SBA Acquisition Calculator
Price your cash supports
$1,500,000
Assumes a 10% equity injection.
Price the earnings support
$2,339,013
4.7x the earnings at that price, above the top of the cited band in 84 of the 87 trades this site prices. What your cash reaches is not what a business is worth.
SBA loan amount
$1,350,000
10-year term at 9%
Monthly payment
$17,101
$205,215 per year in debt service
SBA guaranty fee
$35,469
Charged once, on the guaranteed portion rather than the whole loan. Most borrowers finance it into the loan instead of paying it at close.
SDE the business needs
$356,518
Covers your $100,000 salary plus debt service at 1.25× coverage, the SBA's floor for buying a business.
Your down payment is what limits this deal. The earnings carry debt on $2,339,013, and your cash reaches $1,500,000. A seller note on full standby, or a partner on the equity, is what moves that ceiling. A cheaper business does not. See who writes that equity.
Assumptions
- Rates default to today's typical pricing, about Prime + 2% (9% with prime at 7%); well-qualified borrowers see roughly 8.75–9.5%.
- 10-year term (standard for business-only acquisitions), 10% equity injection, single 7(a) loan up to $5,000,000.
- Seller notes counted toward the injection are modeled on full standby, subordinated, and at most half of it, per SOP 50 10 8.1.
- The SDE figure covers your salary plus debt service at 1.25×, the SBA's own floor for buying a business, measured on the last fiscal year or a two-year average, not on projections. Working capital, closing costs, and taxes are on top.
- The same coverage screen runs both ways. From your cash it gives the earnings a deal needs; from a listing's earnings it gives the most that structure will carry. The loan, payment, and fee below describe whichever of the two ceilings is lower, because that is the deal you can actually do.
Educational, not financing advice; every lender structures deals differently, so confirm numbers on your actual deal. See the SBA loan statistics page for sources.
One Loan, Year by Year
Monthly Payment
$12,668
Total Interest
$520,109
Over 10 years
All Payments
$1,520,109
| 1 | $87,377 | $64,634 | $935,366 | $64,634 |
| 2 | $81,314 | $70,697 | $864,669 | $135,331 |
| 3 | $74,682 | $77,329 | $787,340 | $212,660 |
| 4 | $67,428 | $84,583 | $702,757 | $297,243 |
| 5 | $59,494 | $92,517 | $610,240 | $389,760 |
| 6 | $50,815 | $101,196 | $509,044 | $490,956 |
| 7 | $41,322 | $110,689 | $398,355 | $601,645 |
| 8 | $30,939 | $121,072 | $277,282 | $722,718 |
| 9 | $19,581 | $132,430 | $144,853 | $855,147 |
| 10 | $7,158 | $144,853 | $0 | $1,000,000 |
Variable-rate 7(a) loans reprice with prime; this schedule holds the rate constant, so treat later years as illustrative.
Two or Three Quotes, Compared
Quote A
- Monthly payment
- $18,216
- Total interest
- $835,947
- All-in cost
- $880,947
- Effective rate with fees
- 11.32%
- SBA ceiling if the rate floats
- 10.00%, this quote is above it
- SBA guaranty fee in that
- $35,469
- Cost per dollar borrowed
- $0.653
- Coverage after salary
- 1.83
Quote B
- Monthly payment
- $17,840
- Total interest
- $790,842
- All-in cost
- $850,842
- Effective rate with fees
- 11.10%
- SBA ceiling if the rate floats
- 10.00%
- SBA guaranty fee in that
- $35,469
- Cost per dollar borrowed
- $0.630
- Coverage after salary
- 1.87
Quote A sits above the SBA maximum interest rate for a variable rate on a loan that size, which is prime plus a spread set by loan size. If the rate floats, the program does not allow it; a fixed rate has its own ceiling, which SBA publishes on its wiki.
Cheapest Money
Quote B
Lowest cost per dollar borrowed, interest plus fees over the life of the loan; check the coverage line before choosing on cost alone
The Seller Note
Most 7(a) acquisitions carry a seller note beside the bank loan. Price it here: payment, schedule, and total interest, including an interest-only period. A note counted toward the equity injection must sit on full standby for the life of the loan, and the whole stack assembles in the Sources & Uses Builder.
