Commercial Property Loan Guides by State

What each guide covers

A state guide opens with the local economy as it bears on real estate: which industries employ people there, how the population is moving, and which sectors are absorbing space. It then walks six sectors one at a time. Multifamily, office, industrial, retail, self-storage, hospitality. Each section names the financing available for that property type in that state.

City guides run the same six sectors at metro scale. They stay on the market itself, the job base and the demand picture, rather than on loan programs. So start at the state for the financing menu. Open the city for the demand case you will end up making to a lender.

What actually changes at the state line

Most of a commercial mortgage is set by the property and the sponsor, not by geography. A lender underwrites net operating income, leverage and credit the same way in Ohio as in Arizona. Three things do move with the state. None of them shows up in the rate; all three land on the closing statement. Whether foreclosure runs through a court. Whether the state charges a mortgage recording or documentary stamp tax. How a lender may pursue a deficiency after a foreclosure sale. Confirm all three with local counsel, because they change what a non-recourse carve-out is worth.

The fourth variable is not legal at all. It is lender appetite. Balance-sheet lenders concentrate where they already own paper, so the same asset can draw six bids in one metro and two in another 200 miles away. That is the gap these guides exist to close.

The executions that travel

Some capital sources are national. Some are local. Knowing which is which saves a lot of wasted calls. Agency debt is national by design: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lend on qualifying multifamily in every state through their approved lender networks, on published terms. So does CMBS, which prices off the bond market rather than off any local deposit base, and so do the SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 programs for owner-occupied property.

Life company money is national in reach but narrow in appetite, and insurers concentrate in markets where they already hold assets. Bridge and construction lending is the most local of all, because the lender has to underwrite a business plan in a submarket it can visit. Banks and credit unions sit in between. They are the reason two identical properties in different metros draw very different bids.

The practical consequence: if your deal fits an agency or conduit box, geography barely moves your pricing. If it needs a story lender, geography is most of the story.

How to use them

Read the guide for context. Then bring the actual numbers. Sizing on a stabilized property comes down to three things: in-place net operating income, a debt service coverage requirement, and a leverage cap. Run all three yourself with the commercial mortgage calculator, the DSCR calculator and the LTV calculator before you speak to anyone.

One caveat. The market commentary in each guide was written when that guide was published and is not refreshed on a schedule, so the occupancy, vacancy and employment figures in it are historical. Use them for orientation. Ask the desk for anything you intend to underwrite against.