| Course | GF599 Graduate Capstone in Finance |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Implementation roadmap |
| Length | About 880 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Finance |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GF599 Unit 9
Declining the Offer, Step by Step: A Unit 9 Implementation Roadmap for the Tollbrook Mortgage
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GF599: Graduate Capstone in Finance
Unit 9 Implementation Roadmap
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Tollbrook Tire and Service, its people, its costs and its figures are composite and illustrative; the standard and sources cited are real.
What the Roadmap Implements
Because the investor's route proved the dearer way to borrow, by roughly 2.4 percentage points a year after tax, the roadmap therefore declines the investor's letter, secures a fixed-rate mortgage of about $5,460,000 on five buildings, and applies the proceeds so that only $940,000 of floating-rate revolver debt remains. The remaining two buildings stay unencumbered, which keeps borrowing capacity in reserve.
Timeline
1. Month 1, week 1. Decline the letter of intent in writing. Owner: owner-president. The letter thanks the investor and leaves the door open for a future conversation about the two weaker sites.
2. Months 1 to 2. Request term sheets from three lenders. Owner: chief financial officer. The chain's bank provided the indication; two others the chief financial officer has worked with are asked to quote the same structure: a ten-year fixed term, a loan no larger than 65 percent of appraisal and a twenty-five-year payment schedule.
3. Month 2. Choose a lender and sign a term sheet. Owner: owner-president, on the chief financial officer's recommendation.
4. Months 2 to 3. Order appraisals on the five buildings. Owner: controller.
5. Months 2 to 3. Order Phase I environmental site assessments. Owner: controller. Auto service sites handle oil, solvents and tires, and lenders require a Phase I assessment performed to the current industry standard (ASTM International, 2021).
6. Month 3. Legal review of loan documents. Owner: chief financial officer with outside counsel.
7. Month 4. Close the mortgage and pay down the revolving line. Owner: chief financial officer.
8. Month 4. Report the new structure to the board and update the covenant model. Owner: controller.
Every step has one owner and one month, so the plan cannot stall in the gap between the owner-president's decision and the controller's paperwork.
Budget
1. Appraisals, five buildings: $17,000.
2. Phase I environmental assessments: $13,000.
3. Legal fees: about $36,000.
4. Lender origination fee, 0.5 percent: $27,300.
5. Title and recording: $9,500.
6. Total: about $102,800.
These costs are small against the result. The present-value advantage of keeping the buildings is about $2,760,000, so one-time costs consume less than 4 percent of it. They are paid from operating cash, not from the loan, so the full mortgage amount goes to reducing the revolving balance.
Communicating the Decision
The owner-president should explain the decision to two audiences. Store managers may hear rumors that the buildings are being sold, so a short note in month one can say the chain looked at an offer and chose to keep its locations. The bank should hear the plan directly from the chief financial officer before term sheets are requested from other lenders, because the relationship manager provided the original indication and will want a fair chance to compete for the loan.
Responsible Roles
1. Owner-president: declines the offer, approves the lender and signs the loan.
2. Chief financial officer: runs the lender process, negotiates terms and manages closing.
3. Controller: orders third-party reports, maintains the covenant model and reports to the board.
4. Outside counsel: reviews loan documents, especially prepayment terms and any limits on future sales of the mortgaged buildings.
Risks During Implementation
An appraisal comes in low. If the five buildings appraise below $8,400,000, a 65 percent loan would be smaller. The chain could add one of the two remaining buildings to the collateral or accept a smaller paydown of the revolver.
An environmental issue appears. A Phase I assessment can identify a recognized environmental condition, such as an old underground storage tank. That would require a Phase II investigation and could delay closing at one site. The plan allows that site to be dropped from the collateral without stopping the loan.
Rates rise before closing. A fixed rate above the trigger in the monitoring section would cause the chief financial officer to reopen the comparison before signing.
Monitoring After Closing
Three tests are reviewed by the controller each quarter and reported to the board:
1. Fixed rate at or below 7.25 percent. If the best term sheet exceeds this, the analysis is rerun before closing, since a higher rate narrows the gap with the lease.
2. Fixed-charge coverage of at least 1.70. The model projects 1.80 after closing. A falling ratio would be an early warning before the covenant minimum of 1.25.
3. Revolver availability above $8,000,000. After the paydown, about $8,060,000 of the $9,000,000 line would be available, which preserves the flexibility the chain needs for inventory and new stores.
Why Keeping Borrowing Capacity Matters
Owning the buildings keeps the chain's ability to borrow against them later. Firms that lease rather than own often do so because they cannot borrow, and leasing lets them obtain funds a lender would not provide (Eisfeldt & Rampini, 2009). Tollbrook is not in that position, and the roadmap keeps two buildings free of any mortgage so that capacity remains available. Standard financial planning treats unused debt capacity as a source of value in itself (Brealey et al., 2023).
References
ASTM International. (2021). Standard practice for environmental site assessments: Phase I environmental site assessment process (ASTM E1527-21).
