The first three days of a financing are the part borrowers ask about. After the indicative terms comes a longer calendar most of them never see: 58 days on average from mandate to funding, holding nine diligence steps run in a fixed order on every file we arrange. Developers tend to ask about the timeline before anything else, often because they arrive having lost months elsewhere; the developers behind two of our twelve published case files had searched for 18 months to two years before reaching us. This piece opens that calendar. Here is what fills a property-loan funding timeline, where the fixed formalities sit, and why preparation, rather than urgency, is what shortens it.
Why lending calendars grew in the first place
Serious lending involves real work before money moves, and European supervision has steadily formalised it. The EBA's guidelines on loan origination and monitoring (EBA/GL/2020/06, applicable since 30 June 2021) set out what institutions are expected to assess when they grant credit: the borrower's capacity to repay, the valuation of the collateral, and documented, governed processes around both. None of that list is optional for a bank, and little of it should be optional for anyone lending against property. The difference from one file to the next is rarely the checklist; it is how the checklist is run, and whether it was built before or after the deal arrived.
The nine steps, laid on the calendar
Our diligence pipeline is published in full on the approach page, and it is the same nine steps on every file. Laid against time, it clusters like this:
- First 72 hours
A complete enquiry arrives and is read against the published deal box: EUR 1M to EUR 50M+, up to 75% loan-to-value, eleven European markets. Indicative terms follow within 72 hours.
- Assessment and legal work, steps 1 and 2
The initial project assessment tests fit and the business model; legal due diligence, run with Swiss and local law firms, vets the borrower and the structure.
- The list and the numbers, steps 3 and 4
The conditions precedent list is verified item by item, and the financial and collateral review reads the valuation before any ratio built on it is trusted.
- Security built and registered, steps 5 and 6
The security package is designed and verified, then notarised and entered in the land register, as a condition of the investors' funding.
- Clearance to close, steps 7 and 8
AML and KYC run against Swiss, European, and local standards; final approval and documentation follow, with sign-off resting with the investors, and funds are released.
Step nine, ongoing monitoring, starts where this calendar ends and runs for the life of the loan. Two stages on the list carry fixed formal time that no one can compress away: the notarial and land-register work, which Swiss law requires for real-estate security (the 2026 Switzerland chapter of the ICLG Lending & Secured Finance guide sets out why a public deed and registration are the required route), and the cross-border compliance checks. The rest of the calendar is judgement work, and judgement is where preparation shows.
What makes a file fast or slow
The published book shows how wide the spread can be. The fastest file, an urban bathing facility in Oslo, reached term sheet in under a day, because we knew from the first call which investors would want it. Four of the twelve published deals reached term sheet within two weeks. At the other end, a Geneva residential scheme took 1.5 months to term sheet because internal and communal issues had to be untangled first, and a Danish acquisition took four months because the ownership structure needed patient underwriting. Past the term sheet the calendar keeps its own pace: on the largest published file, a hotel portfolio in Norway, the term sheet was issued within 31 days and the loan agreement within 52. On those slower files the calendar stretched because the work was real, and each of them went on to fund.
The spread also shows that the conditions precedent list, agreed early, is what keeps a timeline honest. Indicative terms set out at the start, with the outstanding items written down, leave fewer surprises for week seven; we covered the list itself in the CP-list explainer. A borrower's best lever is the same list read in reverse: a file that arrives with title, valuation, planning, and corporate documents assembled has already done part of the investor's calendar for it.
Speed as a product of structure
Both numbers, the 72 hours borrowers ask about first and the 58-day average from mandate to funding, come out of the same structure: a framework that existed before the deal arrived, a security package registered before the investors fund, and an investor network known well enough to match a file quickly. Urgency on its own produces a fast decline, or a slow one.
Where Watson AM fits
This is our own calendar, so the link is direct. A developer with a purchase deadline or a build schedule gets a published deal box to check the fit against, indicative terms within three days of a complete enquiry, and a funding timeline built on diligence prepared in advance. An investor can read the same calendar as protection, since none of its steps is dropped when a file is urgent. Indicative terms remain subject to each investor's own assessment and decision. Investor and borrower material is available on request.
Common questions
How fast can a borrower get indicative terms?
At Watson AM, indicative terms follow within 72 hours of a complete enquiry. The published deal box, EUR 1M to EUR 50M+ at up to 75% loan-to-value across eleven European markets, lets a borrower or broker check the fit before submitting anything.
How long does it take from mandate to funding?
It depends on the file. Indicative terms follow within 72 hours of a complete enquiry, and the average from mandate to funding is 58 days. Across the twelve published case files, term sheets were issued anywhere from under one day to four months from first contact, and four of the twelve reached term sheet within two weeks. The notarial, land-register and compliance stages that follow carry fixed formal time on every file.
Does moving quickly weaken the diligence?
The nine steps run on every file regardless of pace. Speed comes from preparation rather than omission: the diligence framework and the conditions precedent list exist before a deal arrives, and a known investor base means a fundable file can be matched quickly. The fastest published deal, an Oslo construction facility, reached term sheet in under a day through exactly that route.
Watson AM, Basel. This article is general market commentary for professional and qualified investors and for real-estate developers. It isn't investment, legal, or tax advice, or an offer of any financial product.
Sources
- European Banking Authority, Guidelines on loan origination and monitoring (EBA/GL/2020/06), final report 29 May 2020, applicable from 30 June 2021, eba.europa.eu, on what European lenders are expected to assess at origination.
- ICLG, Lending & Secured Finance Laws and Regulations 2026, Switzerland chapter (Bär & Karrer Ltd), 1 July 2026, iclg.com, on the notarial deed and land-register requirements for Swiss real-estate security.
- Watson AM, the published nine-step due diligence pipeline and deal box, watson.am/approach.
- Watson AM deal book (anonymised), term-sheet and funding timings across the twelve published case files, read July 2026.