2025-12-09
When a mild reservation in your own memo helps the applicant
Flagging uncertainty honestly — rather than polishing every figure — often shortens the second review cycle.
Applicants sometimes ask reviewers to soften every doubt. In practice, a clearly worded reservation — for example, that a vacancy assumption lacks lease support — lets the applicant decide whether to add evidence or keep the claim with a footnote.
Severity ranking helps. Material issues block filing; clarification items can travel with the pack; cosmetic issues can wait. Mixing those categories into one undifferentiated list wastes the reader’s attention.
A reservation is not an accusation. It records where the examiner could not verify a claim from the exhibits provided. That honesty often reduces the volume of lender queries later.
Our engagement letters state that findings memos may include mild reservations. Clients who prefer only affirmative language are better served by a different kind of adviser.