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THE FINANCEBASE List yours

Guide

How to Review a Commercial Real Estate Loan Before Signing

By TheFinanceBase Team 12 min read

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Do not sign a commercial real-estate loan after reading only the promissory note. Review the note, loan agreement, mortgage or deed of trust, assignment of leases and rents, guaranties, security documents, environmental indemnity, exhibits, and closing conditions as one package. Reconcile the money terms, parties, property description, collateral, covenants, and default remedies; then have transaction counsel licensed where the property is located resolve every inconsistency and jurisdiction-specific issue before execution.

This guide is general U.S.-oriented information, not state-specific legal advice. Recording rules, lien priority, foreclosure procedure, usury limits, guaranty enforcement, and required signing formalities vary by the property state and the governing-law clause.

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What the loan package includes

A commercial mortgage is usually a group of interlocking documents. The exact set varies by transaction, lender, property type, and state, so ask for the lender’s complete execution package rather than assuming the documents you received are exhaustive.

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  • Promissory note: the borrower’s promise to repay, including principal, interest, payment dates, maturity, late charges, default interest, and prepayment language.
  • Loan agreement: operating covenants, reporting duties, reserves, insurance and maintenance obligations, transfer restrictions, events of default, and lender remedies.
  • Mortgage or deed of trust: the real-estate lien, secured obligations, property description, borrower and lender names, and enforcement provisions.
  • Assignment of leases and rents: the lender’s rights to leases and rental income, including notice and collection mechanics after a default.
  • Guaranties: payment, completion, carry, or nonrecourse-carveout obligations that can expose sponsors or individuals beyond the property itself.
  • Security agreement and fixture filing: personal-property and fixture collateral when the transaction uses them.
  • Environmental indemnity: separate obligations for contamination, cleanup, regulatory response, or related losses when applicable.
  • Escrow instructions, exhibits, schedules, amendments, side letters, and certificates: documents that may add conditions, definitions, or continuing duties.

Thomson Reuters Practical Law’s commercial-loan materials describe these as companion documents and emphasize that model forms require customization to the governing state. A California closing toolkit, for example, should not be treated as a national statement of foreclosure or recording law.

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Step 1: Assemble a truly complete set

Request final, execution-ready versions in one package. Include every exhibit, schedule, legal description, rent roll or lease schedule referenced by the agreement, and any amendment or side letter. Ask the lender or closing agent to identify which documents are intentionally omitted because they do not apply.

  1. Save the negotiated draft and the proposed signature version with clear file names and dates.
  2. Obtain the note, loan agreement, mortgage or deed of trust, assignment of leases and rents, guaranties, security agreement or fixture filing, environmental indemnity, escrow instructions, and all referenced attachments.
  3. Ask for a written closing checklist showing each funding condition, the responsible party, the required evidence, and whether the lender has discretion to accept or reject it.
  4. Confirm that pages are numbered consistently and that every defined term points to a provision that actually appears in the package.
  5. Do not rely on a term sheet, commitment letter, or email promise if the signed documents say something different. Resolve the conflict in an executed amendment or corrected document.

Step 2: Build one economic term sheet and reconcile it

Put the negotiated economics in a single comparison sheet, then check each entry against the note and loan agreement. The goal is not merely to find the interest rate; it is to understand the cash obligation over the entire loan life.

Term to capture What to verify in the documents
Principal Original commitment, funded amount, future advances, holdbacks, and whether the mortgage secures additional obligations.
Interest Fixed or floating rate, index and spread if applicable, day-count convention, reset dates, floors, caps, and the calculation section controlling disputes.
Payments Amount or formula, frequency, first payment date, payment date each month, application of payments, and approved payment method.
Maturity Exact maturity date, extension options, notice deadlines, extension conditions, and the expected balloon balance.
Amortization Amortization period, interest-only period, scheduled principal reductions, and final balloon payment.
Late charges Trigger, percentage or fixed amount, grace period, and whether the charge is imposed once or repeatedly.
Default interest Rate increase, when it starts, whether it compounds, and whether it applies to all outstanding obligations.
Prepayment Open-prepayment dates, notice requirements, minimum amounts, premiums, yield-maintenance or defeasance mechanics, and permitted partial paydowns.
Reserves and escrows Initial deposits, monthly funding, permitted uses, release tests, lender control, and treatment of any balance at payoff.

