CRE deal screening in minutes: every loan request sized against your appetite, with the counter already on the back
Every request screened in minutes, so strong deals stop waiting.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that gives every commercial real estate loan request a first look before underwriting starts: is it in the bank’s appetite, what would the bank lend, and should the officer pursue, counter or decline. CRE Deal Screening has six agents read the package, rebuild the income, size the loan and test it against your credit box, then draft the screen and the broker reply for a lending officer to sign.
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Offering memoranda, broker packages and refinance requests from borrowers with maturing loans arrive faster than a CRE team can read them. Before any underwriting starts, a lending officer has to decide pursue, counter or decline — and that first look happens when the week allows. Strong deals sit in an inbox while poor fits get a full read, and the broker shops the request to the lender who answers first.
When the first look does happen, it is made from memory and on the memo’s own numbers: vacant space assumed leased, renewals marked to market, thin vacancy and no reserves. Whether the deal moves the bank toward its concentration trigger is found out at credit committee, weeks later. And a decline is a phone call — nobody can tell the head of CRE or an examiner why a request was turned away.
Estimated split of the about 4.6 days a request waited for its first answer, by hand and with the solution (median 1.8 h in October).
Six agents stamp every request against appetite and size the counter the bank would do; the lending officer passes, counters or pursues, and signs.
Seventeen requests have come in since Thursday at a CRE lending team covering the Carolinas and Virginia. At 07:40 the trailing-12 for a $28.5M cash-out refinance arrives and the package is complete. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Elena opens the solution to a deck of loan requests, not a dashboard: 13 screened requests left to triage, $256.2M asked, two more still being read, sized at today’s 6.43% rate sheet. On top is Ashby Medical Pavilion, a $15.4M acquisition of a 52,000 sf medical office in Charlotte — 87.0% loan to value, 1.03x coverage and a 7.8% debt yield as asked.
The stamp on the card: “Outside appetite — 87% of value as asked.”
The back of every card is the counter the bank would do. For Ashby: $11.5M at 65% LTV, 1.38x and a 10.4% debt yield, with 12 months of debt service — $865,900 — held in reserve until the health system that pays 58% of the rent extends past 2029. The reply to Nadia Ferris at Corbin Street Partners is already drafted.
“Counter: $11.5M at 65% LTV with 12-month reserve.”
Elena presses the up arrow. Ashby goes into the Counter lane with its reply drafted, ready to send. The next card is Sutter Point Logistics Center: two multi-tenant industrial buildings, 248,600 sf, $28.5M refinance with cash out. Jenna Liu at Tidewater Capital Advisors wants a number by Wednesday 14 October.
“23 documents in, nothing screened yet.”
The package reader sorts and reads the 23 documents. The income normalizer takes the memo’s $2.70M of income down to the bank’s $2.31M. The market checker uses a 6.50% cap rate for the submarket, for a value of $35.54M. The quick sizer runs the tests at 6.43%, and the appetite and policy checker places it in the credit box.
Finished in 1 min 48 s · 6 agents · 23 documents.
As asked, Sutter Point covers its debt service 1.08x against a 1.25x minimum, with an 8.1% debt yield against 9.5% and 80.2% of the bank’s value. The counter: $24.3M at 68.4%, 1.26x and 9.51%, with a 25% payment guarantee from the principal, Mark Ostrander — or non-recourse at $23.1M — a $250,000 leasing reserve and a cash trap if Bramford Logistics has not renewed by 31 March 2028.
Debt yield binds: the minimum 9.5% sets the loan.
The bridge is laid out line by line: suite B-140 is vacant since May but the memo leases it at $12.50 (−$180,000); two renewals are marked to market before they are signed (−$77,820); then the 5% vacancy floor, 3% management and $0.15/sf reserves. Bramford Logistics pays 29.9% of base rent and 43.1% of rent expires within 24 months.
Bank underwritten income: $2,310,000 — trailing-12 actual $2,356,800.
Loan to value allows $24.87M, coverage $24.54M and debt yield $24.31M — so debt yield binds and the maximum loan, rounded down, is $24,300,000: $4.2M less than asked. Elena can change the income basis, rate, amortization or cap rate and watch the loan move.
Industrial in Charlotte is Grow on the Q4 2026 appetite the credit committee approved on 24 September. Total CRE is 285.6% of capital and goes to 287.9% at the counter — under the 290% internal watch and the 300% trigger. The industrial book moves to $522.9M of its $600M limit.
Elena chooses the recommended counter and signs the screen: “screen reviewed; counter as recommended”. Because it is above her $20M limit, Robert Tran, head of CRE lending, approves from his phone. Only then does the letter of interest go to Jenna Liu — the same morning the package was complete.
The reply says why not $28.5M, in plain words — and it is a letter of interest, not a commitment.
Sutter Point joins the log: 215 requests screened in 90 days, 61 pursued, 45 countered, 109 declined in writing. Robert can see why requests were declined — 34 for property type outside appetite, 28 for leverage above policy — and how the median time to a first answer fell from 4.9 days in April to 1.8 hours in October.
“Every decline names the policy clause behind it and is sent by a lending officer.”
The same request, seen by the five people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents stamp every request against appetite and size the counter the bank would do; the lending officer passes, counters or pursues, and signs.
Sorts a broker package — memorandum, request, rent roll, statements, leases, sponsor documents — reads each one and checks that names and numbers agree across them. Marks the package complete only when the rent roll and trailing-12 are present.
