Restaurants & QSR franchisees
Development schedules and brand remodels, funded from the stores you already own.
What your stores trade for →For operators & multi-unit owners
A commercial sale-leaseback sells the building and leases it back to the operator.
You keep occupying and operating. The buyer owns the real estate and collects contractual rent. This is the commercial structure for operators — not a homeowner sale-leaseback.
Written by Dwaine Clarke , Founder & Principal Broker, American Net Lease, LLC Reviewed (239) 236-2626
Definition
What is a commercial sale-leaseback?
A commercial sale-leaseback is a two-step transaction: you sell the fee interest in an operating property to an investor and simultaneously lease the same property back, usually on a long-term net lease. You keep occupying and operating. The buyer owns the real estate and collects contractual rent. The how-it-works explainer is the dedicated walk; the glossary holds the words.
The Boulder Group’s Q2 2026 Net Lease Market Report adds the market-context line: traditional net lease sale volume “may be supplemented by corporate tenants looking to unlock capital via sale leaseback ahead of potentially higher borrowing costs.” That is a corporate-capital observation, not a pricing quote for your stores.
If you already know the structure and want a number on your own locations, request a Portfolio Capital Analysis. Multi-unit franchisees can start on the franchisee capital page.
Fit
Who is a commercial sale-leaseback for?
A commercial sale-leaseback is for the operator who owns the dirt under a cash-flowing business and needs growth capital, de-levering, or liquidity — without giving up the location.
The usual fit is a franchisee or independent operator with one or more freestanding retail or service boxes: QSR, car wash, auto service, convenience, medical, dental, veterinary, industrial, or childcare — or similar single-tenant uses. Corporates use the same structure when they want to recycle real estate equity into the operating company. Investors on the other side of the trade are buying a net lease, which is why the triple net lease primer sits next to this page.
A single well-located store can be enough if the lease and credit will clear a buyer’s box. A portfolio is usually a cleaner story: one credit, several roofs, and a chance to decide master versus individual leases before marketing. Thin credit, a short remaining term, or rent that the unit cannot earn are reasons to pause, not reasons to invent a higher price.
Lease engineering
How do you engineer the lease before you sell?
You engineer the lease first because the lease is what the buyer is purchasing. Term, rent, coverage, escalations, and master-versus-individual structure set both sale proceeds and your occupancy cost after closing. Marketing a building with a leftover operating lease is how operators leave money on the table — or sign a rent they later regret. The lease-terms brief is the shared walk those five levers sit on.
Term is the first lever. Longer primary terms generally support tighter cap rates and higher proceeds; they also lock you into occupancy cost for longer. Renewal options protect the operator more than they price for the buyer. There is no universal “right” term. The right term is the one that still leaves the unit able to pay rent after a normal sales dip.
Rent has to clear two tests: what an investor will pay for, and what the store can support. Coverage — unit-level earnings against occupancy cost — is the honest version of that second test. Escalations (annual or periodic) grow the landlord’s income and raise your future rent. A master lease can simplify a portfolio sale; individual leases can preserve flexibility if you later sell or close a single unit. Those trade-offs are the core of sale-leaseback advisory >, not a one-page formula.
Process
What does the sale-leaseback process look like?
The process starts with a confidential read of the real estate, the lease you would actually sign, and the capital you need — not with a listing. American Net Lease’s first deliverable is a Portfolio Capital Analysis, offered as a confidential package delivered within 48 hours of a complete submission.
After that, the sequence is familiar to anyone who has sold a net lease asset: agree the lease form, set rent and term scenarios, go to the buyer pools that close on this product, negotiate, and coordinate with your counsel and tax advisor through closing. If the sale is part of a larger tax plan, the 1031 clocks start when the real estate closes, not when you first talk to a broker.
What we can say is the order of work: analysis, lease, market, close — and that skipping the first two is how operators discover the price after they have already committed to a rent. A worked example of that sequence — illustrative, not a closed file — is on the case studies page. The dedicated sequence is Read, Model, Structure, Market, Close.
Both sides
When does a sale-leaseback beat a refinance — and when does it not?
A refinance keeps the deed and adds or replaces debt. A sale-leaseback sells the deed and replaces the mortgage payment with rent. Neither is automatically cheaper. The honest comparison is proceeds today, occupancy cost over the hold, and what you still own when the term ends.
Refinance is often the better tool when you already have cheap debt, strong coverage, and no need for proceeds above what a lender will advance. You keep residual value, depreciation, and the option to sell later into a tighter cap-rate market. The cost is leverage, covenants, personal or corporate guarantees, and renewal risk when the loan matures.
Sale-leaseback is often the better tool when you need equity, not just loan proceeds — growth capital, a recapitalization, or a clean separation of the operating company from the real estate. You trade residual ownership for a larger check and a long occupancy obligation. If borrowing costs are rising, some corporates prefer to sell rather than refinance into a higher coupon; that is the Boulder Q2 2026 observation, not a prediction for every franchisee.
