Commercial Loan
Introduction
The commercial loan program offers a long-term financing option to real estate investors. This relates to funding made available for purchasing, refinancing, cashing out, and partner buyouts of commercial properties.
Investing in commercial real estate can generate stable cash flow and equity gains. These investments are not only profitable for real estate investors, companies, and other corporate interests, but they also serve as a hedge against market uncertainties and volatility.
Program Overview
Fort Knox Capital issues commercial loans to investors to finance commercial real estate such as student housing, mixed-use, retail, warehouse, office, industrial hotel, multifamily, and special purpose properties. We offer loan amounts ranging from $500,000 to $100,000,000 at a Loan to Value ratio of up to 75% on the purchase or up to 70% on refinancing and cash out.
In comparison to other DSCR lenders, Fort Knox Capital offers the most affordable loans for commercial properties. Our interest rates start from 4.35% with loan terms of up to 30 years fixed. They are available to individuals, corporations, and foreign nationals with a FICO of 650 and above.
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Quote Requirements
Several factors affect the details of a quote for a commercial loan. Therefore, it is important to give pertinent and correct details to prevent wrong quotes. The following information is required for us to provide you with a soft quote:
Due Diligence
After the quote for the commercial loan has been delivered, a letter of intent will be issued along with an appraisal fee if the investor decides to continue with the loan application.
Appraisal fees typically cover the cost of having a professional appraiser inspect a property and estimate its market value. The cost of an appraisal fee depends on factors such as the location, physical condition, size, and comparable difficulties of an investment property.
On average, a commercial property’s appraisal cost can be between $4,000 to $10,000.
Item Review:
While we await the appraisal and title reports for our due diligence, we will request several documents for internal assessment. Having these documents on hand in advance helps speed the underwriting process. Documents:
Guarantor(s)
- Completed Application
- Two months of bank / financial statements (all pages)
- Personal Financial Statement
- 3 years of Personal Tax Returns
- Real Estate Owned or REO schedule
- Credit Authorization
- ID
Borrowing Entity
- Articles of Incorporation
- Operating Agreement
- Organization Chart (if any)
- Federal EIN letter
Property
- Purchase and Sale Agreement (if purchase)
- Trailing 12 months’ Rental history from the rental site or bank statements (if refi)
- For Purchases, we will review both (a) the appraisal with short-term rental stats (b) or seller’s provided rental history, if available
- Current rent roll of the property
- Insurance policy and contact info
- Tax statement
- HOA contact info or questionnaire (if any)
- Property management agreements (if any)
- Property management resume (if any)
- Current mortgage statement or payoff (if refi)
If a portion of the building would be occupied by the business, while the other portion would be rented out, the following would be required:
- Profit and loss statement (for at least 3 fiscal years prior)
- Balance sheet (for at least 3 fiscal years prior)
- Tax returns (for at least 3 fiscal years prior)
- Rental income of the rented portion of the property
Commercial Property Types
Student Housing
Student housing is a building that is intended for long-term residence by students of a learning establishment. These structures are designed to be conducive while providing an educational and community environment for students to live and grow in. Dormitories, fraternity/sorority houses, and apartments all fall under this category of commercial types.
Mixed-use Property
Mixed-use properties refer to commercial properties that are utilized for various purposes. These purposes can either be commercial or residential. A good example of a mixed-use property would be a building that comprises apartments, retail stores, and office space.
Retail
This type of commercial is where goods or services are sold to consumers. Most retail properties are characterized by their ample parking spaces, escalators, elevators, and covered parking structures. Examples of retail properties are malls, lifestyle centers, convenience centers, and factory outlets.
Office
An office space is a building occupied by businesses, professionals, and experts in industries like healthcare, finance, legal, technology, and many more. A standard office building is usually divided into meeting and conference rooms, reception, kitchens, common areas, libraries, etc.
Special-use Property
Special-use properties are buildings with distinct construction materials, unique physical designs, or structures that restrict their utility to the purpose for which they were constructed. These buildings are single-purpose structures that accommodate just one particular operation, use, or business.
Since these commercial properties are intended for distinct and continual exclusive use, they often cannot be easily adjusted between tenants. Such properties include zoos refineries, railway stations, amusement parks, a bowling alley, a church, storage units, amusement parks, clinics, hospitals, firehouses, train stations, nursing homes, dental offices, sports arenas, and performing arts theaters.
