A single-tenant commercial building would seem on the surface to be one of the simplest properties to manage. All you need to do is find one company to sign a lease or you could even occupy the building yourself. That's a great plan, but what if your tenant moves out or you can't carry the place on your own? You're left with a vacant building and no income stream to pay for it. The bank will still want their mortgage payment, the utility companies will still need their money, and property taxes aren't going to go away. What do you do if your building ends up empty and you need to pay the bills?

 

Short of having an anchor tenant sign a thirty year lease, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to keep a single-tenant property occupied unless you move in yourself. If you're not planning on doing that and you're going to apply for a commercial mortgage to buy a single-tenant building, you'll need to have a solid business plan and preferably another steady source of income, one that is not coming from the new building. Banks are less likely to approve mortgages for prospects that have only one possible source of funding to repay them with. It's not impossible to get approved, but it's more difficult.

 

To make sure you do get approved, create a solid business plan. Obviously, the best case scenario for you to pay off your mortgage would be to do it with money from a rental or lease agreement, but have a back-up plan in case that's not available. How will you use the space if you can't find a tenant? Is your business adaptable? Can you utilize the space in such a way that you'll turn a profit and be able to make your payments on time? The bank will want to know the answers to these questions if they're going to provide you the funds to buy a building.

 

Fill out our iBank commercial mortgage application. We'll put your request out to banks and mortgage brokers and find you someone that will review your application. The lender will ask you all the same questions we just asked, most likely more. Keep in mind; it's their money that you are asking for. They just want to know that you'll be able to pay them back. Show them a solid plan and back up plan detailing exactly how you will do that and you should be approved.