The Pre-Appointment Packet

The listing appointment is won before you walk in. An owner deciding between three brokers wants the one who already understands the asset, the numbers, and the process. A numbered packet with a real underwrite inside it says that in the first five minutes. A card and a comp printout say the opposite.

This lesson covers the 14-item packet in order: what each item is, where it comes from, and what to save. It also covers why the underwrite is the backbone, what to do when items are missing or late, how to name and print the packet, and how it changes by asset class.

The packet at a glance

Every item gets a number, and the number never changes. "Item 9" means the same thing to everyone in the office.

Items 1 to 8 are research, 9 to 11 are numbers, and 12 to 14 are what you present and sign. The Commercial Listing Appointment Prep Checklist mirrors this order as a printable tracker.

Why the underwrite is item 9

The underwrite is the seller-side financial model you build before you price. Everything else in the packet feeds it or flows from it.

Here is the chain. The underwrite produces the BOV. The BOV numbers go into the offering memorandum (OM). Every buyer re-underwrites the OM, and every lender re-underwrites the buyer. Wherever a buyer or lender lands below your NOI, the price drops or the deal gets retraded.

The math is blunt. Value equals NOI divided by cap rate. At a 6.5% cap, each $1 of NOI a buyer strips out costs the seller about $15.38 of price. Build the buyer's normalizations into your model first, and the retrade has nothing to attack.

Keep three NOI labels straight, on every page: in-place NOI (what signed leases and the trailing twelve months produce), normalized NOI (in-place NOI after the adjustments a buyer and lender will make), and pro forma NOI (a projection, used only with a real value-add story). Start from in-place NOI, but price on normalized NOI. Lesson 4 defines each label and builds the bridge line by line.

Test item 10 against the financeable price, meaning the price a lender will support at a target debt service coverage ratio or debt yield. If it only works for an all-cash buyer, learn that before the appointment.

Where each item comes from

Items 1 to 3: the public record

Start with the county property appraiser and save the full record as a PDF. Then pull the parcel's official records from the clerk and comptroller, saving each recorded instrument as its own PDF with the instrument number in the filename. Check whether the parcel sits inside a city. If so, zoning and permits belong to the city.

Work the whole encumbrance list. A recorded memorandum of lease can be the first sign of a right of first refusal (ROFR) or purchase option, which changes how you price and market. Lesson 3 covers the search itself.

Items 4 to 6: taxes, entity, and site screens

Pull the current tax bill and the two before it from the county tax collector, noting whether they are paid. Then write the one-page assessment-cap bridge. The seller's capped bill is a poor proxy for the buyer's, because the cap resets after a sale. Lesson 3 owns the mechanics.

For the owner entity, save the Sunbiz record and request signing-authority proof: the operating agreement or management pages, a consent naming the signer, a certification of trust, or letters of administration, depending on the seller. Check status at intake, because an entity that skipped its annual report can show as administratively dissolved, which stops a listing cold.

For site screens, save FEMA flood, FDEP contamination locator, and zoning and future land use captures. A zoning verification letter can take weeks, so order it at intake. These screens flag questions. They do not answer them.

Items 7 and 8: market context

Capture any existing or expired listing with a dated screenshot: asking price, price changes, days on market, and marketing copy. Do not reuse the prior broker's photos. Note why it failed.

Choose a few comps that match tenancy, lease term, and condition, using closed sales, not asking prices. The NNN cap rate comps page gives market context, but the packet needs closed local comps.

Items 9 to 11: the numbers

Send the seller-document request the day the appointment is booked. Ask for leases and amendments, the trailing twelve months plus two prior years, tax bills, insurance policies and loss runs, CAM reconciliations, capex history, and the loan statement. The Rent Roll and T-12 Review Checklist is the working list.

Strip any sales-tax-on-rent line from older T-12s and lease abstracts, since Florida repealed that tax for rental periods beginning October 1, 2025.

Ask for the loan payoff or defeasance quote at listing, not at contract. A prepayment penalty can move the seller's net more than a price change.

Items 12 to 14: what you present and sign

Bring the printed booklet and text the seller your agent share link. Its "What We Need From You" page doubles as the document request. Bring the listing agreement unsigned, with blanks filled from your notes. Item 14 is optional, but a real contract form makes an offer feel concrete.

When an item is unavailable or late

Public items fail for boring reasons, such as a down portal or a slow jurisdiction. Do not skip the number. Put a one-line sheet in the folder: "Item 6, zoning letter. N/A. Requested 10/1, pending. Screenshot of GIS attached."