Brealey, R. A., Myers, S. C., & Allen, F. (2023). Principles of corporate finance (14th ed.). McGraw Hill.
Eisfeldt, A. L., & Rampini, A. A. (2009). Leasing, ability to repossess, and debt capacity. The Review of Financial Studies, 22(4), 1621-1657. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhn026
GF599 Unit 9 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 9 in GF599 asks for a plan that a finance team could start the following week. Restate the decision in a sentence and what it will accomplish. Build a timeline in which every action has one owner and one month. Itemize the budget to a level a controller would approve, and compare it with the value the decision creates. Define each role's responsibilities. Name the risks that could arise during implementation, such as a low appraisal or an environmental finding, and give a specific response to each. Explain how the decision will be communicated to the people affected. Set monitoring tests with thresholds that would trigger action after the plan is complete. Where industry standards apply to a step, such as environmental assessments for commercial property, cite them. Close by explaining any strategic benefit the plan preserves, such as unused borrowing capacity. Cite the relevant standard and finance sources in APA 7.
Inside the GF599 Unit 9 example
The roadmap opens by restating the decision and the paydown it achieves. An eight-step timeline runs from the owner-president's written decline in week one to the controller's board report in month four, and the highlighted sentence explains why each step has one owner and one month. The budget lists five lines totaling about $102,800, under 4 percent of the $2.76 million advantage. A section on communication covers store managers and the bank. Four roles are defined. Three implementation risks are paired with responses, including a Phase I finding under the ASTM E1527-21 standard. Monitoring sets a 7.25 percent rate trigger, a 1.70 coverage floor against a projected 1.80 and availability above $8,000,000 out of $9,000,000. A closing section cites Eisfeldt and Rampini and the Brealey, Myers and Allen text on the value of keeping two buildings free of debt.
Reading the GF599 Unit 9 grading rubric
The rubric for this GF599 roadmap rewards specificity. Each action needs exactly one owner and one date; shared ownership is where plans stall. The budget earns credit when it is itemized and set against the value the decision creates, which shows the costs are proportionate. Risks are graded on whether each has a concrete response rather than a promise to monitor it. Monitoring thresholds should be numbers tied to the analysis, such as a rate above which the comparison is rerun, so the plan knows when to revisit itself. Communication with affected groups is often overlooked and earns credit when it is addressed. Citing an industry standard where one governs a step shows practical knowledge. A closing argument about preserved capacity links the roadmap back to the financial reasoning. The ASTM standard, a corporate finance text and the Eisfeldt and Rampini study, all in APA 7, support the plan.
GF599 Unit 9 help: mistakes that cost points
GF599 Unit 9 roadmaps often list actions without owners or dates, which turns a plan into a wish list. Others assign several people to one task. Budgets appear as a single rounded figure, inviting the first question any controller would ask. Risks are listed with the response to monitor closely, which is not a response. Monitoring tests are frequently qualitative, such as watching rates, rather than numeric thresholds. Communication is skipped, though a rumored sale of the buildings can unsettle store staff, and a bank that gave the original indication expects to hear first. Some roadmaps forget the reason the decision was made and add steps that undercut it, such as mortgaging every building. Give each step one owner and one month, itemize every cost, pair each risk with an action, set numeric triggers and explain what strategic value the plan protects.
Get a GF599 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
What does your recommendation require the organization to do, and who would do it? Pass that on with the roadmap prompt and its rubric. Your roadmap arrives sequenced, with a responsible role and a dated budget line for every action, thresholds for success and a stated response if any test fails. First samples are free; turnaround is typically 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GF599 Unit 9 questions, answered
Should the roadmap assign actions to real people?
Roles are safer and usually expected. A named individual may leave, and a course paper circulated outside the organization should not assign duties to colleagues by name. The sample uses the owner-president, chief financial officer and controller, and states what each role is accountable for, which reads as clearly as a name would.
Where can I find a free GF599 Unit 9 sample paper?
This page carries a full GF599 Unit 9 implementation roadmap for declining a sale-leaseback offer and placing a mortgage, with an eight-step timeline, an itemized $102,800 budget, risks with responses, monitoring tests and APA 7 references.
Why does the roadmap require a Phase I environmental assessment?
Lenders financing auto service property require one, because these sites handle oil, solvents and tires. The assessment follows the ASTM E1527-21 standard, and a finding could require further investigation at one site, which the plan handles by dropping that site from the collateral.
Why keep two buildings free of any mortgage?
Unused borrowing capacity has value. Leaving the two remaining buildings unencumbered lets the chain borrow against them later for inventory or new stores without refinancing the mortgage on the other five.
What happens if the best term sheet comes in above 7.25 percent?
The chief financial officer reruns the comparison before signing, because a higher mortgage rate narrows the gap with the lease. The analysis showed selling would only become cheaper above roughly 10 percent before tax, but the trigger forces a check well before that point.