Question 1

Which SBA district office handles a Waco deal, and is there an SBA office in town?

Accepted Answer

The Dallas / Fort Worth District Office, and no, there is no SBA branch in Waco. This is not read off a map. In the SBA's own loan-level FOIA data, all 235 McLennan County 7(a) approvals since fiscal 2020 and all 21 McLennan County 504 approvals since fiscal 2010 carry the Dallas / Fort Worth district office, with no other value in the file, and the San Antonio district's published 55-county list does not include McLennan. The SBA's district page gives the office as 150 Westpark Way, Suite 130, Euless, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In practice you deal with your lender, not the district office, but it decides whose queue your file sits in.

Question 2

I want to buy the retail space my shop near the Silos already operates out of. How much of the building do I have to occupy?

Accepted Answer

At least 51 percent, if it's an existing building. SBA rules require the business to occupy a majority of an existing building it finances. Ground-up construction is a stricter test: at least 60 percent of the new space must be occupied by your business, with no more than 20 percent permanently leased to other tenants and the remainder covered by an absorption plan. The shorthand you may have heard, that you can build new and lease out the rest up to 40 percent, skips the 20 percent leasable cap.

Question 3

I run a short-term rental or bed and breakfast near downtown and want to buy the property with an SBA loan. Does Waco's STR licensing process slow that down?

Accepted Answer

It can, if the property needs a special permit. Where Waco's zoning requires a special permit for a bed and breakfast or an STR Type I, the city's own process takes approximately 60 to 90 days for Plan Commission and City Council approval, and no license issues until it's granted. That timeline runs alongside, not inside, your SBA underwriting, so budget for both before you commit to a closing date. If you need to close on the real estate before the license clears, a bridge loan can get you to the closing table now, with a refinance into SBA once the license is in hand.

Question 4

I'm buying out my business partner in a shop that's been open less than two years. How much cash do I need to bring to closing on an SBA 504 loan?

Accepted Answer

Plan on 15 percent down, not the 10 percent that gets quoted as the standard. The ordinary borrower contribution on a 504 loan is 10 percent, but it steps up to 15 percent if the business has been operating less than two years or the property is single-purpose, and to 20 percent if both apply. A recent buyout in a young Waco business, whether it's a shop near campus or a shop serving the I-35 corridor, often lands in that 15 percent tier.

Question 5

Are SBA loan fees still waived the way they were in 2025?

Accepted Answer

No, and any guide that still says so is out of date. Fees were reinstated for fiscal year 2026, covering loans approved October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026: the 7(a) upfront guarantee fee runs 2 to 3.5 percent or more depending on loan size, and the 504 program carries a 0.50 percent upfront fee plus a 0.209 percent annual fee. Small manufacturers get a partial break, which could matter to a food processor or supplier on the I-35 corridor, but a general Waco retail, trades, or hospitality buyer should budget these fees as closing costs.

Question 6

Is there a cap on how large an SBA 504 loan can get for a manufacturing or distribution building along the I-35 corridor near Waco?

Accepted Answer

Yes: $5 million standard, with a $5.5 million ceiling reserved for small manufacturers and qualifying energy projects. That distinction matters here, since McLennan County's economy includes real food-processing and manufacturing payroll along the I-35 corridor. A qualifying small manufacturer underwrites to the higher cap; a general owner-occupied purchase, whether it's trades, retail, or hospitality, underwrites to the $5 million ceiling. That's a federal regulation, not a lender preference.

Question 7

How much SBA 7(a) lending actually gets done in McLennan County in a year?

Accepted Answer

Around 30 to 40 loans a year, and the dollar total swings on a handful of large deals. The SBA's own loan file shows 235 7(a) approvals in McLennan County totalling $183,297,300 from fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2026 to date. Fiscal 2025, the last complete year, was 39 loans for $37,503,300: an average of $961,623 against a median of $600,000, which tells you a few big files carry the dollars while most approvals are far smaller. Fiscal 2026 stands at 21 loans for $39,003,700, but that is three quarters only, through June 30, 2026. Waco borrowers account for 132 of the 235, with Woodway, Lorena, Hewitt and Robinson making up most of the rest.

Question 8

Should I take my Waco deal to a local bank or to a national SBA lender?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your loan size, and the county's own numbers show why. The most active 7(a) lender in McLennan County is local: The First National Bank of McGregor, doing business as TFNB Your Bank for Life, made 58 of the 235 loans since fiscal 2020, about 25 percent of the count, but only $13,004,200 of the $183,297,300, about 7 percent of the dollars. That is an average loan of roughly $224,000. By dollars the leader is a national SBA specialist, Live Oak Banking Company, at $18,258,000 across 7 loans, an average near $2.6 million. Small working-capital and small-property files get done locally here; larger owner-occupied purchases tend to leave the county for a lender that writes that size every week. We are not an SBA lender ourselves; we place the file with the partner lender that fits the deal.

Question 9

Is there a Waco CDC for a 504 loan, and how common is 504 here?

Accepted Answer

No CDC is headquartered in McLennan County, and 504 is genuinely rare here. The SBA's 504 file shows 21 loans totalling $34,191,000 in McLennan County across fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2026 to date, roughly 1.2 loans a year, with three of those years, fiscal 2011, fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2024, recording none at all. Recent activity: 2 loans for $7,606,000 in fiscal 2023, none in fiscal 2024, 3 loans for $8,512,000 in fiscal 2025. Every one of those deals was delivered by an out-of-county Certified Development Company, most often Capital Certified Development Corporation in Austin, which did 8 of the 21, with others based in Tyler, Lubbock, San Antonio and Plano. If your project pencils for 504, expect to work with a CDC outside the county and to budget the extra coordination that adds to the calendar.

Question 10

Where can I get free help putting an SBA package together in Waco?

Accepted Answer

Two SBA-connected resource partners sit physically in Waco. The McLennan Small Business Development Center is hosted by McLennan Community College at 4601 N 19th Street, Building A, Room 36B, and states it is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration; it covers seven counties, Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Falls, Hill, Johnson and McLennan. PeopleFund, an Austin-based nonprofit lender, keeps a Waco office at 605 Austin Avenue, Suite 3, and shows up in the SBA's 504 file as the CDC on a fiscal 2025 Waco project. Neither is a substitute for a lender, but an SBDC advisor will work through your projections before a lender sees them, at no cost.

SBA Financing in Waco

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