As of March 1, 2026, the SBA eliminated the automated credit score used to screen 7(a) loans under $350K. The score that used to approve you or kill you before a human ever saw your file no longer exists. Lenders now do full commercial credit analysis. Every bank decides on its own. The same application that gets approved at one lender gets denied at another. Get your financing clarity before you get under LOI. Not after. What deal size are you targeting right now? Drop it below and I'll tell you exactly how this affects your approval path.

I have a question Seller financing 5% sba 90% 5% business line of credit has anyone done this to buy an existing business and was successful doing it please let me know either way thanks

The SBA minimum credit score is now 165. Not 155. 165. If you're below it, your application never reaches a human. The small loan cap also dropped from $500K to $350K. That deal you've been structuring around $400K just got a lot harder to fund. Most buyers find out when their application dies. Financing isn't step two. It's step zero. What deal size are you targeting right now? Drop it below. I'll tell you exactly what structure works at that number.

Not because they can't find the money. Not because they lack the skills. Because they're waiting for a deal to find them. Setting up a BizBuySell alert isn't deal sourcing. It's browsing. Here's the reality: Brokers don't send their best deals to strangers. They send them to buyers who have called, shown proof of funds, and closed before. If you haven't personally introduced yourself to 10 brokers in your target market, you're not in the deal flow. The best businesses are never listed. The owner of a $2M HVAC company isn't on Flippa. He's 61, tired, and hasn't told anyone he wants out. Direct outreach is how you reach him before anyone else does. Your criteria is too wide. "Service businesses under $5M" is not a search filter. Pick one industry, one geography, one revenue range. Become the most knowledgeable buyer in that lane. Brokers remember specialists. You don't have a deal sourcing problem. You have an activity problem. Serious acquirers run 50-100 outreach touches a week. If you're doing 5, that's your answer. The deal isn't coming to you. Where are you at right now? Actively sourcing or still locking in your criteria? Drop it below and I'll respond to everyone this week.

You didn't buy a business. You bought a job. Most people who buy a small business end up working 60 hours a week inside it. Same trap they were trying to escape. Different address. Here's the difference between an operator and an owner. An operator shows up every day. They know every customer. They're the best technician in the building. The business runs because they run it. The day they stop, revenue stops. An owner builds systems, not dependency. They hire for the roles they're currently filling. They document processes before they need to. They're thinking about the next deal before the current one is fully stabilized. Most buyers enter as operators. That's fine. The mistake is staying there. Here's the transition that changes everything. In the first 90 days you learn the business. You show up, you ask questions, you understand every dollar in and out. You don't change anything yet. Days 90 to 180 you start replacing yourself. You identify the three things only you are doing and you find or train someone for each one. By month 12 the business should be able to run for two weeks without a call to you. If it can't, you own a job. The goal was never to buy yourself a busier life. It was to buy an asset that works while you find the next one. Drop a comment below with where you're at: 👉 Still looking for your first deal 👉 Just closed and in operator mode 👉 Working on the transition to owner I'll personally respond to every comment this week and help you map out your next move.