Question 1

Is El Paso actually a good market for SBA borrowers, or is that just the Fort Bliss pitch?

Accepted Answer

The trade numbers back it up as much as the base does. Fort Bliss carries 185,499 military retirees, the largest retiree population of any Texas installation in the Comptroller's 2025 dataset, a base of veteran-owned and post-service businesses that fits SBA's owner-occupant profile. Layer on the cross-border economy: the Ysleta port of entry alone handled $86.8 billion in trade and supports 174,030 direct and indirect jobs in 2024, and the county's transportation and warehousing sector employs 19,682 people. Customs brokers, freight forwarders and warehouse operators around that corridor are classic 7(a) and 504 borrowers buying the building they operate out of. Confidence on the Fort Bliss and trade figures is high (Texas Comptroller and Dallas Fed); the link from those figures to SBA loan volume is our own read on the market, not a published local SBA statistic. See the SBA program page for how we structure a file.

Question 2

How much of my El Paso building do I have to occupy myself?

Accepted Answer

51% of an existing building, 60% of new construction, and the new-construction rule is stricter than most people are told. Under 13 CFR 120.131, an existing building needs your operating business in at least 51% of the rentable space; the rest can be permanently leased out. New construction is different: you must occupy at least 60%, and only 20% of the space may be permanently leased to third parties, with the remaining 20% covered by an absorption plan (occupied within three years, fully occupied within ten). "Occupy 60% and rent the other 40%" is the common wrong version of this rule, and it is the kind of error that surfaces after money has already been spent on an appraisal. Talk to your attorney or CPA about how your entity structure and lease plan line up against it.

Question 3

What do El Paso permit costs add to a ground-up SBA project?

Accepted Answer

Less than the occupancy rule costs you if you get that wrong, and the commercial lines are published. The City of El Paso's per-square-foot permit scale applies to single-family, duplex, triplex and quadraplex construction, not to a commercial building, so on a commercial project the posted lines are the ones to budget: commercial plan review at 30% of the building permit fee, an expedited submittal fee of $400 on new or shell commercial, expedited plan review at $256 plus $94 an hour under $300,000 in valuation or $645 plus $156 an hour at $300,000 and above, $212 for a re-submission, and inspections at $110 in business hours or $127 after hours. Working without a permit triples the fee. Those are one-time costs. SBA's new-construction occupancy rule (13 CFR 120.131) applies the same everywhere: 60% owner-occupancy at minimum, only 20% permanently leasable, and an absorption plan for the balance. Size the building to what your business will actually occupy, and budget the expedited review if your construction timeline is tight.

Question 4

What does a 504 down payment actually cost me once I add El Paso's property tax stack?

Accepted Answer

Run the down payment and the annual tax line together, because El Paso's tax rate is high even though its property values are low. Under 13 CFR 120.910, the borrower puts in 10% of project cost on an ordinary deal, 15% if the business has operated under two years or the building is single purpose, and 20% if both are true. A new venture buying a purpose-built shop or clinic hits the 20% case. Once you own the building, the carry is the bigger number: a City of El Paso, El Paso ISD parcel runs about 2.64 per $100 of assessed value with no homestead relief, and a far east side parcel inside a Paseo del Este municipal utility district can push past 3.3 per $100. Underwrite the tax stack on the specific address before you commit to a purchase price, not the citywide average.

Question 5

I heard SBA fees were waived. Is that still true for an El Paso deal I close this year?

Accepted Answer

No. Fees came back for fiscal 2026, and any page still saying otherwise is stale. For loans approved between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, the 7(a) upfront guaranty fee is back at 2% to 3.5% and up depending on size, after being zero under $1 million in fiscal 2025. The 504 upfront fee returned at 0.50%, with the annual service fee cut to 0.209%. Budget the upfront fee into your closing costs rather than finding it at the commitment letter. There is a real carve-out for small manufacturers (NAICS 31 to 33): no 7(a) upfront fee at or under $950,000, waived 504 fees, and a higher $5.5 million 504 cap under 13 CFR 120.931 instead of the standard $5 million cap. Given the maquiladora and electronics manufacturing activity across the river in Ciudad Juarez, a fair share of El Paso businesses touch manufacturing. If yours does, say so on the first call.

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