Check that the payment schedule uses the same principal and interest definitions as the note. A term sheet that says “monthly payments” does not answer whether the first payment is a stub period, whether interest accrues through funding, or how a payment made on a weekend is treated. Those details belong in the operative language.

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Prepayment and exit economics

Model the cost of paying off early under each permitted scenario: sale, refinance, casualty, condemnation, voluntary payoff, and acceleration after default. Defeasance or yield-maintenance provisions can make an early exit materially different from the stated principal balance. Identify notice periods and the exact calculation method; ask for a payoff example if the formula is difficult to verify.

Step 3: Reconcile names, entities, and collateral

Compare the borrower and lender’s exact legal names everywhere: note, loan agreement, mortgage or deed of trust, assignment of rents, guaranties, security agreement, title commitment, insurance certificates, and organizational resolutions. A trade name, shortened name, wrong state of formation, or missing entity suffix can create execution and enforcement problems.

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  • Confirm the borrowing entity is the entity that owns or will acquire the property.
  • Check the property’s legal description against the title policy or title commitment, not just the street address.
  • Verify that the mortgage or deed of trust secures the debt evidenced by the note and covers the intended parcels, improvements, fixtures, easements, and appurtenant rights.
  • Ensure the assignment of leases and rents identifies the same landlord, property, and lender and does not omit material leases.
  • Review whether collateral includes personal property, accounts, reserves, insurance proceeds, condemnation awards, or other assets beyond the real estate.

The commercial-loan due-diligence checklist published by Hunton Andrews Kurth and Practical Law in 2020 specifically calls for comparing the note and mortgage or deed of trust amount and party names and matching the legal description to title materials. Use that checklist as a document-control prompt, not as proof that every lender currently uses identical closing practices.

Step 4: Read covenants as an operating manual

Covenants govern what you must do after closing. Make a calendar and assign an owner for every recurring duty; a covenant that is easy to overlook can still become a default.

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Financial tests

Identify debt-service coverage, debt-yield, loan-to-value, occupancy, minimum liquidity, net-worth, or other tests that apply. Record the measurement date, permitted adjustments, required reporting, cure mechanism, and whether a failed test is automatically a default or first triggers a cash sweep, reserve deposit, or other remedy.

Reporting

List deadlines for financial statements, rent rolls, operating statements, budgets, tax returns, compliance certificates, property-inspection reports, and notices of litigation or material changes. Confirm the required accounting standard, certification level, delivery method, and whether reports must cover guarantors as well as the borrower.

Property operations

Check duties to maintain the property, pay taxes and assessments, keep licenses, comply with laws, complete repairs, and preserve permits. Insurance provisions may specify policy types, limits, deductibles, carriers, endorsements, lender loss-payee language, notice periods, and replacement-cost requirements. A failure to deliver a certificate or renewal can be a separate default even when the property remains insured.

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Transfers, ownership, debt, and leases

Look for restrictions on selling the property, transferring direct or indirect ownership interests, admitting new partners, changing management, incurring additional debt, granting liens, or entering, amending, or terminating leases. Determine which actions require consent, which are permitted transfers, and whether consent may be withheld in the lender’s discretion or only for stated reasons.

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Step 5: Map every default, notice, cure, and remedy

Build a default matrix rather than reading the events-of-default section only once. For each trigger, write down the notice requirement, cure period, cross-default effect, and consequence.

