Business loan advice, and general help.

Kefte

Long-winded I apologise.

Okay. I own a semi-commercial property with no-finance on it, but it needs work. The property as it stands is worth in the region of £120,000 but it needs considerable work. I will need about £40,000-£50,000, now I understand to go the bank the phrase "I need about" is never the best one to enter with.

I have no finance at the moment [other than two contract mobiles], but I have never needed to take any out - I inherited quite a bit alongside my brother and my partner bought him out of his share. So now we have 3 houses that I own 50% of and this semi-commercial property.

But before the inheritance, which was due to my Mum dying, well I ended up in a bad-way and had several CCJs [actually this was to do with my Mother's previous suppliers chasing me as an executer] and one mobile phone default. To be fair I'd never paid a bill in my life then I had to pay for everything with no guidance. I buried my head in the sand, but only in the past 12 months have I gone about sorting the past. So my credit history is poor.

I have spoken to a business manager who says he regards it all as speculative, so chances are I'll be declined. I know I need this deal to seem as tempting as possible. An architect is coming to make plans of the shop and I'm going to get a few contractors to set about with fixed-price quotes. I also intend to contact business link and have been viewing the princes trust website so that I can format the most tempting package for me and my plans.

I just want some advice from you guys - What else can I do? Who would be the ideal place to approach for finance - broker/bank? Any recommendations? I need all the help I can get.

Adding on: If anyone is interested it is for a convenience store in a seaside tourist village that is only occupied by an expensive and often very busy Co-Operative.

paulwf

Hi kefte, I think the place to start would be to get a property agent on board and work out the viability of your plans. How much demand would there be for the unit and how much rent would it generate?

There is a lot to consider, such as can it only be used as a convenience store? If so there are probably only half a dozen chains that would be interested so you may need to gauge their interest before going any further unless you can get an independent on board. You may need to ask the council for advice, such as if they are against issuing more alcohol licenses a convenience store just won't work.

Remember it probably isn't worth doing too much external work until you have a client on board as their surveyor will want things done to a certain standard so for anything non essential consider leaving it then working with your client.

Have you considered selling the property? Depending on what rent you get a commercial property may take 20 years to show a return on investment so it may be worth selling and putting your money into housing and specialising in one investment.