Deal Brief · Lenders
Deal Brief for lenders
A credit officer's first job is to work out what is actually committed. Most financing packages make that the hardest thing in the folder to determine.
How can a developer share a deal with a lender?
Assemble the memo, term sheets, budget, schedule and third-party reports into a Deal Brief, review the extracted economics, then send the lender one link. They can ask about sizing, coverage, guaranty structure and conditions precedent and get answers drawn from your documents, with the source passage attached to each one.
What slows a credit review
- Three versions of the budget with no indication which is current.
- A quote from another lender that reads like a commitment.
- Coverage ratios stated without the rate or the NOI behind them.
- Conditions precedent scattered across a term sheet, an email, and a call.
What a lender-ready Brief contains
- Step 1
Sizing inputs
Total cost with basis, appraised or projected value, requested proceeds, and the stabilised NOI assumption.
- Step 2
Coverage math
DSCR, debt yield, LTC and LTV shown with their formula and inputs, not just their result.
- Step 3
Structure
Guaranty, recourse, reserves, and the other capital in the stack with each piece's status.
- Step 4
Conditions
Outstanding CPs, entitlement status, and third-party reports with dates.
What the Brief answers for a credit team
Sizing
- Requested proceeds
- Total project cost and basis
- Appraisal assumptions
- Yield on cost
Coverage
- DSCR at stated and stressed rates
- Debt yield
- Break-even occupancy
Structure
- Recourse and guaranty
- Mezz and preferred terms
- Reserves and holdbacks
Status
- Committed vs proposed
- Entitlement conditions
- Outstanding CPs
A worked example
Harbor Point is a fictional deal built to show a lender-facing Deal Brief end to end.
Open the Harbor Point Deal BriefFictional. Not a real deal or a real lender.
Questions lenders ask first
If the Brief answers these five from your documents, the first call becomes a decision call rather than a discovery call.
- What is total project cost, on what basis, and as of when?
- Is the mezzanine signed or indicative?
- What is DSCR at a stressed rate, and what NOI does it assume?
- What recourse is the sponsor offering?
- Which conditions precedent are still open?
Why credit teams can rely on it
- Every figure carries basis and date: a $52M term sheet never reads like a $52M closing.
- Derived ratios expose their inputs, so the analyst can re-run them instead of trusting them.
- Conflicting numbers across the appraisal and the budget are surfaced, not averaged.
- The Brief says 'unknown' rather than inferring a figure that no document states.
Before you send it to a lender
- Current sources and uses, dated.
- Every debt quote marked signed or indicative.
- Stabilised NOI assumption stated explicitly.
- Guaranty and recourse position clear.
- Third-party reports attached with dates.
- Basis labels reviewed and approved by you.
Common questions
- How can a developer share a deal with a lender?
- Assemble the memo, term sheets, budget, schedule and third-party reports into a Deal Brief, review the extracted economics, then send the lender one link. They can ask about sizing, coverage, guaranty structure and conditions precedent and get answers drawn from your documents, with the source passage attached to each one.Brieflin does not provide underwriting, appraisal, or legal advice.
- Does a Deal Brief replace due diligence?
- No. A Deal Brief helps a counterparty understand a deal quickly and find the documents that matter. Formal diligence — legal review, appraisal, environmental, engineering, underwriting — still happens against the executed documents themselves. Brieflin does not provide any of that advice.A Deal Brief does not replace formal due diligence, a data room, or professional review.
- What should be included in a commercial-real-estate Deal Brief?
- Include the offering or investment memo, the current sources and uses, the capital stack with each piece's status, the operating or development budget, the rent roll or lease abstracts, the schedule and entitlement status, key third-party reports, and the email traffic where terms were actually agreed. Label every figure with its basis and date.
- How is Brieflin different from a data room?
- A data room stores files. Brieflin organizes the context connecting those files and lets a recipient ask questions across the accumulated knowledge. A Brief may complement a data room; it does not replace formal diligence or professional review.A Deal Brief does not replace formal due diligence, a data room, or professional review.
Scope and limitations
- Brieflin does not provide investment, legal, appraisal, underwriting, engineering, or environmental advice.
- A Deal Brief does not replace formal due diligence, a data room, or professional review.
Send the lender one link
Package the deal once and reuse it across the debt market.