Bryan, I see this more as short term transactional money rather than long term financing money.

I would not in any way get involved in any transaction.

Joe,We originate plenty of Self Directed IRA and Solo 401k transactions a month.

Assuming he's willing to sell, and you do the transaction properly (specifically, doing full title work) this it may be totally legit.

A lot of guys pay only a few hundred per transaction to cover E&O insurance and then a monthly fee.

They used the end-buyer's funds to fund my purchase, so no transactional funding was needed.

If nothing else, your real estate firm can tell you if they would/would not allow a transaction like you are proposing when the program she is with does not support it.

If it's just a lease the terms can make it good or bad.If you have a new business all you have is the equipment which liquidates at 10 to 15 cents on the dollar.You have not created a salable commodity yet because buyers want at least a year or longer of stability to buy a business based on cash flow.Usually you get 3 times net earnings.So a business making 33,000 after expenses would trade at 100,000 etc.SBA loans are almost impossible right now so most business transactions happen with all cash down or the current owner carrying 10 to 50% of the paper.The owner generally will not sell getting only 10 to 20% down.The reason is they might be living off that income stream and have to live off the money or might have to get a certain amount to franchise and grow their concept or reinvest in other opportunities plus the commission comes out of the down payment for the business listing broker and the fee runs from usually 8 to 10 percent.In some instances if the list price is low commission could be 12%.Being a chef and OWNING a restaurant are way far apart from each other.I used to own a restaurant and have real world experience.The value of a restaurant is based on the lease terms,how new it is,available parking,saturation of similar concepts in the immediate area.

If you're planning to move, especially in a short time like four years, the transaction costs will kill you (ha!)

I've never done flat fee before but it seems very cost effective if you know what you're doing on the transaction end.