we do something for others without the expectation of anything in return?’ We know that goodwill is going to come back to our door.”

RCN has also made strategic moves on the tech side to empower brokers. The acquisition of BLN Software, RCN’s proprietary loan origination system, has brought a host of digital tools under one roof. Brokers now have access to deal calculators, white-label marketing materials, branded email templates, and more, all within one platform. “We see a lot of opportunity in our technology stack to really advance the skillsets and learning curve of our wholesale partners,” Dorin says. “We’ll be looking at where the ‘slow’ parts of the deal are – valuations, for example – and looking at what the

alternative options are. Building that toolbox out for our brokers will be a key priority in the coming year.”

A model built to last

RCN Capital has seen firsthand how powerful local expertise can be when paired with national scale. Brokers are not only delivering volume; they’re delivering better outcomes for clients, faster transactions, and stronger relationships – exactly the kind of impact a lender like RCN needs to thrive long term. Dorin notes that, ultimately, a large lender like RCN Capital can’t be “everywhere all the time” – but local brokers can be, and are. And when first-time investors are facing apprehension or anxiety about jumping in and doing a deal, the local broker is who they’ll turn to first. “It’s a natural progression for us too,” Dorin adds. “When you have someone who is already an expert in the field managing client expectations, asking the right questions, and gathering the information, that naturally speeds things up.” “We’ve seen rewards of our investments into the broker channel,” he concludes. “Assessing the benefits of using the local knowhow, it became very obvious that these are the people who were driving the growth of RCN. It was a light bulb moment, and we knew it was the right direction to go. If we can help brokers win, we’re going to win too.”

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