What Are My Options for Refi on Balloon?

[John Mireles]

I've got a mixed use commercial property that I bought in 2007 that I need to refi this coming March. The market's gone down since then and the banks are very conservative. The comps in my area are all terrible. It's a historical building (which means 1/2 off my taxes) with four well-maintained units that have been consistently occupied and I'm cash positive each month (about $900 before taxes etc). All the comps (of which there's only a few) are dumpy single occupancy commercial that don't even compare. But they are what they are and I have to deal with them as there's nothing else for the appraiser to go by.

Depending on how the appraisal goes, I may have anywhere from 20% equity to no equity in this property. (Value range is $700k to $530k.) The property is in an area that's about to blow up in value so I don't want to lose it. What options do I have besides conventional financing? Is hard money an option? Any suggestions for making this work with conventional financing?

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

John