Usually they'll say yes and begin to give you all kinds of information to turn in for final approval on a short sale.

Quote from @Jonathan Soto: great write up. thank you for taking your time and going in to detail. i have been looking into a business for myself but havent seen much in biz bysell that make sense. just need to keep searching Try looking into Crexi and Loopnet too, I find all different kinds of small businesses for sale on those websites compared to Bizbuysell.

YOU are the expert in the kind of business you are trying to do.

Maybe you can expand on what kind of properties and price points you're targeting, buy & hold vs Flip vs MTR etc?

What kind of construction project? 

Kind of figured that the loan side would be a long shot.  

I'm talking to the seller's broker, but I would like to find my own people to assist with the due diligence period, such as an SBA loan broker, an accountant with experience doing QoE for this kind of transaction, and a lawyer.

Well, without any kind of significant cash on their end there is going to be a much higher chance of default.

There are very few Qualified Intermediaries with any kind of regulatory oversight. 

I'm normally not one that advocates trigger-happy decisions, but IMO this kind of investing needs solid boots on the ground, and you're out of town.