Creative Financing and Foresight Closes Recent Sale
September 1, 2009

Senior Care Realty recently helped close the sale of a 20-bed assisted living facility in the Fox Valley region of Wisconsin. About three years ago, we helped the owner prepare a lease with the individuals who eventually purchased the property. The new owners were tenants and operators until they exercised their option to purchase. "While this is a unique approach to ownership, we have been seeing more of this type of transition," says Mike Collins, president and founder of Senior Care Realty.

In this case, however, it was more than a transformation from tenant to owner. Financing for commercial real estate transactions has been challenging in recent times. Creative financing can make the difference, and this is a good example of how Senior Care Realty and its network of financial experts can help an operator achieve ownership.

In this particular instance, the new business owners took advantage of the SBA 7a Guaranteed Loan program, with the assistance of Joan F. Kinate, Vice President at Wells Fargo SBA Lending in Green Bay. The benefits of this program, she says, are that it is a fully amortizing 25-year loan with no balloon payments, it requires a down payment of 10%, and the loan does not have to be fully collateralized.

"What is really unique about this transaction," Kinate explains, "is what we accomplished regarding the 10% down." The original lease agreement - negotiated by Collins and his associates at Senior Care Realty three years earlier - allowed for a portion of the rent payments to be used as credit toward the purchase price. "Our customer took advantage of this; they needed no extra cash to assume ownership. They had a proven successful business already and we were able to help them buy the building and establish a long-term amortization schedule to keep the payments low," she adds.

This SBA program is extremely beneficial for business owners hoping to grow. It allows them to complete a transaction with a minimal amount down, saving their cash for working capital, emergencies or other items needed to grow the revenue of their business. Kinate suggests that interested parties work with a bank that has experience as an SBA lender. For more information, contact her at 920-436-6103 or vial email: joan.kinate@wellsfargo.com.

For more information, contact us at (608) 837-2649 or visit www.seniorcarerealty.com.