622 Vineland Rd., Winter Garden, FL 34787
4.9
Chelsea L. Metka, Esq.
Fifteen minutes, no obligation. Bring us your contract, your lease, your loan, or your question.
When financing is on the line, the details in your loan documents matter as much as the deal itself. Promissory notes, mortgages, security agreements, and lender conditions each carry obligations that can shape your business for years.
Chelsea L. Metka is board certified in Real Estate Law by The Florida Bar and reviews and negotiates commercial loan documents on behalf of borrowers throughout Central Florida. If you are the lender, see our Lender Representation page.
We review commercial loan documents for borrowers throughout Orange and Lake Counties, including:
Counties: West Orange County | South Lake County
Cities
We represent developers, investors, and business owners across construction loans, refinances, balloon loans, and multiple collateral facilities. What matters most is usually not the rate. It is the covenants, the default triggers, the recourse provisions, and what the lender can require of you after closing.
We provide comprehensive support throughout the financing process to ensure the structure of your loan matches what was represented to you by the lender. Our services include:
Comparing the commitment letter against the final documents, then negotiating personal guaranty scope, prepayment penalties, default provisions, and reporting covenants before you sign.
Meeting the documentation and closing conditions required by private, hard money, and institutional lenders so funding is not delayed.
Strategic set-up of real estate holding companies to meet lender financing criteria while protecting you from unnecessary liability.
Ensuring all documentation is compliant with Florida law and that all security interests are properly handled through meticulous title review.
A commercial loan package is not one document. It is five, and each one creates a separate obligation. Knowing what each does before you sign is the difference between understanding your deal and hoping it works out.
Your formal promise to repay. It sets the interest rate, the principal amount, the payment structure, and the date the loan comes due. This is the document that defines what you owe and when.
The security instrument recorded in the public records. This is where you pledge the property as collateral. Recording gives notice to everyone that the lender holds an interest in your property.
A second security instrument that pledges your interest in any existing leases, including the right to collect rent. When drafted correctly, you receive back a license to those rights that remains in effect as long as the loan performs. On default, that license terminates and the lender gains direct access to the leases and the rent stream without going to court first.
This is the document borrowers most often skim, and it is the one that changes fastest when something goes wrong.
If your borrowing entity is an LLC or corporation, the personal guarantee makes the individual owners personally liable for the loan. Without it, the lender’s only recourse is against the entity. With it, your personal assets are in play.
Chelsea describes the personal guarantee as the document most often overlooked in private lending. Lenders increasingly require it, and whether you sign one and how broadly it is written is usually negotiable.
These confirm that the person signing on behalf of the borrowing entity actually has legal authority to do so. Operating agreements, resolutions, and consents. They are easy to overlook and carry real consequences, since a loan signed without proper authority may not be enforceable.
Private and hard money lending has grown in Central Florida because there is a widening gap between what conventional banks will finance and what investors need to make deals work. Banks underwrite based on income, credit, and project stability. Private lenders focus on the collateral, the return, and their exit if the deal goes sideways.
One pattern Chelsea sees regularly in the commercial space: buyers turning to private lenders when a property is not appraising at the purchase price, because a private investor can evaluate the deal through a different lens than a bank.
The tradeoff is that private loan documents are drafted by the lender’s counsel with no standard form behind them. There is no assumption of balance. Reviewing what is actually in front of you matters more, not less.
Commercial loan documents are drafted by the lender’s counsel and they are written to protect the lender. That is not a criticism, it is the job. It means nobody in the transaction is looking at those terms on your behalf unless you retain someone to do it.
Chelsea L. Metka is board certified in Real Estate Law by The Florida Bar, a distinction held by a small fraction of Florida attorneys, and reviews these documents on the borrower side regularly enough to know which terms lenders will actually move on.
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“They are the most professional, knowledgeable & truly 'ON THE BALL' team that we have ever partnered with… If you need real estate law advice, buyer or seller counsel, contract assistance or closing assistance… do not hesitate to reach out to this amazing team!!!”
T.M. (Real Estate Company Owner)
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“Ms. Metka is knowledgeable and professional, and provided her expertise and guidance to ensure the security of our purchase… I would highly recommend The Metka Law Firm.”
Christy G.
Testimonials reflect the experience of individual clients. Results vary and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Fifteen minutes, no obligation. Bring us your contract, your lease, your loan, or your question.
We respond quickly, usually the same business day.
Listen: Closing With Confidence, Episode 11, Private Lenders and Hard Money Loans
Read: Private Lenders and Hard Money Loans, The Legal Protections You Cannot Skip
The information on this page is general information and is not legal advice. Contacting the firm does not create an attorney client relationship.