Question Why it matters
What conduct triggers default? Payment failures, covenant breaches, false statements, insolvency, unauthorized transfers, uninsured losses, and other triggers may have different rules.
Is notice required? Some defaults occur automatically; others require written notice. The contract may use separate procedures for payment and nonpayment defaults.
How long is the cure period? Count business or calendar days exactly and check whether the period extends for a noncurable event or a repair that cannot reasonably be completed within the stated time.
Does a cross-default apply? A default under another loan, lease, guaranty, or related agreement may trigger this loan even if this payment is current.
What can the lender do? Possible remedies include acceleration, foreclosure or sale under the security instrument, collection of rents, appointment of a receiver, reserve control, and pursuit of guarantors, subject to the contract and state law.

Ask counsel to explain how the remedies operate in the property’s state. A deed of trust and a mortgage may use different foreclosure processes, and lien priority and recording rules are local-law questions. Do not assume a remedy described in a form from another state is available in your transaction.

Step 6: Separate nonrecourse language from actual guarantor exposure

Read every guaranty and indemnity on its own, then compare it with the loan agreement’s recourse provisions. Determine whether each obligation is:

  • Payment or collection based: whether the guarantor must pay on demand or only after the lender exhausts collection efforts.
  • Full or limited: whether liability covers all debt or a stated percentage, dollar cap, or burn-off schedule.
  • Continuing or conditional: whether the obligation lasts through maturity, payoff, foreclosure, bankruptcy, or a later amendment.
  • Triggered by conduct: whether fraud, misapplication of rents or insurance proceeds, unauthorized transfer, voluntary bankruptcy, environmental damage, or other “bad acts” create recourse.

A loan marketed as “nonrecourse” can still contain substantial nonrecourse-carveout obligations and a separate environmental indemnity. The legal effect depends on the executed wording, definitions, negotiation history, and governing law. Ask for a written explanation of the maximum exposure under ordinary performance, a payment default, a property sale, bankruptcy, and each carveout scenario.

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Step 7: Review reserves, escrows, holdbacks, and funding conditions

Reserves can affect both the amount of cash you receive and the lender’s control after closing. For each account, identify the opening deposit, required monthly contribution, permitted withdrawals, approval process, evidence required for release, investment or interest treatment, and payoff treatment.

  • Replacement-reserve funds may require invoices, inspections, lien waivers, or a lender-approved budget before release.
  • Tax and insurance escrows can change monthly debt service and may be recalculated when assessments or premiums change.
  • Interest reserves or construction holdbacks may expire, require progress certifications, or be released only after inspections.
  • Operating or debt-service reserves may be trapped after a covenant breach, decline in coverage, or specified leasing event.

Obtain a closing-condition list that states who supplies surveys, appraisals, title endorsements, insurance evidence, entity certificates, environmental reports, estoppels, leases, and other deliverables. Clarify whether a condition is objective or remains subject to lender satisfaction. A condition that is not defined can delay funding even after the economics appear settled.

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Step 8: Confirm entity authority and signing mechanics

Verify the borrower’s formation documents, good-standing evidence where required, ownership records, resolutions or consents, and authorized signers. The same check applies to guarantors and any entity pledging collateral.

  1. Confirm the entity name, formation jurisdiction, status, and authority to borrow, grant liens, guarantee obligations, and sign the specific documents.
  2. Check that resolutions identify the loan amount, collateral, lender, and officers or managers authorized to execute.
  3. Verify notarization, witnesses, acknowledgment forms, margins, signature blocks, and recording requirements for the property state.
  4. Ask whether powers of attorney, foreign qualification, spousal signatures, or entity certificates are required.
  5. Ensure every signature page is attached to the correct document and that no signature block names the wrong capacity.

Step 9: Investigate title, leases, environmental matters, and collateral condition

Review title exceptions, survey matters, existing liens, easements, restrictions, and priority requirements with title counsel. Confirm that the lender’s required endorsements and releases can be obtained before closing. Compare the lease schedule with executed leases, amendments, guaranties, security deposits, and estoppels; an assignment of rents cannot cure a missing or inaccurately described lease.

