Every guide, in plain English.
Buying or selling a business with SBA financing, explained the way a friend would explain it. No jargon, current on the July 2026 rules, and honest about the parts that are hard.
New guides are added as the questions come in. Reviewed against the July 2026 rules.
Start with the question you actually have
Each guide answers one real question, ends with what to do next, and links the others when they matter. Read one, or read them all in an afternoon.
How much can you borrow to buy a business?
Up to $10M combined since July 4, 2026, but the ceiling is not your number. What actually sets it.
Read the guide →How much cash do you need?
The down payment, the working capital, and the cushion, in real dollars.
Read the guide →Can you buy a business with no money down?
Honestly: almost never. What genuinely shrinks the check, and what the pitches leave out.
Read the guide →What credit score do you need?
No magic number. How banks actually read your file, and what matters more.
Read the guide →How long does an SBA loan take?
Plan on 60 to 90 days, offer to funded. Where the weeks go and what adds a month.
Read the guide →What is a seller note?
The seller helps finance their own sale. Why banks like it, and the wording that decides everything.
Read the guide →Stacking 7(a) + 504 on one deal
Two loans, up to $10M combined, and the closing-order trap that quietly rebuilds the old ceiling.
Read the guide →Make your business loanable before you sell
Your buyer needs a bank to say yes. The 90-day preparation that makes it easy.
Read the guide →The manufacturer exception
How NAICS 31-33 manufacturers can go further on the equipment side, project by project.
Read the guide →What is DSCR?
The number every lender checks first: the 1.25x benchmark, the SBA minimum, and the four levers that lift a thin deal.
Read the guide →How to read a CIM in one hour
The seller's packet, decoded: five pulls in order, and the silences that say more than the charts.
Read the guide →The due diligence checklist
Offer accepted. Now prove it: the documents to demand, the five checks that catch bad deals, and who does what before closing.
Read the guide →Seller financing vs an SBA loan
When one wins outright, and how a standby seller note strengthens an SBA file instead of competing with it.
Read the guide →What is SDE?
The number that prices the business: what gets added back, the honest addback test, and how SDE becomes a price and a loan.
Read the guide →Asset sale vs stock sale
What each structure transfers, why most SBA deals are asset sales, and when a stock sale is the only way through.
Read the guide →The SBA personal guarantee
What you sign, who signs, and the structuring moves that shrink the risk before you ever make an offer.
Read the guide →The most active SBA acquisition lenders
Ranked from the SBA's own loan data: who actually approves change of ownership deals, state by state. Data, not a referral.
See the ranking →Prefer tools to reading?
The free first-look toolbox: slide your savings, find your fit, pick your date, translate a listing. Seven tools, no email gates.
Open the toolbox →When reading turns into a real deal, talk to us.
Thirty minutes, free. Bring the deal or the plan, and we will tell you which parts of the guides apply to you and which do not.
Talk through your dealPrefer the self-serve rung first? the Guide Book walks the whole path for regular people.
No retainer required to talk. hello@clariqadvisory.com