Commercial Loans and Fun Blog

Imbedding a Satellite Map in Your Commercial Loan Application

Written by George Blackburne | Wed, Mar 16, 2011

You Can Use Google to Give Your Lender an Aerial View of Your Commercial Loan

A mortgage broker submitted a hard money commercial loan to Blackburne & Sons today by email. It was a land loan request, and normally we would not even look at a land loan request; but the mortgage broker did a very clever thing. He included a Google map of the property.

Better yet, the map was a satellite view of the land. By moving the roller on my mouse, I was able to look closer and closer at the land. What I found was interesting. The land was right on a major thoroughfare.  Sewer, water, and power was already available to the site. Most of the surrounding land was already improved. All of the surrounding buildings were modern and attractive, and the area looked reasonably affluent. Now I don't know if we are going to make a land loan during the Great Recession, but its fair to say that because the broker provided a link to a satellite view of the property, this land loan might actually have a chance.

So how do you attach a zoom-able satellite map to your commercial loan packages?

  1. Go to Google.com
  2. At the top left of the page, click on "Maps"
  3. Type in the property address
  4. In the upper right-hand corner of the map, click on the square labeled, "Satellite"
  5. Using the roller on your mouse, zoom in to the right height
  6. In the upper-right-hand corner of the map, find a box labeled, "Map". Right above it you'll see the "Link" button. Click on it.
  7. Cut and paste the link right into your email to your lender.
  8. Voila!

Every commercial loan you now submit should include a link to a satellite view of the property.

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