Industrial Property
Industrial Properties can be characterized extensively as any piece of land or building meant solely for industrial activities such as manufacturing, processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, storage and warehousing, and distribution.
These sites are often constructed and operated in locations that are depicted as designated areas on every city’s zoning map. This is to prevent the activities on these sites from disrupting surrounding habitations. Industrial Properties can be regarded as special-use properties.
Medical Property
Medical properties include buildings that serve as nursing homes, acute care hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, assisted living facilities, adult congregate living facilities, personal care facilities, medical office buildings, or any combination.
Any of the facilities mentioned above may also include independent living units as a component of their overall structure.
FAQs
What Is a Commercial Loan?
A commercial loan is an agreement between a bank and a business owner – or soon-to-be business owner – meant to provide capital for the acquisition of a business, commercial property, business expansions, and other business-related endeavors. This agreement known as the Note or Loan Note is secured by the property with an amortized mortgage schedule.
Our commercial loans offer investors the best funding for a variety of commercial real estates, such as offices, retail, hotels, and apartments. It finances the acquisition, refinances, cash-out, and partner buyouts at market rates.
How Do Commercial Loans Work?
Generally, commercial loans are for income-producing properties. However, commercial loans is a general term and non-income producing properties also qualify for a commercial loan but are known as “commercial bridge loans”. Stabilized income-producing properties are obtainable by both new and experienced investors who are seeking to put debt on their investment which may have tax benefits and free up their capital for other projects or alike. These loans come with interest rates starting at 4.35% and term up to 30 years fixed.
Although commercial loans are available to a wide range of real estate investors, some qualifications must be met.
To qualify for a commercial loan, investors must possess a satisfactory credit history, documenting a sound financial standing, satisfactory documents showing a stable income-producing property, and a satisfactory Appraisal.
Why Choose a Commercial Loan?
Commercial loans provide real estate investors with several benefits. They provide investors with needed funding for acquiring commercial properties and allow for loan repayment over an extended period of time. This allows the buyer or owner to free up capital for other projects or to deploy capital for other reasons and avoid locking up their full capital to that one property. This also can provide tax benefits to minimize by using debt to offset its taxable net profits.
How Do I Qualify for a Commercial Loan?
Before real estate investors can qualify for commercial loans, there are specific requirements they are expected to meet. Here are some of the basic requirements.
- Maintain a clean credit history with no recent major credit events, no late mortgage payments within the last 24 months, and a good FICO score of 650 and above.
- Investors should have enough capital for down payments and with at least 12 months of PITI reserve. Your financial reserve is expected to include your monthly principal, interest, tax, and insurance payments. This applies to either an acquisition, refinance, cash-out, or partner buyout.
- Hiring a third-party commercial manager or management team, whether you are a new or experienced investor. It is especially encouraged for new investors and could be mandatory on occasion.
A debt-to-coverage ratio (DSCR) of 1.25% or higher. This is derived through an evaluation of the property’s potential income when purchasing or its last 12 months’ performance when refinancing. However, DSCR below 1.25% may still qualify at reduced leverages and higher cost.
Is a Commercial Loan Easy to Get?
Commercial loans are usually offered by private money lenders like Fort Knox Capital and are generally easy if the property is or has been managed properly and the borrower is financially stable.
How Long Will it Take to Close a Commercial Loan?
The amount of time it will take to close a commercial loan depends on the loan product you apply for and how quickly you respond to our terms. Usually, the time-consuming portion of the process is the title and appraisal, which takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to get back. If everything goes as planned, your commercial loan should be funded within 30 to 60 days.
Can I Lock my Loan Rate?
Generally, no you can’t. However, it may be possible depending on the period of the loan request and the nature of the market. The major reason why lenders do not offer rate locks on commercial loans is due to the unpredictable nature and price fluctuations of the market, in addition to the size and scope of the loan amount. Your loan rate will be secured once the loan documents have been drafted for the escrow agent during closing.
How Much Deposit Do You Need to Put Down for a Commercial Loan?
Generally, you would need a deposit of between 20% and 40% for a commercial loan. The type of property and its cash flows help determine the final leverage. At Fort Knox Capital, we require a 25% deposit for an outright purchase.
