Frequently Asked Questions

A seller-financed business note is a promissory note created when a business owner sells their company and agrees to receive part of the purchase price in installments over time rather than all cash at closing. Instead of a bank financing the buyer, the seller acts as the lender. The note is a legal debt instrument — typically secured by the business assets — and the buyer makes regular payments to the seller until the balance is paid off. Seller Edge Capital purchases these notes from sellers who want immediate liquidity rather than waiting years to collect payments.

A private credit fund like Seller Edge Capital purchases performing seller-financed promissory notes at a discount to face value. The fund conducts institutional-grade due diligence — analyzing business cash flow (DSCR), collateral quality, payment history, and borrower creditworthiness — then acquires the note in exchange for a lump sum to the seller. The fund earns its return from the ongoing stream of payments at a yield higher than the purchase price implies. Notes are typically senior, first-lien instruments backed by business assets.

Institutional business note buyers like Seller Edge Capital typically target net IRRs in the 12–18% range depending on note quality, collateral type, payment history, and remaining term. The purchase price is set at a discount to the remaining face value — the gap between face and purchase price, combined with the interest rate embedded in the note, determines the buyer's yield. Seller Edge Capital targets 12–15% net yields for its fund investors, who hold senior, first-lien positions in performing business notes.

Travis Goad is the Founder and CEO of Seller Edge Capital, a Miami Beach-based private credit fund that acquires seller-financed business promissory notes nationwide. With over two decades in institutional credit, he has executed more than $4 billion in transactions spanning loan origination, distressed debt workouts, structured credit, and private fund formation. Before Seller Edge Capital, Travis joined Pelorus Capital Group as Managing Partner and co-owner — one of three owners — growing AUM from $15M to $430M in four years, building a 5-person team, and delivering 13%+ net IRR to investors. He applies the same institutional underwriting discipline he developed at LNR Partners, MKP Capital, and Harbor Group International to the $40B+ seller-financed business note market.

Institutional underwriting disciplines developed in CMBS and commercial real estate lending translate directly to business note investing. Seller Edge Capital applies the same core framework: debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) analysis to verify the business generates sufficient cash flow to service debt, seller discretionary earnings (SDE) normalization to assess true business profitability, collateral analysis to assess recovery in a default scenario, and payment history review to assess borrower behavior. The difference is scale — a CMBS pool might involve $500M in mortgages while a business note might be $200K — but the credit discipline is identical.