How long a commercial real estate loan takes to close, and what fills the weeks

Plan on 60 to 90 days for a conventional commercial loan

A conventional commercial real estate loan from a bank, agency lender or life company typically takes 60 to 90 days to close, as we note in our guide to hard money lending in Texas. Short-term asset-based loans can close much faster, in about 5 to 15 business days in many cases according to the same guide, at a higher cost. Where your loan lands depends mostly on how ready your documents are, how quickly third-party reports come back and whether title, survey or environmental issues turn up.

Most of that time is not the lender deciding. It is a long list of items moving in parallel: reports, legal documents, title work, insurance and entity paperwork. At Terrydale Capital we manage that list on every file, and the deals that close on time are almost always the ones where someone started tracking it on day one.

Before the term sheet: packaging and the lender search

The clock really starts when a lender has enough information to issue terms. That means a package with the operating statement, rent roll, contract or current loan documents and sponsor financials. If those are ready, this stage moves quickly. If the trailing twelve months has gaps or the rent roll is out of date, it is the first place time disappears.

Because we present a deal to several banks, national lenders and family offices at once rather than one at a time, the search for terms happens in parallel. Shopping lenders sequentially, waiting for each to answer before approaching the next, is one of the most common reasons a borrower runs out of time before a contract or maturity deadline. My guide to the documents lenders want lists what to have ready before this stage starts.

Term sheet to commitment: the third-party reports

Once you sign a term sheet and pay the deposit, the lender orders third-party reports, and these set the pace for the middle of the process. Each one can raise questions that need answers before the loan committee gives final approval.

• Appraisal: confirms the value the loan-to-value is calculated from. A low value can reduce the loan.
• Phase I environmental site assessment: the EPA explains that All Appropriate Inquiries before acquisition support federal liability protections, and that the ASTM E1527-21 standard can satisfy that requirement. Any recognized environmental condition can trigger further testing.
• Property condition report: identifies deferred maintenance and can lead to required repairs or reserves.
• Survey: confirms boundaries, easements and encroachments, and must satisfy the title company and the lender.
• Zoning report or letter: confirms the current use is legal and what happens if the building is damaged.

The last stretch: title, insurance and loan documents

While the reports are underway, the lender's attorney drafts loan documents and the title company prepares the commitment, works through exceptions and coordinates the closing. A commercial title partner such as Gail Klaveness handles that side, including curative work on liens or old easements that would otherwise hold up funding.

Insurance is a frequent late surprise. Lenders specify coverage types, limits, deductibles and how they must be named on the policy, and they will not fund until the certificates match. Bringing in a commercial insurance agent such as Aaron Husman early, with the lender's requirements in hand, avoids a scramble in the final week. For properties with commercial tenants, expect requests for estoppel certificates and subordination agreements from those tenants, which depend on people outside your control and should be requested as soon as the lender confirms the forms.

A commercial closing has more participants than most borrowers expect, and each one controls part of the schedule. Knowing who owns which item makes it much easier to see where a delay is coming from.

• Borrower: financials, entity documents, insurance, tenant estoppels and timely answers
• Lender and underwriter: credit review, report ordering and the commitment
• Lender's attorney and borrower's attorney: loan documents and negotiation
• Title company: commitment, curative work, closing statement and funding
• Appraiser, environmental consultant, surveyor and property condition inspector
• Financing advisor: the package, the lender search and the checklist that ties it all together

What actually pushes a closing date back

In my experience, closings slip for predictable reasons, and most of them are visible weeks in advance if someone is looking. One review on our site describes a closing that involved more than 200 checklist items. Every one of them is a chance for a delay, and every one is manageable when it has an owner and a due date.

If your contract or maturity date is closer than you would like, this is the right moment to have someone look at the calendar with you.

• Incomplete or inconsistent financials that trigger repeated underwriting questions
• An appraisal that comes in below the price, forcing a restructure
• Phase I findings that require additional environmental testing
• Title exceptions or survey issues that need curative work
• Operating agreements that are unsigned, outdated or unclear about who can sign
• Insurance certificates that do not match the lender's requirements
• Tenant estoppels that arrive late or contain surprises

How some loans close in weeks instead of months

Speed is possible, but it comes from preparation, the right lender type, or paying for it. A client review on our site describes a 72-unit apartment deal that closed in about a month. That kind of timeline needs a clean package, a lender who already understands the property type and reports ordered the day terms are signed.

When a deadline is truly short, such as a competitive contract, a foreclosure or an estate sale, asset-based lenders can move faster because they focus on the property and require less documentation. Our hard money guide puts typical closings at about 5 to 15 business days in many cases, against 60 to 90 days for conventional loans, with higher rates, fees and lower leverage. Bridge lenders and debt funds generally sit between the two. Agency loans tend to take the longest, because they require full financials and an acceptable trailing income history, and they reward borrowers who start early.

A purchase and a refinance run on different clocks

On an acquisition, the deadline belongs to the contract. The earnest money, the feasibility period and the financing contingency all have dates, and missing one can cost you the deposit or the deal. That is why the financing conversation should start before you sign, so the contract gives you enough time for the loan you actually expect to get. A short contract on a property that needs agency financing is a mismatch that no amount of hustle fully fixes.

On a refinance, the deadline belongs to the existing loan. You control more of the timing, which is both a benefit and a trap. Owners often wait because the property is running well, then find that the extension option has conditions they cannot meet or that the payoff requires more equity than expected. A refinance also brings its own items: payoff letters from the current lender, prepayment calculations and, on some loans, a defeasance process with its own timeline. Dallas owners with loans maturing in the next year should be gathering documents now, not in the final quarter.

Building your calendar backward from the deadline

The most useful planning exercise is to start from the date that cannot move and count backward. In our maturity-wall guide for Texas owners, we put it simply: four months gives you time to run a real process, and two months does not. For an acquisition, the contract's financing contingency and closing date play the same role.

Work through the sequence below and ask, for each step, what has to be true before it can start. Anything that depends on a third party, such as tenants, a seller, a prior lender or a city office, should begin first.

• Fixed date: closing date in the contract, or loan maturity
• Funding: loan documents signed, insurance and title cleared
• Commitment: credit approval after reports are reviewed
• Reports: appraisal, Phase I, property condition and survey ordered and returned
• Term sheet signed and deposit paid
• Lender search and package complete

What you can do this week to shorten the timeline

Gather your documents into one organized folder before you need them. Pull your existing title policy, survey and any environmental reports from your purchase, because lenders and title companies can often update rather than start from scratch. Confirm that your entity documents are signed and current, and that the people who will sign at closing are authorized to do so.

Then line up the outside parties: your attorney, a title company that handles commercial closings, an insurance agent who will quote to the lender's requirements and a property manager who can produce a current rent roll on request. If you are still choosing who will run the financing, I compare the options in broker or bank for a commercial loan.

How we keep a Terrydale file on schedule

From the first conversation, we work from the deadline backward. We underwrite the deal before it goes out so lenders are not discovering problems on their own time, present it to several lenders in parallel, and once you choose terms, we track every diligence item with the lender, title company, attorneys and insurance agent until the loan funds. Our team is based in Dallas, with an office in Kansas City, and we close loans across Texas and in other states.

If you have a contract or a maturity date on the calendar, tell us the date first. You can submit the deal through Terrydale Live for live quotes or schedule a call with me to talk through the timeline. The earlier we start, the more of that 60 to 90 days is spent choosing between good options rather than chasing missing paperwork.

Questions people ask me