Who we are
Wert-Berater, Inc. has prepared independent feasibility studies for lenders, certified development companies, and federal agencies since 1998 — more than four thousand engagements representing $40.2 billion in evaluated project value across all fifty states and international assignments. Our fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never to the sponsor’s optimism: fees are fixed, quoted up front, never contingent on findings, and a determination is never changed under pressure.
What we do
Tribal projects carry a layer of analysis no other category requires: sovereign legal structure, trust versus fee land status and its collateral consequences, Section 17 corporation governance, and the tax position that sovereign status confers. The feasibility study addresses the leasehold-mortgage structure available under 25 USC §415 where land is in trust, embeds applicable sovereign tax exemptions in the operating model where they are real, and presents the lender a credit analysis that is honest about both the advantages and the structural conditions precedent.
How we do it
Methodology applies the firm's standard category discipline — traffic capture, competitive census, RSMeans budgeting — supplemented by tribal-specific elements: land-status documentation, BIA process mapping, tribal employment and TERO considerations, and component financing where multiple operations share a site. Conditions precedent on land status are stated plainly.
How we can help you
Engagements support conventional and SBA lending to tribal enterprises and Section 17 corporations, with the study addressing the collateral and jurisdictional questions reviewing counsel will raise before they raise them. The reference engagement is a $3,969,648 travel center with retail strip for a tribal Section 17 corporation in Nevada, with eight sovereign tax exemptions embedded in the base case and component-level DSCR analysis.
How to engage us
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from complete project data. Rush delivery for deals already in underwriting is accepted case by case for an additional fixed fee, quoted up front and committed in writing. Engagements are typically initiated by the borrower, with lender or CDC confirmation obtained before work begins — institutions differ, so confirm the procedure with your lending contact.