About to Retire and Wondering about existing Commercial Loans

[Mackal Smith]

I have done pretty well with my investment portfolio so far. Over the past couple of years I have pulled together 15 units I own by myself in my company name (duplexes, triplex, and 4 plex) and I have another 10 units I own with a partner in another company (duplexes and SFR's).

Here's my question. Of the properties I own myself, one is on a 30 year fixed mortgage (I bought it in my personal name and moved it to my company once I formed it). I'm not really worried about this one during retirement, but the rest are all commercial loans with 20 year amortizations with 5 year balloon payments. I'm in a position to retire early from my W2 job but I'm worried what will happen in a couple of years when the balloon payments come up if I don't have that W2 income to show.

I have a little over 2 million in stocks, bonds, savings, etc but I don't want to have to pull from any of that to pay the properties off. My preference would be to continue with the 20 year amortization and just pick up another 5 year balloon (and keep doing that until they are paid off).

Does anyone have experience with how banks look at a property (or investor) in my situation? Remember, these are all 2 to 4 unit properties so I don't think they will be treated like commercial real estate even though I have commercial loans on them. Will the bank look at the fact that the payments have always been on time and that the properties all have had positive cash flow over the life of the 5 year balloon, or are they going to see that I have no active (W2) income and possibly not give me the next 5 year balloon.