Put to: Every contributor, independently, before a joint discussion.
Why it matters to buyers: This is the desk’s proposed closing discipline: make each expert identify a decision threshold rather than end with a general expression of confidence.
Draft framing of a good answer: Ask for three categories: an unacceptable risk, a risk that can be resolved with evidence, and a risk that can be accepted only at a different price or with different terms.
Require each answer to state the affected assumption, source quality, potential owner-cash consequence, available remedy and remaining uncertainty. Ask whether the expert’s conclusion changes if the owner cannot contribute more equity, if the planned operator is unavailable or if reopening misses the peak season.
Invite disagreement. A valuation specialist, operator and lender may prioritize different objectives; the investment committee should see those distinctions rather than receive an artificially unanimous view.
Sharp follow-up: “Which assumption are we most tempted to believe because we like the property?”
Evidence to request: A signed-off assumption register and explicit proceed, renegotiate, defer or stop conditions. These are decision aids, not guarantees of investment performance.
Interview status: No expert response has been recorded.