Dennis,
Congratulations on finding a business that you'd like to purchase.
A few questions...
Of the $550,000, how much of the price is allocated to the business, and how much of the price is allocated to the real estate?
Regrettably, your appraisal from a couple of years ago has little to do with the value of the property today. (And even then, appraisals are sometimes not worth the paper they're printed on.)
The fact that part of the property is rented for $2,800 could be a real boost to getting financing. Still, no traditional lender is going to do 100% financing these days.
If you can really show that the value is there (say the place appraises legitimately for $800,000 or more), you might be able to find a "hard money" lender who will loan 100% of the price. However, the loan will be very expensive (5 points is common, along with a 12-14% interest rate), and the term will be short (usually no more than six months).
However, sometime you can use a hard money lender to acquire a property, then refinance the property on a longer-term basis with a more traditional lender (at lower cost, too). Traditional lenders can do 80% "refinance" loans a lot easier than they can do 100% "purchase" loans, even if the dollars and the collateral are identical.
Would the seller perhaps take back 100% of the financing and then give you time to refinance it? That would cut out the most expensive part of using a hard money lender. Maybe the seller could even hold a small second mortgage to make it even easier to get a new first mortgage (lower LTV).
As always, do your homework before working with any loan broker. Get references, do a lot of research, and never give any money up front unless you are 1,000% certain you are dealing with a reputable company.
