It can be an overwhelming experience if you are looking for real estate grants for the first time. This is why there are organizations out there just for the purpose of assisting you in finding grants for real estate to repair, improve, and construct. Sometimes you will need to partner with a state organization or a local community in order to qualify for the real estate grant.
There are several State agencies that will provide assistance in the form of real estate grants for economic development purpose. Most of the real estate grant guidelines vary from state to state, but the majority of States offers real estate grants for businesses expanding or relocating (to the State) through their state-wide economic development organizations. These organizations work with each community to attract new businesses or assist existing businesses expand. Each organization is unique in its incentives and real estate grants, but the criterion is relatively similar. You must be doing one of the following: making a capital investment, adding jobs, training employees, introducing new technology, or reducing energy consumption before the State will assist you with a real estate grant or any other type of business related grant.
The primary website to visit for information on federal real estate grants is www.grants.gov. All federal organizations streamline their grant applications through this system. The online grants system can be hard to navigate for beginners, but becomes easier to use after a few times. It is imperative to register with the system several weeks in advance of the federal real estate grant’s deadline! Some of the information you must enter into grants.gov is identification information from other agencies. Your business must be pre-registered with Dunn and Brad Street and with CCR (Central Contractor Registration). After you have received your identification number from Dunn and Brad Street and completed the CCR, you can complete the www.grants.gov registration and be on your way to applying for federal real estate grants. Be careful to allow for enough time to complete everything required and have the system verify the information.
A few non-profit organizations will offer small real estate grants for repairs or home improvements if you live in a targeted area or have a low income. The real estate grants are harder to qualify for since they are usually tied to a geographical area and rarely do the boundaries of the area change once set. You may want to ask these organizations to recommend other non-profit organizations to you for further exploration of real estate grant opportunities.