See our License FAQ page for more information of about quota licenses and other licenses available to sell alcoholic beverages in the State of Florida. In order to get a Florida quota liquor license, you either have to enter the double blind drawing conducted by the State of Florida’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco each year or purchase an existing license from someone who owns one. If you are opening a business that needs a quota license, the annual drawing is unreliable – I’m guessing you’ve never won the lotter either. When purchasing a license, you should get an independent appraisal of its value and work with someone who can explain all of the issues that may arise – transfer fees, annual renewals, liens, tax liabilities, and other encumbrances.
Maybe – it depends whether the foreclosure was done correctly or not. A good foreclosure results in a clean license, but a bad foreclosure can leave hidden encumbrances, meaning someone else may have a claim to that license, even if you paid a fair price for it. It is important to know what questions to ask in order to be sure you’re getting the benefit of your bargain. If the person selling it to you also did the foreclosure – what assurances are they giving that the foreclosure was done correctly?
You will need at least 10% of the value of the license to purchase it. However, to get the best terms, you will likely need to put down at least 30% of the value. While large loans with small down payments may seem like a good deal, the payments may be overwhelming for a new business and can quickly lead to foreclosures. Making sure you have the right capitalization is more important that putting as little down as possible.
Yes – LPC Fund makes collateral based loans, and the collateral is the license itself. That means we look at the value of the license (the collateral) to determine what we’ll lend and on what terms. Although a personal guarantee is required, we do not run credit checks.
While a loan can close in as little as seven days, it typically takes 2-3 weeks from when we agree on terms until we are able to fund. We’ve never delayed the closing of a purchase because we were waiting on the loan to close and fund.
Yes, you can. We can design the loan that way from the start, or we can refinance it at any time on commercially reasonable terms. In certain circumstances, you can also convert the initial interest due into additional principal, essentially delaying making any payments, while you focus on the initial opening process.
Loans are made for as little as three and for as many as twenty years, however, the typical loan has an initial term of five years. The principal may be amortized over much longer periods however.
Yes, you can refinance you loan if the license goes up in value, or even if the value stays the same, you can ‘cash out’ some of the equity you’ve built up over the years by making your payments in full and on time.
Yes, LPC Fund will finance the purchaser. Even if you have a loan, we’ll allow the new owner to take over the existing loan or refinance it on terms that work for everyone in the transaction.
Borrowers always pay the lender’s attorneys’ fees and recording costs and often are required to pay some origination fee. The costs are typically deducted from the loan principal at closing, with the borrower paying 2-4% of the loan in closing costs.
