advice needed on purchasing a building/ fha commercial loan info needed.

found a building that i LOVE. it's well within my budget, and my fico is over 700 and coming up which as i just paid off a few cc's.
however, i don't really have good tax records and i don't have much for a down payment.
all that being said i have literally no clue where to even begin with this process.

anyone recommend a place to start without me just sending out for random quotes, getting bombarded with spam calls, and having my credit score dinged by a million credit checks.

thanks everyone


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where I live, its very very hard to get a conventional mortgage for a commercial building. And its also rare for commercial loans to be anything near 30 years- 5 or 10 is most commong.

Instead, most all sellers are forced to carry a contract.

Over the course of my life, I have bought a couple of commercial buildings on contracts, directly worked out with the seller, where we agree on down payments, monthly payments, interest rate, length of contract, and even balloon payments- which can really help if you dont have a big down.
Usually these contracts are relatively short- 5 years is common. But after owning the place for five years, and having equity, you are much more likely to be able to get a bank loan.

Sellers often like this, because they get the interest, as well as the principal. Also, because if you default, they get the building back to sell again.

I would ask the owner or realtor, first thing, if the owner will carry a contract.

thanks Ries! the broker says owner won't even consider leasing or owner financing. at least that's what the listing says. contemplating getting directly in touch with the owner


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vanguard machine said:

thanks Ries! the broker says owner won't even consider leasing or owner financing. at least that's what the listing says. contemplating getting directly in touch with the owner


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Realtors/brokers are useless scum.

I would track the owner down and deal directly.

I tried to buy an 11k sq ft commercial building about 7 years ago. It was $220k. Bank wanted $90k down. I didn't have that. I talked owner into selling with $15k down and a balloon payment in 5 years. One day before signing the contract there was a higher offer in cash so I lost.

Get hold of the owner, do not deal with a agent...Phil

Well, borrowing money is the one reason to keep your taxes on the up and up. Do you own your house?
Find a bank that has an SBA loan department, hopefully your bank
If you own a home [with equity] you can probably get a deal done.
Figuring this out will probably take longer than a good deal will be around, but should be in time for the next one

ALways ask about environmental inspections on commercial property

Joint and Several liability means if you buy a toxic waste dump you are responsible to your last nickel to clean it up no matter who polluted it

Also look into small local banks. You get to deal with a real person who can make real decisions. Little known fact is small local banks often have hidden partners with other local banks which allow them to share notes and spread risk. Most really like to invest in the community.

Doug said:

Seller financing? Not likely in the Pacific NW in the current hot market. Where are you?

When I sold my business property a few years ago, no listing, just word of mouth. Multiple all cash offers from realtors with no fees to me. In this case the realtor representing the buyer did provide a service, he brought me a qualified buyer.

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Charleston aint the Seattle area. Very few places have the real estate frenzy that Seattle does.
But I have bought 3 pieces of raw land, and 2 commercial buildings, on an owner contract over the years, and sold both a commercial building and a small cabin on contracts of my own.

If the OP lives in a place like Seattle, then he is SOL- because all cash offers for everything are standard there. But somehow I doubt whichever southern state his Charleston is in is like that. I think he can probably get a loan. But my experience on commercial stuff, especially if you dont have a day job, is 20% down is an absolute minimum.