Yes and no. Majority of searchers do use an SBA loan as part of their capital stack but not all. You shouldn't limit your buyer pool to non-searchers simply due to this fact. There are many capital options available to business buyers for the right deal.

It really depends on deal size. If you have a deal where the debt need is $5 million or less, often the SBA is the best option because you can get away with less money down, there are plenty of lenders that will consider it, and the underwriting requirements are less due to the fact the loan is 75% guaranteed by the government. However, there are other conventional and non-bank options available as well for smaller deals. The market just is not as uniform as the SBA market as you are dealing with individual banks lending policies and not the SBA policy. For larger deals above $5 million SBA often does not work with the loan need is substantially higher (unless there is a lot of seller debt or seller retained equity), so in those cases usually conventional debt is used.

If you have additional questions or need assistance with a specific deal, I am more than happy to look at it. We are a Commercial Loan Brokerage shop with direct relationships with over 500 funding partners. You can reach me here or directly at redacted