Amortized Payment
$3,960/mo
Level payment for the full term
Total Interest
$37,614
$237,614 paid over the term
Retirement Money Through ROBS
A ROBS rollover puts 401(k) money into the deal as equity. Here it sits beside borrowing for the same deal: what it replaces, what it saves, and what it costs.
Borrow, Cash Down
- SBA loan
- $3,600,000
- Monthly payment
- $45,603
- Interest over the term
- $1,872,393
- Guaranty fee
- $98,750
- ROBS fees, cheapest list
- $0
- Your own cash in
- $400,000
- Retirement savings at stake
- $0
ROBS First, Then Borrow
- SBA loan
- $3,400,000
- Monthly payment
- $43,070
- Interest over the term
- $1,768,372
- Guaranty fee
- $93,125
- ROBS fees, cheapest list
- $15,500
- Your own cash in
- $0
- Retirement savings at stake
- $600,000
The first $400,000 of the rollover stands in for cash in the $400,000 injection, which was equity either way, so it leaves the loan and the payment where they were.
The other $200,000 comes off the loan: the payment falls by $2,533 a month, and interest and guaranty fee over the term by $109,646.
That saving is $94,146 more than the $15,500 the cheapest published ROBS price list charges for those years (the dearest charges $25,000), before counting what the money would have earned left in the retirement account.
And $600,000 of retirement savings now rides on one business, beside a personal guarantee on the loan.
Loans at 9% over 10 years with the $400,000 injection the program requires on this price. Estimates for discussion; the provider's quote and the lender's term sheet are the numbers.
When the Building Is in the Price
A seller who owns the building pays no rent, so the listing's earnings carry none. Read the business without it, then finance the property with a 504 beside a 7(a), or fold it into one 7(a).
The Business Without the Building
- Listing multiple
- 4.4x
- SDE after market rent
- $804,000
- Business-only multiple
- 3.5x
One 7(a) for Everything
- One 7(a) for the business and the building, 9% over 15 years
- $3,600,000
- Monthly payment
- $36,514
- Your cash in
- $400,000
A 7(a) and a 504
- 7(a) for the business, 9% over 10 years
- $2,520,000
- Bank first lien on the building, 9% over 25 years
- $600,000
- 504 debenture on the building, 6.54% over 25 years
- $480,000
- Monthly payment
- $40,210
- Your cash in
- $400,000
The listing reads 4.4x earnings. Take the building out at $1,200,000 and charge the business market rent, and it is 3.5x: that is the number to hold against the trade's band.
One 7(a) for everything pays $3,696 a month less than the 7(a) and 504 pair on these rates, because SBA lets its term blend to 15 years. Both bring $400,000 of cash.
The debenture's rate is fixed for its 25 years, 6.54% at the September 2026 pricing, where a 7(a) floats with prime.
The 7(a) loans run at the typical rate; the debenture at the effective rate in SomerCor's posting of the September 2026 debenture pricing, based on the FY2026 fees, before the FY2027 schedule took effect. A 504 finances only the property, never the goodwill, and the seller may not stay on as an owner or employee. Estimates for discussion; the lenders' and the CDC's term sheets are the numbers.
Closing Day Funds
The last number: the cash you actually wire on closing day, once the equity injection, the computed SBA guaranty fee, closing costs, and working capital are added up.
Cash to Close
$1,047,500
What you wire on closing day
Equity Into Price
$600,000
Price not covered by loan and note
SBA Guaranty Fee
$87,500
Computed from the loan, not estimated
Where to Go From a Number
Stage 3 of the roadmap covers funding the search, stage 5 covers the lending gauntlet, and the Lenders shelf carries every acquisition lender and loan broker reviewed so far, each read against its own pages. The program behind the numbers, what the agency guarantees and what a bank asks a buyer for, is written out at How to Get an SBA Loan to Buy a Business.