Late seller documents are the bigger problem, because a missing rent roll delays the signing, not just the appointment. Handle it this way:

• Build item 9 from what you have and stamp every page "DRAFT, seller documents pending"
• Use only figures you can trace to a document, and label every assumption
• Present a wider range and say it narrows when documents arrive
• List missing documents on the cover sheet with each request date

Folder, numbering, printing, and the cover sheet

Name the folder so anyone in the office can find it:

2026-10-05_ListingAppt_Sanford_Example-Plaza_PID-XXXXXXXX/
  00_Cover-Sheet.pdf
  01_Appraiser-Record.pdf
  02_Plat-and-Aerial.pdf
  03_Official-Records_Deed-0000000.pdf
  09_Underwrite.xlsx
  09_Underwrite.pdf
  10_BOV.pdf
  _Seller-Docs-Received/
  _Working/

Files start with the two-digit item number. Seller uploads and working files sit in underscore folders.

Print one tabbed single-sided binder with the cover sheet on top: research tab (items 1 to 8), numbers tab (9 to 11), sign tab (12 to 14). Bring a second clean copy of items 9 to 14 for the seller, without your notes. A signed copy of the listing agreement must reach the owner within 24 hours of signing (F.S. 475.25(1)(r)), so bring a way to scan and email it before you leave the parking lot.

The cover sheet is one page:

• Property: address, parcel ID, asset class, building SF, acres
• Seller goals: in the seller's words, not yours
• Pricing range: low to high, with the in-place NOI and cap-rate range behind it
• Three talking points: the three things you want the seller to remember
• Open questions: what you still need to learn in the room

Packet variations by asset class

The 14 numbers stay fixed. What changes is what goes inside items 8, 9, and 10.

On land, a wetlands mapper hit is a flag, not a developable-acreage number. Make no acreage claim in a BOV until a site-specific determination exists.

Licensed data and confidentiality

CoStar and Crexi data is licensed. Use it to prepare and to make your point in the meeting. Do not republish it in the booklet, the BOV you leave behind, the OM, or a marketing email, and do not leave a printout behind. Your license terms govern, so ask your broker of record where the line sits. Comps you can publish come from county property appraiser and clerk records.

Seller documents are confidential from the moment they arrive. Store them in the firm's secured folder, not personal email or an uncleared public tool. Do not forward a rent roll, a lease, or a tenant name to any buyer before that buyer signs a confidentiality agreement (CA). If the seller wants a quiet sale, ask before you contact a single tenant.

A worked example: the item 4 bridge

Illustrative numbers, not market data. A three-tenant retail center in Seminole County is on the table at a $4,200,000 ask. The seller's 2026 bill sits on a capped assessment of $2,600,000. Assume one blended 16-mill rate and that just value follows price.

• Seller's bill: $2,600,000 × 0.016 = $41,600
• Buyer's bill: $4,200,000 × 0.016 = $67,200
• Increase: $25,600 per year

That one page goes in item 4 and the difference flows into normalized NOI in item 9. A buyer's lender will replace $41,600 with $67,200, so your model should too. The full reset rules, the timing of the reset on the 2027 bill, and the pending ballot measure are in Lesson 3, and Lesson 4 shows how much of the increase the landlord absorbs.

Confirm Florida law and tax points with your broker of record, a Florida attorney, and the seller's CPA.

Time budget

Practice estimates for a $1M to $10M Central Florida asset. A clean NNN runs shorter. This is hands-on build time for the packet only. The 10 to 22 hours in Lesson 1 also counts document chasing, broker-of-record review, and rehearsal.

Spread it over two days.

Common mistakes

• Building the BOV before the underwrite: you end up backing into a number
• Leading with pro forma NOI: buyers use trailing actuals and their own cap rate
• Carrying the seller's tax bill forward: the buyer's bill will be different
• Leaving licensed comps behind: showing them is fine, republishing them is not
• Hiding gaps: an unexplained missing item reads as a mistake, a documented N/A as diligence
• Skipping the loan payoff quote: the net sheet is fiction without it
• Ignoring the seller's authority: an entity that cannot prove who signs cannot list

Key takeaways

• The packet has 14 numbered items, and the numbers never change
• Items 1 to 8 are research, 9 to 11 are numbers, and 12 to 14 are what you present and sign
• The underwrite is item 9 and the backbone, because every buyer and lender re-underwrites it
• Start from in-place NOI, price on normalized NOI, and label pro forma NOI as a projection
• Mark unavailable items N/A with a reason and date, and stamp late-document drafts as drafts
• Use licensed CoStar and Crexi data in the meeting only, and keep seller documents confidential until a CA is signed
• Request seller documents the day the appointment is booked

Next: Lesson 3 goes deep on the research behind packet items 1 to 8: the property, the owner entity, and the encumbrances.