Real estate investment has become an extremely popular way for people to try to make money. Owning an apartment or multi family housing unit can be a way to wealth, however, real estate investing requires a lot of time, knowledge and up-front capital.

Apartment building loans are often offered on two different levels. The first usually requires a minimum loan of $500,000, is a smaller unit, but comprised of no less than five units. The second is for loans over $3,000,000, and is designed for financing much larger units such as large apartment complexes, student housing, or senior or assisted living facilities.

Most lenders will provide financing for units in good condition, and have little deferred maintenance. If the building is in poor condition, you may not qualify for a loan, or have to pay a much higher down payment.

Apartment building loan sources are numerous to say the very least. Before speaking with anyone it’s helpful to have a list of question you may want to ask. For example:

Is the property fully leased (about 95%)?

Do you want to borrow more than 80% of today’s value?

Are you willing to re-finance the property or are you planning on selling in the next 3 years or so?

Will you accept a loan with a large prepayment penalty?

Do you expect leasing activity in the building over the next 3 years(either from existing or new tenants)to increase the property value greater than 25%?

If the property value is increasing more than 25% over the next 3 years, will the loan request today be 75% or less of the increased value?

Will 50% of the building leases expire in any one of the next 3 years?

Are you installing land infrastructure, gutting the building or converting the use?

Is the property value greater than $10 million?

Apartment building financing, or multifamily property financing, is in a constant state of change. As a result, multifamily finance providers must have thorough knowledge and awareness of available debt programs and be prepared to quickly analyze financing options.

Visit Security National Capital today to learn more about apartment building and multi family property loans.

Michael Southard is the Vice President of Security National Capital.

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A section 1031 tax deferral allows an investor to sell a property, then reinvest the proceeds in a new property and defer all capital gain taxes. Specific conditions for the exchange state that it must be of “like-kind” and must take place within 45 days of the close of the sale. To understand more about how this exchange works, consider the following example:

If an investor has a $200,000 capital gain and incurs a tax liability of $70,000 in combined taxes when the property is sold, only $130,000 remains to reinvest in another property.

If the investor had, for example, a down payment of 25% and a loan-to-value ratio of 75%, the seller would only be able to purchase a $520,000 property.

If the same investor chose a 1031 exchange, however, and had the same down payment and loan-to-value ratio as above, the entire $200,000 of equity could be reinvested in an $800,000 purchase of real estate.

The exchange offers a powerful protection for investors from capital gain taxes. However, knowledge of what qualifies for a 1031 exchange, and how it works is crucial to receive the full benefits that it can offer. For example, not all real estate qualifies for the exchange. Business property and investment property are the only types that will qualify for the tax deferral.


Both the property sold and received must be of “like-kind”, which is often mistaken to mean the exact types of properties. The like kind provision for real property is quite broad, and includes land, rental, and business property. A 1031 exchange may actually be mixed as to type and still be like-kind. For example, you may exchange land for a duplex, or a commercial building for a retail store. The like-kind provision for personal property is more restrictive.


One difficult aspect of making a 1031 exchange is finding a new investment property within the 45 day limit. The IRS is very strict about complying with the restriction and rarely allows extensions. Once a replacement property has been found, the next challenge comes in obtaining the extra capital needed to complete the exchange.


Fortunately, there is an easy way to overcome that challenge. Obtaining a bridge loan is an easy and effective way for a commercial borrower to finance a property for a short period of time. Bridge loans are usually offered for terms of 12-36 months, just the amount of time that a property owner would need for a 1031 exchange.

Visit Security National Capital today to learn more about a 1031 exchange.

Michael Southard is the Vice President of Security National Capital.

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Many traditional lenders have unofficially removed bar and restaurant properties from their short list of business loan candidates. Other lenders will restrict their restaurant lending to a handful of restaurant businesses with a long track record. There are two dominant reasons for these actions by traditional lenders:

(1) Bars and restaurants will usually have the highest failure rate among new businesses. Traditional banks have discovered that an infallible strategy for avoiding such business loan failures is to avoid making these kinds of loans in the first place.

(2) Commercial mortgages for bars and restaurants will involve special financing requirements for liquor licenses and items generally categorized as FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment). As a result, there will be a perceived intermingling of various assets looked upon as collateral by the traditional banks, and this extra level of complexity discourages many traditional lenders from actively making commercial real estate loans to bar and restaurant owners.

BUSINESS LOAN SOLUTIONS FOR RESTAURANTS AND BARS

(1) I believe that one of the primary underlying reasons for a high failure rate among bars and restaurants is directly due to the commercial borrower being forced into short-term financing when long-term financing is essential to the health of the business investment. Businesses (and especially restaurant and bar properties) should not be financed with short-term funds. It is essential to obtain long-term commercial financing of at least 15-20 years (and longer is even better).

(2) Seller seconds and other variations of subordinate financing should be considered. This will permit the most aggressive commercial financing for bar and restaurant commercial mortgages, up to 90% of the property value. This is important if you are the buyer because it will provide another financial tool to help with financing. It is important to the seller because it might enable someone to buy the property who could not otherwise do so. Subordinate financing (including seller seconds) is not permitted by many/most traditional banks.

(3) For bar and restaurant loans under $1 million, a Stated Income commercial mortgage should be actively considered. This form of commercial financing will not require income tax returns or other income verification. This especially benefits self-employed bar/restaurant borrowers who frequently have income that is erratic and difficult to document properly. Stated Income commercial real estate loans are not provided by many/most traditional banks.

(4) Finally, restaurants and bars will frequently benefit from using credit card receivables to convert future cash flow into immediate working capital via a business cash advance up to $300,000.

Copyright 2005-2006 AEX Commercial Financing Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Stephen Bush is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AEX Commercial Financing Group, LLC ( aexcommercialfinancing.com ). Steve provides commercial financing assistance throughout the United States and is the publisher of The Commercial Mortgage Loans Guide ( aexcfgllc.com ) and The Credit Card Receivables Guide ( aexcfg.com ). Information about enrolling for a free online seven-part Commercial Mortgage Course or a free online six-part series of Special Commercial Financing Reports is available at all AEX Commercial Financing Group, LLC websites. Steve can be reached by phone at (937) 502-1345 or toll-free (888) 593-3951.

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