Boldmont Lending, a small-business funding service in Urbana, Illinois, helps Champaign County, IL owners request term loans for remodels, purchases and buying an existing business. This page covers how to finance a business purchase, remodeling loans, acquisition funding, buying with little money down, and the records a funding partner may review.
At a glance
- Pays for
Remodels, purchases, acquisitions
- Paid back by
Scheduled installments
- Who decides
The funding partner
How to finance a business purchase
Buying an existing business can be financed with a mix of three sources: the buyer's own cash, a term loan, and sometimes a note from the seller, paid over time. The term loan is sized to what the business's past cash flow can repay, because the partner is lending against a track record, not a plan.
- Get the seller's last three years of tax returns and financial statements, plus recent bank statements.
- Agree on a price in a letter of intent, with the purchase subject to financing.
- Work out how much cash you can put in and whether the seller will carry part of the price.
- Request the term loan for the remainder, with the purchase agreement attached.
- Have an attorney and accountant review the deal before closing.
How a Champaign County, IL buyer gets a business loan to buy a business
The partner reads two sets of records: the seller's, to see what the business earns, and the buyer's, to see who is taking over. Experience in the same trade helps; a buyer moving from an associate role to owning the practice or shop presents differently from a buyer new to the field.
Champaign County, IL had 4,237 employer establishments in 2023 (County Business Patterns), and every one of them will change hands or close at some point. Practice purchases, agency purchases and shop purchases are each covered on their industry pages.
How to finance a small business purchase in Urbana, IL
Start with the price and work backward. If the business earns enough to cover the loan payment with room left over, the purchase can carry a term loan. If it does not, the price or the structure has to change.
Illustration only, invented figures: a buyer pays $250,000 for an Urbana, IL shop, with $40,000 of the buyer's cash, a $25,000 seller note and a $185,000 term loan (our sum: 40,000 + 25,000 + 185,000 = 250,000). If the loan payment is $2,300 a month and the shop's yearly cash flow before debt is $60,000, the loan takes $27,600 a year, leaving $32,400 for the seller note, the owner's pay and reserves.
How to get funding for a business acquisition
An acquisition can be an asset purchase (buying the equipment, inventory, customer list and name) or a stock purchase (buying the company itself, with its liabilities). Partners and attorneys treat the two differently, so know which one the letter of intent describes. Have these ready:
- The signed letter of intent or draft purchase agreement.
- Financial statements and returns from the seller.
- A list of the assets included and their condition.
- Your personal financial statement and résumé in the field.
- Your plan for the first year: staffing, pricing, any changes.
Business loans for remodeling in Champaign County, IL
A remodel loan is a term loan whose purpose is a build-out: a new dining room, treatment rooms, a storefront refresh. The partner wants to see the contractor's bid, the timeline and how the remodel pays for itself, through added seats, chairs, bays or square footage.
Before the bid is final, check zoning and permits. In Champaign County, IL the rules depend on whether the address is inside city limits or in the unincorporated county; the Urbana, IL zoning and permits guide walks through the split.
Financing a business purchase with little cash of your own in Champaign County, IL
Buying with no money of your own is hard to finance, because a partner wants the buyer to share the risk. The pieces that reduce the cash a buyer brings are a seller note (the seller is paid part of the price over time), an earn-out (part of the price depends on future results) and, for some buyers, a partner investor. Each one has to be written into the purchase agreement, and each is a cost: the seller note has its own payments.
Ask any partner how much of the price it expects the buyer to contribute, and whether a seller note counts toward that amount.
Reading a term loan offer from Urbana, IL
- Payment amount and frequency, and the number of payments.
- Total of all payments, and the dollar cost (total minus amount received).
- Whether a balloon balance falls due at the end.
- Liens, collateral and any guarantee from the owner.
- Prepayment terms: whether paying early saves money.
Compare all six options on the side-by-side page , see trade-by-trade notes on the industry pages , or read county figures on Boldmont's page on Urbana, IL . To start, use the online request .
By Boldmont Lending · Updated