Rebuilds the property’s income from the in-place rent roll and the trailing-12, applying the bank’s vacancy, management and reserve floors, and writes a bridge from the memo’s income to the bank’s, each step with its page.
Compares the memo’s rents, vacancy and cap rate with the bank’s market file for the submarket.
Sizes the loan at today’s rate sheet on loan to value, coverage and debt yield, takes the least, rounds down to $100,000, and shows which test binds and the cash to the sponsor after payoff.
Tests the request against the lending appetite, the footprint, concentration limits and every credit policy rule, and proposes the structure that clears each exception.
Writes the one-page screen with the fit score and a recommended next step — pursue, counter or decline, each reason tied to its page — and drafts the reply to the broker in plain words.
Decides and signs; head of CRE approves above $20M. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about a request’s income, its sizing or the appetite — or say what to draft. Every answer cites the memo, rent roll, rate sheet or policy page it rests on.
Why can’t we lend the $28.5 million they asked for?
Because the income isn’t there yet. The memo sizes on $2,700,000 of pro-forma income; the rent roll and trailing-12 support $2,310,000 — suite B-140 is vacant and two renewals are unsigned. At 6.43% a $28.5M loan covers debt service only 1.08x with an 8.1% debt yield, against our 1.25x and 9.5%. The most the policy allows is $24,300,000, where debt yield binds.
What does the rent roll say that the memo doesn’t?
Three things: B-140 is leased at $12.50 in the memo but vacant since May (−$180,000); two renewals are marked to market but neither is signed (−$77,820); Bramford is “expected to renew” but pays 29.9% of rent to March 2029, so a cash trap is proposed. And 43.1% of rent rolls in the next 24 months, so a $250,000 leasing reserve is proposed.
Does Sutter Point fit our appetite and concentration?
Yes. Industrial in Charlotte is Grow this quarter. Total CRE is 285.6% of capital; at $24.3M it becomes 287.9% — under the 290% internal watch and the 300% supervisory trigger. The industrial book goes to $522.9M of its $600M limit. The sponsor has 14 industrial assets and $7.8M of liquidity.
Draft the counter to Tidewater at $24.3 million
Drafted, for you to sign. It offers $24,300,000 with a 25% guarantee from Mark Ostrander, 10 years, 30-year amortization, about 6.43% fixed. It says why not $28.5M in plain words and asks for a $250,000 leasing reserve and a Bramford cash trap. It goes to Robert Tran after you sign, because it is above $20M.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Every test a request is screened against is a setting your bank controls.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum debt service coverage | 1.25x | 1.10x to 1.50x, in steps of 0.05x |
| Minimum debt yield | 9.5% (industrial, multifamily) | 9.0% · 9.5% · 10.0% |
| Maximum loan to value | 70% stabilized | 65% · 70% · 75% stabilized |
| Lending footprint | North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia | NC, SC, VA and Tennessee · NC and SC only |
| Lease rollover in 24 months | 35% of base rent | 30% · 35% · 40% of base rent |
| Recourse | Non-recourse to 65%, 25% guarantee above | 60% with a 50% guarantee above · full recourse always |
| Lending officer’s limit | $20,000,000 | $10,000,000 · $20,000,000 · $30,000,000 |
| Concentration watch | 290% of total capital | 280% · 290% · 295% of total capital |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (MBA 2025 loan maturity survey — $875B maturing in 2026; 2006 interagency guidance on CRE concentrations — 300% of total capital). People, banks, brokers and properties named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that gives every commercial real estate loan request a first look before underwriting starts: is it in the bank’s appetite, what would the bank lend, and should the officer pursue, counter or decline. CRE Deal Screening has six agents read the package, rebuild the income, size the loan and test it against your credit box, then draft the screen and the broker reply for a lending officer to sign.
On the bank’s underwritten income from the in-place rent roll and trailing-12, and on the bank’s value at its own cap rate from your market file. The quick sizer works out the maximum loan on loan to value, debt service coverage and debt yield at today’s rate sheet, takes the least and shows which test binds.
No. The memo’s income is shown, and the bridge from it to the bank’s income is written line by line — vacant space assumed leased, unsigned renewals, the vacancy, management and reserve floors — each with its page. Loans are never sized on pro-forma rent.
The back of the card shows what the bank can do instead: a smaller loan, a guarantee, a reserve or a cash trap, with as asked against the counter and a drafted reply. Where nothing fits, it says so in plain words and drafts a decline with its reasons and the policy clause behind it.
Yes. Every request is placed in the appetite matrix by property type and market, and its effect on total CRE as a share of capital, construction and each property-type limit is shown before anyone pursues it. A deal that takes total CRE above your concentration watch brings in the chief credit officer.
Yes. The agents recommend; a lending officer decides and signs every screen. Above the officer’s limit the head of CRE lending approves first, nothing reaches a broker until a person signs, and a letter of interest is never called a commitment.
Yes. Minimum coverage and debt yield, maximum loan to value, the quoted rate, underwriting floors, the footprint, the largest-tenant and rollover flags, recourse, the officer’s limit and the concentration watch are all settings. Changes are versioned, need a second person and are on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements — your credit policy, lending appetite, rate sheet and a sample of recent broker packages — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own packages first.
Eighteen months of maturities ranked by refinance gap, evidence attached.
1-min demoConstruction Draw ManagementDraws funded in a day, not a week, every line tied to its invoice, waivers and inspection.
1-min demoRent Roll & Operating Statement AnalysisNo re-keying, and every rent checked against its lease.
1-min demoWe’ll run CRE Deal Screening on a sample of your own recent broker packages.