Regardless, shop around for a bank that has a dedicated SBA loan person or department. Most banks say they offer SBA loans, but smaller minority actually do them with any regularity to the extent that they can alert you to what will be a red flag or have the knowledge to work through the red tape and road bumps.

Depending on the type of loan, the SBA will have a down payment requirement of somewhere between 20% and 10%. A seller note can count as part or all of this down payment, although the SBA will force you to be in standby status (can't collect principal and/or interest) for a period of years. SBA loan rates are currently over 11% right now, and the bank fees are often $30K to $60K, so they're not cheap. But if you have a bank who knows how to work through the system, and if the business will cash flow to make the payments, there typically are not issues getting them approved.