Buying small office building with essentially no cash flow.

[Adam Craig]

I am looking to buy my first commercial building. The plan is to use a very small portion of the building for my new office and rent the rest which could be broken up into 3-6 units or more. Here are details...

4862 Sq Ft. Century old home - bones and mechanical are very good - just dated cosmetics from a 1984 remodel. The attorney who bought the building in the 80s gutted it and used part of it for his law firm and rented the rest. It is essentially vacant because he retired and other renters left as it went up for sale. It has been on the market for 2.5 years but he started it at 375K in 2017 and dropped it to 290K in March 09 and 275K in May 09.

This building is in my home city and the area is called "Downtown Willoughby" which has become what I would consider a top 5 trendy bar/restaurant area in Cleveland suburbs. So the area is desirable and on its way up.

I am about to send him my letter of intent but I need to reach out to my commercial contacts. Should I expect issues since I would be buying the building to do a cosmetic rehab and it has no tenants?

Would me using it for my personal business change anything on the lending side. SBA loan?

[Greg Dickerson]

@Adam Craig it’s going to depend on your financials. Some will use potential income to help qualify if you have leases in place but your income, credit, net worth and cash on hand are what they will be looking at primarily especially since it’s vacant.

Every bank is different so you need to shop several. Some do SBA some do not.

Make sure to prepare a business plan for the property to submit along with your financial package which should include last 3 years of tax returns, current P&L and balance sheet for your business and current PFS. This will help speed along the process and you will look like a sophisticated investor.