In the past few years, commercial finance industry has experienced an exponential growth. The number of entrepreneurs starting their own business is on the rise. Hence, there are plenty of choices offered to a business owner to obtain quick finance. These loans are provided to you on pledging a commercial property and not residential property unlike your home loan.Mortgage brokers work with several other lending institutions and will increase your chances of obtaining better loan rates and terms. These mortgages let you purchase a new property, refinance an old one or set up a new business enterprise. Usually, a lender will require a sound business plan for a start up business. There’s lot of risk involved in lending loans to a new business starter. Hence, a business man must draft out a sound business plan which reflects a good financial standing. With low risk involved better will be the loan rate.Advantages of commercial mortgage:• If you opt for a fixed rate mortgage, your loan payments will be fixed.
• You will not be subjected to any hike in loan rates
• Enjoy tax exemption with commercial loan interest rate
• Cut down on your monthly payments by subletting your property. You must take your lender’s approval for this.You are free to sublet your property, use up the loans borrowed to set up a pub, restaurant, factory or any other commercial enterprise. Ask your lender or broker the range of loan options open before you. It is better to compare the loan terms and conditions before you sign up for one.
Commercial Finance – To Set Up a New Or Old Business
Commercial Stated Income Loans – Good and Bad
Commercial stated income loans can be a viable loan option for owners that have had difficulty being approved by typical banks. As the name implies, these commercial loans require less documentation than normal, giving the borrower the opportunity to “state” their personal and business income. For many borrowers that have a cash component (restaurants, automotive repair, etc) or borrowers that overstate expenses on their tax returns this loan can solve the issue of not having enough reported income to qualify under traditional loan guidelines.There is more than one layer of stated. Different lenders require various amount of documentation. Some require all documentation other than business tax returns. For example, on investment properties all leases, rent rolls, year to date financials, personal financial statements, etc. would still be required. Other lenders design their loans to be more as the name implies and require virtually no documentation.As less documentation is required the more expensive and harsher the terms are for the borrower. Stated Income Commercial loans have both positive and negatives features.The GoodBesides simply being approved for a commercial loan, there are a couple of interesting components of this program. The more significant are below.1. Longer than normal amortization schedules. 30 years is common. Compared to the traditional 20 year schedule this increase reduces the monthly payment for the borrower.2. Longer fixed periods. Fixed periods up to 30 years and everything in between are available.3. No “call provision”. Traditional banks normally require their borrowers to sign off on this provision that gives them the right to call the borrowers loan whenever and for whatever reason the bank wants – even if the borrower is not in default on the loan. This may be hard to believe but this provision is tied into almost every commercial mortgage. For example, here in Michigan as our local economy worsens many banks want out and “call” loan due on business and or building types their worried about. This provision is not included in stated income loans.4. No “right to offset”. The right to offset is equally harsh but applies to businesses that have both a commercial loan and deposits (business checking/saving account) with their bank. This provision gives the bank the right to go into the borrower’s checking account and take out cash to offset any balance due to the bank. This normally occurs at the worst time for the borrower – right when their having difficulties. This provision is not included in stated income loans.5. No ongoing reporting. This ties into 3 & 4 above as traditional banks require ongoing reporting to protect themselves. It is not uncommon for banks to ask for quarterly or even monthly financial statements. There are normally no reporting requirements on stated income loans.The BadBy far the two most negative features of this loan are the rates and the prepayment penalties. Interest rates range from 1.25% – 6% higher with this loan. This is due to the increase risk the lender face as well as the lowered level of competition among lenders. Borrowers that are able to document more and have strong personal credit scores will enjoy the lower side of the range.Prepayment penalties are high with these loans. While a traditional bank will still demand prepayment penalties, they will normally ask for only 3% for 3 years or there about. Stated income lenders will ask for as much as 10% for ten years. In addition, some lenders require lock out periods of 1 to 5 years. This is a harsh term that means that if the borrower were to sell or refinance before the lock out period ended, the lender would be owed all the interest that would have been earned. Said in another way, if you were 1 year into a 5 year lock out and sold your property you would owe 4 years worth of interest…Commercial stated income loans can be a viable option, but borrowers should take their time in evaluating them to make sure that they are not worsening their situation by going forward.
