Size the loan to the binding constraint
Lesson 1 of 6 · Finance the land
1 · Learn the move · Cognitive verifier
A land lender does not lend what the tract is worth. It lends the smallest of several limits, and every limit is written in the term sheet: a percentage of appraised value, a percentage of what you paid, sometimes a flat cap, sometimes an interest reserve that has to come out of the proceeds. The trap is asking the chat for 'the max loan'. It will pick a value, pick a ratio, multiply, and hand you a confident figure built on the one input it had to guess - which value the ratio runs on. Many land term sheets size on the lesser of cost or appraised value, and when yours does, a tract you bought well is sized on your price, not on the appraisal you paid for. The cognitive-verifier move: have the model set up each test with your pasted inputs, pin what each percentage is a percentage of, name what it is missing, and hand the arithmetic to a calculator. The loan is the smallest result, and you learn which one that is by running it.
Set up, do not compute, every sizing test in the term sheet below using only my pasted figures. For each test: quote the limit, quote what it is a percentage of, write the formula with my inputs plugged in, and mark anything missing as [NEEDS: ...]. The loan is the smallest result and I will run the numbers. [term sheet] [appraisal summary] [purchase contract]
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
You have a 64-acre tract under contract in Wexmoor County, an appraisal summary from the appraiser you hired, and a land-loan term sheet from a community bank with two percentage limits, a dollar cap and an interest reserve. You want to know what the bank will actually lend and which limit is doing the capping before you decide how much cash to bring. Write the prompt that sets up the sizing without letting the chat do the arithmetic.
Write the prompt for this scenario as given, or swap in a real one from your own work. The score works the same either way.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.