The Baratelli Institute · Mentoring at Scale

Get the SBA 504 Loan, Buy Your Building

Your in-house CFO for the 504 — so the financing doesn't keep you renting.

Owning the building your business operates in is one of the best moves an owner can make — you stop paying a landlord and start paying yourself. Most owners never do it, because the 504 looks daunting: two loans, a development company you've never heard of, an appraisal, an environmental report, and a forecast you don't know how to build. This is the CFO in your corner for exactly that: a plain-English guide and a workbook that sizes all three pieces of the deal, runs the numbers against the current SBA rules, and prints the one page your bank and CDC drop in the file.

Get the package See what's inside

What you'll show the lenders

A 504 needs two yeses — the bank and the CDC. They look for the same three things.

A 504 finances up to 90% of the project — about 50% from a bank first mortgage, 40% from a fixed-rate CDC/SBA debenture, and 10% from you — but only when you demonstrate three things. Most owners have the numbers to make the case; they just don't know how to lay them out. This package helps you do exactly that.

It covers both paymentsThe business throws off enough to cover the bank loan and the debenture, with room — shown from the tax returns, then forward.
You're in itYour 10–20% injection is sized correctly for a standard, startup, or special-purpose deal.
It appraises & you'll occupy itThe property supports the financing, and your business will occupy the 51% / 60% the program requires.

What's inside

A 20-tab workbook built to SOP 50 10 8, and a guide that assumes you know nothing about SBA loans.

One number pays for it

This isn't priced against other spreadsheets. It's priced against what the alternative costs — and against the building you finally buy.

A loan packager charges thousands to assemble this by hand. But the real comparison is bigger: the years of rent you'll stop paying a landlord once you own the building, and the fixed-rate, 25-year debenture that locks your largest occupancy cost for a generation. The package that gets you there — once — returns its price many times over, and you keep the model for the next property.

How it compares

There's cheap-and-generic, and there's expensive-and-human. This is the gap in between.

OptionCostWhat you get
Free templates (SBDC / SCORE)$0Generic projections; not 504-specific, no two-loan structure, no occupancy or job math.
Online projection templates$10–$300A projection, not a 504 package — no 50/40/10, no combined coverage, no occupancy or appraisal logic.
SBA loan packager / consultant$2,000–$10,000+The real thing, by hand — expensive, and on their schedule.
This package$349The packager's deliverable, productized and 504-specific: the two-loan structure, the SOP checks, occupancy, jobs, and a balancing monthly model. Self-serve and immediate.

Who it's for

Business owners buying or building their property — the core: the package and the plain-English guide to build it.
CDCs & 504 lenders — hand it to borrowers; a clean file is less work for you.
Commercial real-estate brokers — give it to owner-users and close more of your deals.
CPAs & advisors — a ready model for the client buying their building.
Bankers writing the first mortgage — borrowers arrive with the coverage and LTV already laid out.
Owner-users & ETA operators — the real-estate financing model, ready to run.

For CRE brokers, CDCs & 504 lenders

Your owner-users ask the same question every time. Hand them the answer — with your name on it.

The financing package the owner can't build is what stalls your files. This guide and workbook turn an unprepared owner-user into a fundable one — the 50/40/10 structure, the combined coverage, occupancy, jobs, and the lender-ready Credit Summary. Everyone in the chain only gets paid if the deal closes — an owner who quits at the financing step takes the payday with them. Keeping more of them in raises the percentage of your deals that close.

Co-brand it free. Put your name, photo, and number on the tool and hand it to every owner-user. Referral arrangements for paid packagers; CDC, brokerage, and association licensing available.

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Get the complete package

Sold as one — the guide and the workbook together. The guide is not sold separately.

Part of the Baratelli SBA suite — pairs with the 7(a) Acquisition edition when you're buying a business and its building. Annual updates subscription (new SOP, fees, and rates): $99/yr. CDC, broker, and firm licensing available; contact the Institute.

Questions

Is this a guarantee I'll get the loan?
No. It's a preparation tool: it builds the package and tests your deal against the current 504 rules, but only your bank and CDC make the credit decision. What it does is get you to their door with a complete, correct package in the language they speak.
What's the difference between a 504 and a 7(a)?
The 504 is for owner-occupied real estate and large equipment — a two-loan, fixed-rate, long-term structure. The 7(a) is for buying a business, working capital, and general purposes. We make a separate edition for each; if you're buying a business and its building, you may use both.
I've never done this before. Will I understand it?
That's exactly who it's written for. The guide assumes no prior knowledge, every term is in the glossary, and each chapter points to the matching tab in the workbook.
Are the rules current?
Yes — built to SOP 50 10 8 and the FY2026 504 fees. The debenture rate is set monthly, so the rate and fee inputs are editable, and the update subscription keeps pace.

Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Authored by Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA — former public-company CFO, corporate controller and treasurer, and family-office CFO. The model and the guide he built so an owner could stop renting and start owning.

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Educational references and tools — not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation. © 2026 The Baratelli Institute.