Too often, brokers provide lenders with three years of statements and ask for an approval. Lenders cannot give you an approval based on that alone. The interim statements are important to provide insight on the current year.

Project-cost breakdown

Provide explanations and estimates for all of the potential project costs. These include the following:

• Land
• Building/construction
• Equipment
• Site work
• Impact fees

Don't leave out anything. If you list all possible costs, lenders can give you an accurate assessment of what costs they consider eligible and ineligible for their particular loan programs.

Intangibles

These can make or break a weak deal. They tell lenders why they should sign off on a project that may not quite service the debt at that current point in time. Your creative side must come into play with the intangibles.

Because you've spent time learning about your clients' business, you should understand why the numbers look the way they do. As such, you can collectively present the mitigating factors. Provide pictures of the property. Point out areas of the loan package that might be missed in a cursory review such as secondary sources of repayment, a business expansion or excess cash flow from other investments.

How will these items impact the business moving forward? How will they ensure the successful repayment of this commercial loan? Explain the answers to these questions to improve your chances of closing the deal.

As credit criteria tightens, deals aren't getting approved as easily as they once were. But you can still get difficult deals approved if you put together complete loan packages that address the whole picture on the project, not just bits and pieces. Thorough packages often move straight to the top of lenders' lists. They demonstrate to underwriters that the borrowers and the broker are committed to getting the project funded.

Adam Wonus, loan-acquisition officer, and Tony Zara, executive vice president, work for Mercantile Commercial Capital LLC. Mercantile is the only commercial lender nationwide to specialize in providing as much as 90-percent loan-to-cost financing for owner-occupied commercial properties. Its loans are designed specifically to allow business-owners to keep more of their capital and maintain strong cash flow. Visit www.504experts.com to learn more, or call (407) 786-5040.

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