Coming soon
How to Purchase a Business with an SBA Loan
A step-by-step guide for business buyers. SBA lenders size a purchase loan on the seller's tax returns, not the broker's cash flow number, and any part of the price above the lender's valuation comes out of your down payment.
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What's inside
- How much to put down, and where it can come from
- When a seller note counts toward your down payment
- How much business you can afford
- Rates, fees, terms, and the personal guaranty
- Each step from letter of intent to closing
While you wait for the book, read the free guide to purchasing a business with an SBA loan, or find your loan with the free SBA loan chooser.
Three buyers, three deals
Odette has run operations for someone else for twelve years. The broker says the IT services company she wants earns $475,000 a year. Her lender's math says $285,000.
Hollis found a distributor he liked and a warehouse that comes with it, $3,300,000 for both. The building's past and how the loan's term is set change his deal before he signs anything.
Mateo has scheduled the crews at a moving company for seven years. The owner wants to retire and sell it to him for $620,000, and because Mateo has worked there more than two years, the SBA's rules give his lender room an outside buyer never gets.
Every SBA loan rule is checked against SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 (effective October 1, 2026), 13 CFR Part 120, and current SBA notices.