The wrong reason to sell is a headline cap rate. The right reason is a modeled spread between what a buyer will pay for the lease you can actually support and what a lender will lend against the same cash flow. That comparison lives on sale-leaseback vs refinance. Operators funding the next box from owned stores start at expansion capital; operators staring at a maturity date start at debt maturity.
Verticals
How operators in each sector use this structure.
Restaurants Car washes Auto shops Convenience stores Dental practice Veterinary clinic Medical Childcare Industrial
Car wash
2021-vintage construction debt maturing into today's rates. The tunnel is worth more than the loan says.
What your wash trades for →Auto service & collision
Recapitalize before the rollups arrive; buy the shop down the street with your own equity.
What your shops trade for →Convenience & fuel
Absolute-NNN structures that keep environmental responsibility exactly where it is today.
What your sites trade for →Dental
The part of a practice sale a DSO often will not buy — the building, on a lease you write.
What your practice building trades for →Veterinary
Before the consolidator calls — or after, when you are a landlord to one corporate tenant.
What your clinic trades for →Medical
Urgent-care and specialty boxes priced as medical net lease, with a lease the operator authors.
What your medical building trades for →Childcare
Purpose-built centers where licensing and the lease — not a brochure cap rate — set the bid.
What your center trades for →Industrial
Owner-occupied warehouses and light manufacturing — sell the box, keep the operation.
What your building trades for →From our book, not a brochure
Cap-rate bands by sector and guarantee.
Refreshed weekly from closed and marketed single-tenant sales tracked in our internal system. Sample sizes shown; cells under five sales are withheld.
Read the methodology →QSR5.50% – 6.25%
Car wash—
Auto service6.00% – 6.25%
Convenience & fuel—
Dollar / discount—
Medical / dental—
| Sector | Franchisee / operator | Corporate | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| QSR | 5.50% – 6.25% | 4.70% – 5.84% | 65 |
| Car wash | — | — | — |
| Auto service | 6.00% – 6.25% | 5.35% – 6.25% | 5 |
| Convenience & fuel | — | 4.84% – 5.16% | 56 |
| Dollar / discount | — | 6.43% – 7.11% | 34 |
| Medical / dental | — | — | — |
Trailing 12 months · as of September 11, 2026 · source: American Net Lease internal transaction book. Cells with fewer than five sales are withheld.
Questions
What else do operators ask before they sell the dirt?
Is a commercial sale-leaseback the same as a home sale-leaseback?
No. A commercial sale-leaseback sells an operating property to an investor and leases it back under a net lease. Homeowner products (the pages that dominate “sale leaseback companies” search) are residential and out of scope for American Net Lease.
Who typically uses a commercial sale-leaseback?
Operators who own the real estate under a performing business: multi-unit franchisees, restaurant and QSR owners, car wash and auto-service operators, and corporates that want to unlock equity without leaving the location.
Does a sale-leaseback replace a refinance?
Not automatically. A refinance keeps ownership and adds debt. A sale-leaseback sells the fee and converts occupancy into rent. Which is better depends on basis, remaining term, coverage, and whether you need proceeds above what a lender will advance. That comparison is the point of a Portfolio Capital Analysis.
What lease terms matter most before you go to market?
Term remaining, rent relative to unit economics, rent coverage, escalations, and whether the locations sit on one master lease or individual leases. The lease is the product investors buy. Getting it wrong before marketing is expensive to unwind.
How do I start a confidential review?
Request a free Portfolio Capital Analysis. American Net Lease treats the package as confidential and offers delivery within 48 hours of a complete submission. Call (239) 236-2626 or use the analysis form.
How long does it take?
The first deliverable is a confidential Portfolio Capital Analysis, offered within 48 hours of a complete submission. Marketing and closing follow only after the lease is engineered. Diligence, title, and the buyer’s clock set the rest — there is no honest one-number close date that fits every operator.
Can I sell one location or the whole portfolio?
Either. A single well-located store can clear if the lease and credit will clear a buyer’s box. A portfolio is usually a cleaner story: one credit, several roofs, and a chance to decide master versus individual leases before marketing. The analysis says which roofs belong in a first tranche.
What happens to my franchise agreement?
The franchise agreement is a separate contract from the real estate. Notice, consent, assignment, and any remodel or transfer rules sit with the brand, not with the deed. Those terms belong in the package before marketing — American Net Lease will not invent a franchisor’s consent clock.
Continue
Guides next to this pillar
Program
Real estate capital advisory
The operator door: how American Net Lease reads a portfolio, structures the lease, and markets the property.
Open the operator hub →Compare
Sale-leaseback vs refinance
Proceeds, control, occupancy cost, and what you still own when the term ends — side by side.
Read the comparison →Next step
Portfolio Capital Analysis
A confidential read on your locations, offered within 48 hours of a complete submission.
Request the analysis →Explainer
Mistakes after you cannot unwind them
Rent written from a peak week, a listing before the lease, or a headline cap treated as a price.
Read the mistakes →Get your free Portfolio Capital Analysis
Confidential, delivered in 48 hours. Tell us the locations, the debt, and what you need the capital to do — American Net Lease will tell you whether a sale-leaseback, a refinance, or a hold is the cleaner trade.