Question 1

Does San Antonio's SBA office handle Killeen loans, since it's the closest big city?

Accepted Answer

No. Bell and Coryell counties sit in the SBA Dallas/Fort Worth District, not San Antonio. The Dallas/Fort Worth District Office, based in Euless, covers 72 counties across North and Central Texas, and Killeen and Temple fall inside that footprint despite being geographically closer to San Antonio's district lines. It is a detail an out-of-town broker often gets wrong, and it matters because district relationships and local SBA staff differ. We are not tied to a single district office; we place files through more than 20 partner SBA lenders nationally, so which district technically covers Bell County does not limit where your loan can go. See the SBA program page for how we structure a file.

Question 2

Is Killeen actually a good market for SBA borrowers, or is that just marketing because of the base?

Accepted Answer

The numbers back it up. Fort Hood is a $37.9 billion economic engine for this metro, supporting 53,767 direct jobs and 159,692 jobs total, with 34,474 active-duty soldiers and 126,225 military retirees who continue to use the installation after they separate. A meaningful share of the metro's small business base is veteran-owned, built by people who left the service and stayed local. That is precisely the SBA's core borrower: a first-time owner-occupant buying a building for a business that has real, government-anchored demand behind it. Confidence on the Fort Hood figures is high (Texas Comptroller); the link from that base to SBA loan volume is our own read on the market, not a published local SBA statistic.

Question 3

How much of my Killeen 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 4

Killeen's building permits are cheap. Does that make ground-up SBA construction easy here?

Accepted Answer

The permit cost is genuinely low, but the occupancy rule is the same everywhere and it's the harder gate. Killeen's own fee schedule prices new commercial construction at $0.20 per square foot plus $0.04 for plan review, so a 2,000 square foot building permits for roughly $490, one of the cheapest published schedules in Texas. That is real money saved versus larger Texas metros. It does not change SBA's new-construction occupancy rule: 60% owner-occupancy at minimum, only 20% of the space permanently leasable, and an absorption plan for the balance under 13 CFR 120.131. Size the building to what your business will actually occupy, not to what the low permit fee makes tempting to build.

Question 5

Is a 504 loan really just 10% down for a Killeen building, and what does that cost on top of Bell County taxes?

Accepted Answer

Ten percent is the floor, not the rule, and it's worth stacking against what you'll actually carry. Under 13 CFR 120.910, the borrower puts in 10% on an ordinary project, 15% if the business has been operating 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 adds up: a Killeen property runs roughly 2.0% of assessed value in property tax with no homestead relief (county, road district, city, Killeen ISD, and Central Texas College combined per the Bell CAD 2025 table), and that stack is rising, not falling, after Killeen's city council adopted an 8.2% rate increase for fiscal 2026. Underwrite the down payment and the annual tax line together before you commit to a purchase.

Question 6

I heard SBA fees were waived. Is that still true for a loan 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. If your business runs manufacturing operations, say so on the first call.

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