'Time is Money' it's an old adage. Good timing can also amount to the same thing. Taking action at the right time can make all the difference between an easy commercial mortgage transaction and a major headache of stress and panic. In between the lenders offer and the commitment consider undertaking what you can to ease your commercial mortgage deal by anticipating and dealing with any problems or hiccups that may occur.
Try to intercept any future problems or anticipate extra work that could stall your commercial mortgage deal at the critical moment. If you take a little time to consider what is required you should be able to deal with them one by one in plenty of time. Once you have agreed to an offer from a lender and you are waiting for the commitment you should go ahead and run the title searches. The title work can be ordered by your real estate attorney from any number of companies that will risk loosing their title search fee if the commercial mortgage deal doesn't go through.
The title work is a very slow and labour intensive process, so the earlier you start it the quicker it will be completed. Starting it early will also allow for any delays or other issues that may pop up prior to the commercial mortgage completion.
The survey is another potential headache. Surveys have differing specifications and your new lender may have specific requirements of the survey that may not appear in your existing survey documents. Check with your lender exactly what they require of a survey and order it on receiving your offer rather than at closing. Most surveyors are very busy and they can have a very slow turnaround. So again the sooner you can get it underway the easier it will be to deal with any hitches.
Cut down on your mortgage recording tax. Ask your lender to take an assignment of the old mortgage. Early in the deal process you should let your new lender's attorneys look over and approve the old mortgage. This is generally quite quick if you work with your own attorney to ease the process.
Consider the structure of your commercial loan. Does it cover any future plans you may have to modify your property? e.g. you may wish to convert your new property into multiple apartments. Does your loan account for the 'whittling' down of your asset as apartments are sold? This is a simple example but it's better to be upfront at the start about the plans you may have for the future of your property.
Along similar lines you would be well advised to consider the possibility of an early payment penalty if you plan to sell on your property within a few years.
Make a 'To Do' list and use and any spare time to work through it and clear it. There are enough things that can go wrong or cause delays as the deal nears completion. Clear what you can before you get to closing the deal, in this way you can give the mortgage agreement your full attention rather than worry about the other jobs that still need to be done.
