Belize Real Estate  Links  
Real Estate Information

Why Commercial Real Estate is the Hottest Retirement Asset


For small business owners, commercial real estate investment is the hottest new retirement asset. If your mind has already jumped to "REITs" - or shares in Real Estate Investment Trusts - think again. I'm referring to the ownership of the commercial facilities small business owners currently lease, or new commercial facilities they can buy or develop.

Small business owners can thank the U.S. Small Business Administration for this rather substantial opportunity.

The SBA sponsors a specialty lending program designed to assist successful small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities. The SBA did not design the program as a vehicle for creating superior retirement assets, but it doesn't take a financial genius to connect the dots - and the business owners who have done so already are profiting enormously from their decision.

It's called the SBA 504 program and it's been around, though not well promoted, for nearly twenty years. If a banker failed to mention it as an alternative, don't be too dismayed. Traditional lending institutions prefer conventional financial instruments because they offer traditional lending institutions greater profit margins. The SBA 504 program is clearly intended to benefit small business owners, not necessarily the financial community.

Here's what SBA 504 loans offer qualified small business owners: below market fixed interest rates, longer terms and with a cash investment as low as 10 percent of the total project cost. Typically, small business owners can reduce real estate expenses by up to 40 percent while building an asset that benefits them long after they've sold or shuttered their business. As an investment, this type of financing offers the highest cash-on-cash return available for commercial real estate, which means not only does their capital work harder for them, but they keep more of it to grow their business too. You can't find a traditional lending product that can beat this.

Next to home ownership, being your own boss is the number one American Dream. That's why most small business owners started (or acquired) their own business. And their success is almost entirely dependent on their drive, ambition, innovation and attention to detail. Eventually, however, they'll sell their business or pass it along to their children or shut it down (very few small businesses go public). With SBA 504 financing, they can turn that drive and ambition into another long-term asset that offers immediate and significant tax advantages, as well as makes great sense for long-term financial planning.

It's important to take an innovative approach to commercial real estate ownership. For most clients, it is beneficial to establish a separate real estate holding company to own the real estate asset - it separates their operating company - the one they may eventually sell or pass on to their children - from this new and important real estate asset.

The result is that, in 10 years or 25, when a small business owner sells their business or gift it to their children or shutters it, the real estate asset will retain important appreciated value in a separate holding company.

They will also have been paying themselves rent instead of some faceless landlord, effectively growing their real estate asset, building their equity and benefiting from the tax advantages all at the same time.

And once they sell their business, they'll still have an income-generating asset that is one of the soundest long-term investments anyone can make.

Small business owners can continue to be landlords in their retirement, or they can sell the asset - typically at a rather significantly appreciated value.

Even if they gift the business to their children, the new owners will have to continue paying rent. Who would make a better landlord their children than themselves?

The value of the SBA 504 lending program is clear. Most business owners that are educated about this financial planning strategy adopt it.

For successful small business owners, this is almost a no-brainer. If they haven't already done so, it's time to stop paying rent to someone else and consider owning for all the right reasons.

* * *

By Christopher Hurn

(Ed. Note? Hurn is president and chief executive officer at Mercantile Commercial Capital based in Altamonte Springs. His company handles commercial loans and specializes in 90% financing for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities. The company, in business for 19 months, has closed some $30 million in loans already and opened offices in Miami, Tampa and Chicago.)


MORE RESOURCES:

International Business Times

Mariner Real Estate acquires loan portfolio
BusinessWeek
Mariner Real Estate Management LLC said Friday that it worked with bank regulators to buy a portfolio of real estate loans worth about $760 million. ...
Leawood-based Mariner buys $760 million in real estate loans from FDICKansas City Star
Mariner Real Estate Management Acquires $760 Million FDIC Real Estate Loan ...Benzinga
FDIC sells another $760 million in REOHousing Wire
Emii.com -Bloomberg
all 24 news articles »


Jamie Dimon's real estate woes
Los Angeles Times (blog)
The bad real estate market has forced a series of reductions that have brought the listing price down by nearly half, to $6.95 million. ...

and more »


Real Estate News: Mortgage Rates Fall to 4.32%
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Mortgage Rates Hit New Low at 4.32%: Average mortgage rates hit another record low even as Treasurys sold off, according to Freddie Mac's ...

and more »


Investors Real Estate Trust Declares Regular Quarterly Common Share ...
MarketWatch (press release)
MINOT, ND, Sep 3, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Investors Real Estate Trust (NASDAQ:IRET) (NASDAQ:IRETP) announced today that its Board of Trustees has ...
Investors Real Estate Trust Declares Regular Quarterly Common Share ...Trading Markets (press release)

all 10 news articles »


Town Hall

Mo. drops appeal of real estate ballot measure
The Associated Press
2 whether to amend the Missouri Constitution to prohibit real estate transfer taxes, which typically are charged like sales taxes based on the price of the ...
Mo. drops appeal of real estate ballot measureKOAM-TV
Mo. judge orders real estate tax on fall ballotBusinessWeek
Ballot measure on real-estate transfer tax cleared by judgeKansas City Star
Real Estate Journal Online (blog) -FOX2now.com
all 122 news articles »


RiverSource LaSalle International Real Estate Fund, Inc. Declares Third ...
MarketWatch (press release)
Investments in real estate securities may be subject to specific risks, such as the risks associated with general and local economic conditions, ...

and more »


Commercial real estate transactions
Dallas Morning News
John Barker of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services negotiated the sale. SRK Properties purchased a 3540-square-foot retail building on 10672 ...
Rankin Commercial Properties says Commercial Real Estate Back to Black.dBusinessNews Triangle (press release)

all 4 news articles »


Why is Google Getting Involved in Real Estate?
Forbes (blog)
And what impact will it have on the real estate market at large? The answer to the first question, as TechCrunch points out, may just be that they can ...

and more »


Hypo Real Estate's Collapse on the Slopes
BusinessWeek
Snowmass Village, the Colorado ski town, got a lift in 2007 when Germany's Hypo Real Estate Holding agreed to arrange ...

and more »


Inland Real Estate sells center to joint venture
BusinessWeek
Inland Real Estate Corp. said Thursday it has sold a recently acquired shopping center in Chicago to a joint venture it operates with Dutch pension fund ...
Inland Real Estate declares The Point at Clark's contribution to its JV with PGGMTrading Markets (press release)
Inland Real Estate Corporation Announces Contribution of The Point at Clark to ...MarketWatch (press release)
Property for Sun Prairie Copps Food soldThe Business Journal

all 35 news articles »

Google News

home | site map | Colorado Log Homes | Homes for Sale in Denver Metro
© 2006