Additional details

For more-complex transactions, such as construction or bridge loans, you should include information about the general contractor, the status of plans and permits, the marketing study, borrower cash and equity levels, and similar information.

You should not make a lender guess about a deal's particulars. Present the facts. On complex loans, there is nothing wrong with contacting the lender at the start and simply asking for guidance. Some lenders have a loan-application-package checklist that outlines what they need to get started.

Your executive summary also should be two pages or three, at the most. Think of it as your deal's résumé -- a neat, professional summary consisting of one or two paragraphs on each major deal point. Clear property photographs are often helpful, and a location map is an informative addition, as well.

Experienced, successful brokers of income-property loans don't reinvent the wheel each time they prepare an executive loan summary. They have a proven template to reuse for each type of loan, just as lenders have a template to respond to brokers' inquiries.

How does a broker know that the template is a good one? Because the loan they presented using that template was funded.

Before you can explain the transaction, you've got to know it well. Don't spend a lot of time on a deal your client has only briefly sketched out to you. If your client isn't willing to spend the time upfront to explain what they are looking for, you are not well-positioned for success in selling it.

Nathan LaBudde and Fred Hollister are loan officers at Imperial Capital Bank. They specialize in purchase, refinance (including cash out) and rehabilitation apartment loans; construction loans; and structured financing for other types of income property. They bring more than 30 years of combined experience to the art of commercial-property financing. Reach LaBudde at nlabudde@ImperialCapitalBank.com or (877) 392-2052, ext. 21215, and Hollister at fhollister@ImperialCapitalBank.com or (800) 860-0965, ext. 24205.

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