Feasibility Study Consultant in Des Moines, IA: SBA and USDA

A feasibility study in Des Moines is read by a lender or a Certified Development Company before anyone else. In fiscal year 2025 this metro recorded 161 SBA 7(a) approvals for $61,659,800. One rule a lender meets here: Iowa lodging carries a state excise tax plus a local hotel and motel tax.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro is home to about 753,913 residents per the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates, led by Polk County at 516,185; Dallas County at 115,343; Warren County at 56,343; Jasper County at 38,107.

A national template prices this metro on its 753,913 residents and stops there. The rules below come from the Iowa Department of Revenue, and each one changes a line of the model before a lender reads it.

Iowa lodging carries a state excise tax plus a local hotel and motel tax. The Iowa Department of Revenue states that certain cities and counties in Iowa have adopted a local option hotel and motel tax on the renting of sleeping rooms, in addition to the 5% state excise tax on lodging. It states that the rate of the local tax can range from 1 to 7%, that the jurisdictions and rates are updated January 1 and July 1 of each year, and that both taxes are reported on the monthly sales and use tax return. It also states that the rental of conference rooms and banquet rooms is exempt from state tax, local option tax and local hotel and motel tax. For a hotel feasibility study in the Des Moines metro, the lodging tax line is a state layer plus a local layer that depends on the city or county where the site sits. Confirm the current local rate for the site before it enters the guest-rate and revenue model, and keep meeting-room revenue in a separate exempt line.

Iowa sales tax adds a local option layer that varies by jurisdiction. The Iowa Department of Revenue states that the state sales tax and use tax rates are the same, at 6%. In addition to the state sales tax, it states that a local option sales tax rate of 1% applies where a local jurisdiction has imposed it. Within a county, some cities may have the local option tax and some may not, and the unincorporated rural area of a county may or may not have the tax. A jurisdiction may enact the tax on January 1 or July 1. The department also states that there is no local option use tax. For a feasibility study in the Des Moines metro, the sales tax input for a restaurant or a gas station is not one number for every site. Add the local option rate to the state rate after confirming whether the site's city, or its unincorporated county area, has the tax in force on the model date.

Nationally, the U.S. Small Business Administration closed fiscal year 2025 having guaranteed 84,400 7(a) and 504 loans for $44.8 billion. This page computes the Des Moines share from the SBA's own 7(a) and 504 FOIA release, as of June 30, 2026, by member county rather than by district office: in fiscal year 2025 the metro's six counties recorded 161 SBA 7(a) approvals for $61,659,800 and 20 SBA 504 approvals for $20,688,000.

In fiscal year 2025 the 7(a) approvals here came from U.S. Bank, National Association (37 loans, $3,883,200), Northeast Bank (14 loans, $1,924,700), and The Huntington National Bank (8 loans, $1,379,000), listed by approval count with the names as the SBA released them. The 504 approvals that year went through Iowa Business Growth Company (12 loans), Pivotal Business Partners (6 loans), Small Business Growth Corporation (1 loan), and Dakota Business Finance (1 loan). The SBA's district office field reads Des Moines District Office on 161 of the 161 fiscal year 2025 7(a) rows, 100.0%.

Across fiscal years 2010 to 2026 disbursed, the ten asset classes tracked here account for 260 7(a) loans for $133,587,500 and 65 504 loans for $47,671,000 in this metro. In fiscal year 2025 alone those classes took 29 7(a) and 504 approvals for $20,560,200. The table sets out each class; a cell under five loans is not shown, and a charge-off rate is printed where 30 or more loans have resolved and left blank below that.

USDA Business and Industry and USDA Community Facilities credit runs on a statutory geography rather than on a county line. Under 7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A) the terms rural and rural area mean any area other than a city or town that has a population of greater than 50,000 inhabitants and any urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to such a city or town. The test turns on the subject address and the urbanized-area boundary around it, not on the name of a county or a metro. For a project in Des Moines the address decides it. The metro spans six counties, from Polk County at 516,185 residents to Guthrie County at 10,774, and an urbanized-area boundary follows the census map rather than any county line. MMCG checks the subject address against the USDA Rural Development eligibility map at intake, before work on the study begins, and this page names no town as eligible.

A restaurant feasibility study in Des Moines starts from the metro's own SBA record. Across fiscal years 2010 to 2026 disbursed, full and limited service restaurants account for 133 7(a) loans for $54,694,900 and 12 504 loans for $8,262,000 here, $62,956,900 in all. Child day care services come to $32,932,000 over the same years. On the full and limited service restaurants 7(a) loans that have resolved, the charge-off rate is 17.3%.

These are the points an underwriter in Des Moines reads before the rest of the file. Each traces to a government publisher or to the SBA's own file.

MMCG starts from the project address, the asset class and the lender or Certified Development Company contact. The address settles the county and the rules set out above; the asset class sets which part of the SBA record applies.

The report names its sources the way this page does: the Iowa Department of Revenue, the SBA FOIA release, and the Census Bureau's population estimates. The method is set out in full in MMCG's feasibility study methodology.

MMCG Invest, LLC is a feasibility study consultancy that specializes in SBA and USDA feasibility studies for lenders, Certified Development Companies, USDA Rural Development guaranteed lenders and the borrowers they serve, with Des Moines among the markets it covers. The practice is led by Michal Mohelsky, J.D., FMVA, Practicing Affiliate of the Appraisal Institute. Reports are prepared under SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 for 7(a) and 504 files and under 7 CFR Part 5001 for USDA files, and each one states which schedule, rate and boundary it relied on so a credit officer can check the work. Pricing starts at $4,900, standard delivery runs 9 to 16 business days, a rush track delivers in 5 business days, and every inquiry receives a response within 12 business hours.