First Purchase Newbie

First Purchase Newbie

Member since 2021 · 1 post · 0 votes

I would love some advice from the pros out there - I'm really stumped on the best way to accomplish my goal...

I have two businesses and want to purchase an office building under a new LLC and lease space to my businesses.

However, what I really want to do is also have other tenants so that I will have multiple revenue streams. The building will offer short and long-term lease offices as well as conference room rentals and other rental-type amenities.

Also, my sister wants to partner with me, so we had originally planned a two-member LLC.

The local bank I use said this arrangement won't work if I want to get a 10% down SBA owner-occupied loan, because the ownership of the business leasing the building has to be the same ownership as the business buying the building (meaning I would have to be 100% owner of both - no partner). There's also a question of whether it makes sense for my business to lease 51% of the building (I really only need a small office for that business and the building is about 6400 square feet).

Would it be better for me to just negotiate a master lease with option so I will have 3 years to generate the 20% down payment for a conventional loan? Plus, less risky since the space has no tenants now and although I'm confident on the business model enough to believe I will at least break even each month and still enjoy the investment ROI and tax savings, there's always the risk that it won't do better than that or that I won't even be able to generate the break even revenue.

Or, is there a creative way for me to make this happen? The building is 900k so there's a pretty big difference between 10% and 20%. 

I've been researching a ton, but there's definitely not as much out there on commercial as there is for residential! Thank you for any feedback or ideas!!

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  • Member since 2021 · 20 posts · 13 votes
    5y

    -Are your two businesses currently renting space somewhere else? If so, how much are they spending each month on rent? Is the location of this building good? Why doesnt it currently have any tenants? If it previously had tenants, what was the NOI?

    Those are some questions you can either answer here for feedback or ponder on your own. As for the 20%, put 10% down, finance 80% and have the seller be second with the other 10%. Way more common in commercial than residential and you dont really have to put 20% down but rather the bank will loan 80% LTV.

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