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Environmental obligations deserve separate attention. Identify existing reports, recognized environmental conditions, required remediation, monitoring duties, indemnity scope, survival after payoff, and access rights. A state or federal environmental liability can extend beyond the ordinary repayment promise, and the indemnity may remain effective after foreclosure or transfer.

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How to compare competing structures or revisions

When choosing between offers or negotiating revisions, compare the same dimensions rather than focusing on headline rate alone.

Comparison axis Questions to ask
Total cost and exit flexibility What are the rate, fees, reserve funding, late charges, default interest, prepayment premium, defeasance or yield-maintenance cost, and extension expense?
Recourse and guarantor exposure Which obligations are full, capped, burn-off, payment, completion, carry, environmental, or nonrecourse carveouts?
Covenant burden and cures How often are tests measured, what reporting is required, and how much time is available to cure a breach?
Reserve and escrow control Who controls releases, what evidence is required, and when can funds be trapped?
Collateral breadth Does the lender receive liens on additional parcels, personal property, rents, reserves, insurance proceeds, or affiliated assets?
Enforcement and transaction costs Which state’s law governs, where can enforcement occur, and what local recording, foreclosure, title, or counsel costs could arise?

There is no universal best term. The right structure depends on the property, sponsor resources, projected cash flow, exit plan, and the law governing the collateral.

Final execution checklist

Use this sequence immediately before signing:

  1. Compare the signature versions with the final negotiated drafts and any commitment or amendment.
  2. Recheck principal, rate, payment dates, maturity, amortization, late charges, default interest, prepayment, reserves, and funding holdbacks.
  3. Match every borrower, lender, guarantor, and entity name across the package.
  4. Match the legal description and parcel list to title materials and the survey.
  5. Confirm all exhibits, schedules, leases, legal descriptions, certificates, and side letters are attached.
  6. Remove accidental blanks, bracketed alternatives, drafting notes, and inconsistent defined terms. Leave a blank only when the closing process intentionally completes it and the method is documented.
  7. Verify authority, notarization, witnesses, signature capacity, and recording formalities.
  8. Obtain written answers to every open question and incorporate material answers into an executed document.
  9. Keep a complete executed copy, including recording data when available, and calendar payment, reporting, insurance, reserve, extension, and covenant deadlines.

Red flags that should stop signing

  • The note and mortgage or deed of trust show different principal amounts, parties, maturity dates, or property descriptions.
  • A “final” package refers to an exhibit, lease schedule, reserve agreement, or guaranty that is missing.
  • Definitions silently expand secured obligations or collateral beyond what the business deal contemplated.
  • A default can occur without notice or with a cure period shorter than the time reasonably needed to correct it.
  • The lender can withhold funding or reserve releases under an undefined “satisfaction” standard.
  • A transfer, ownership change, lease amendment, or additional debt restriction conflicts with the planned business strategy.
  • Nonrecourse language is broad in the marketing summary but narrow in the executed carveouts and indemnities.
  • The borrower entity, signer, title holder, or guarantor does not match the approved structure.
  • State-specific foreclosure, recording, lien-priority, environmental, or usury issues have not been reviewed by local counsel.

Pause execution, document the discrepancy, and send a consolidated question list to qualified transaction counsel and the lender. Do not “fix” a contradiction by assuming which clause will prevail.

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What to calendar after closing

Closing is the start of the compliance period. Create reminders for every payment, financial test, reporting delivery, insurance renewal, tax payment, reserve deposit, inspection, lease notice, extension election, and maturity date. Store the executed package and amendments where the sponsor, property manager, controller, and counsel can access the same current version. When ownership, management, leases, insurance, or property condition changes, check the loan agreement before acting; a routine business decision may require notice or consent.

The most reliable review is a documented reconciliation: one term sheet, one complete document set, one default-and-cure matrix, and written resolution of every inconsistency. Because the property state and governing-law clause control critical enforcement questions, have a lawyer licensed in the relevant jurisdiction approve the final package before anyone signs.

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