Coaching For Small Business Owners
Business coaching is a relatively new discipline. As a result, many small business owners are probably not aware of the coaching process and why they might consider coaching as a resource to fuel their business growth and personal leadership development.What benefits can a coach bring to you and your small business? Will a coach help you become more effective in the day to day management of your small business? What specific skills or experience should you look for in a business coach? How do you find a business coach?Benefits of CoachingCoaching can offer a number of benefits to those that embrace the possibilities and enter into the experience with a positive attitude. Ed Rankin, Executive Coach and Founder & President at Manera Group in Dallas Texas, believes that coaching offers small business owners an increased level of self-awareness with respect to their strengths and weaknesses, better focus, and tangible strategies and tactics for addressing real-world concerns. He also states that “coaching helps people become more effective by bringing clarity to real challenges and opportunities.”Virg Setzer, President and Executive Coach at Performance Point Solutions LLC, has many years experience as an internal and external business and executive coach. He feels that coaching offers up the following benefits for small business owners:
A fresh and objective view of a small business owners situation
A unique, competent and confidential resource that may not be available within the organization
The opportunity to have a “partner” in your small business that is focused on your success
A confidential partner that is available to test ideas and brainstorm possibilities
Assistance in looking at the “big picture” and long term results as well as short term goals
The opportunity to get challenged and receive candid feedback
Opportunity for Strategic ThoughtIt is a well known fact that owning a small business can be all consuming – so much time is spent on managing the day to day tasks that little thought ever goes into strategic planning. Gina Duvall, Owner of Business Sculpting, expands on the benefits of generating new ideas and focusing on strategic thought. “Coaching is a great opening for this kind of thinking. Left to their own devices, small business owner won’t get off the merry-go-round of finding the next customer, or producing more widgets, long enough to engage in critical thought,” says Duvall. “Having a business coach allows this to happen and have it happen within a partnership. It’s easier for a business owner to do this kind of thinking in partnership with a coach, as opposed to locked in their office alone hoping to not be interrupted.”One might assume that the primary benefit of having a business coach would be an ample supply business advice. Not really – the benefits of a good coach extend beyond management consulting. “Many people start a business without understanding their real motivation and a good business coach can do much more than just work o the business process – a good consultant could do that. We ask different kinds of questions and have a different quality of conversation,” says Anne Wilkinson, Managing Director at Executive Playground Ltd in Birmingham, UK. “A coaching relationship is based on skilfully guiding a client through a process of increasing self awareness backed up by solid business acumen. This has the added value of increasing confidence and establishing a better process for making decisions in the long term.”The Coaching RelationshipIn my opinion, a key benefit of coaching is the opportunity for small business owners to develop a special relationship that adds real value to their organization. Francis Laleman, International Consultant, Coach and Trainer at Beyond Borders Training and Consultancy in Antwerp, Belgium, believes that “the mere fact of having an objective outsider at hand, someone who delivers insights from experience, who asks the right questions, who doubts the answers given, who suggests alternatives and ponders over chances and opportunities, can really have a miraculous effect.” In Laleman’s opinion “the key strength is in the mutual process of the business owner and the coach, working gently together in order to understand the dynamics of growth and change.” What to Look for in a Business CoachThere are some set criteria that you should look for when hiring a business coach. As with any other position within your small business, experience, is a key factor. Gil Gerretsen, President at BizTrek International, Inc in Greenville, South Carolina, suggests that you look for a combination of business experience and a history of proven results and warns that “too many coaches shoot from the hip with counsel based on a limited set of experiences in one venue/industry.”Anne Wilkinson advises that you look for a coach that has general business experience as well as specific experience in the areas of your business that you know you need to develop. “I personally don’t agree with some of the coaching purists that say you can be a good coach without the business experience. My clients expect me to understand their business issues and wouldn’t tolerate a coach they couldn’t respect.”In addition to business experience, Ed Rankin reminds small business owners to not forget that coaching in itself is a special and important skill. “A coach should be educated and trained in the process of coaching. Coaching is not mentoring, consulting, advising or counselling. It’s something different.”Coaching Case StudyMerri Bame, an Executive Communications Coach, shares the following real life coaching story:The owner of a small business came to me with a common, yet fragile matter. He had been an owner for several years while his mother remained board president.What “John” experienced was the demotion of his authority every time his mother was present. From John’s perspective, his staff, managers and board all viewed him with little respect in her presence. He came to me, (an outsider; a neutral third party) for fresh perspective on how to have a very honest talk with her because he was intent on releasing her from her duties. With two major relationships hinging on this outcome, “John” was at a loss on how to proceed. Since this was a single circumstance, we met for an hour to give him guidance on focusing on the intent (restoring good relations) while broaching a difficult subject, and also wanting a good outcome.John learned he could speed up (in his career and influence) if he chose to slow down (to address things properly and with care). Without a third party coach, he didn’t feel neutrally supported. And using one, he experienced a new way to address both conflict resolution and professional growth.How to Find a Business CoachYour needs and comfort level will have some bearing on searching out a business coach. For example, if you prefer face to face coaching, you will need to search locally, whereas, telephone coaching presents the opportunity to engage in a coaching relationship outside your geographic area.In Gil Gerretsen’s opinion, face to face coaching offers more value to small business owners. He suggests looking for someone in your area by checking with your local Chamber of Commerce or asking for referrals from other local small business owners. He adds “if there is no one available locally, check the nearest big city and drive to see them there. Before I first launched my business, I flew to Los Angeles once per quarter to meet with my coach. It was worth every penny!”Another thing to remember is to ask any prospective coach for references, training background and accreditation. “The best way, really, is to find a coach on personal recommendation because then you know what you are getting,” says Anne Wilkinson, “Certainly go for a professionally trained coach, even if they are not certified.”The Heart of Coaching by Thomas G. Crane states the following: “As coaching becomes a predominant cultural practice, it will create a performance-focused, feedback-rich organization capable of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.” If you are open to the process, coaching can provide you and your small business with a number of great benefits – and offer a new perspective on how to plan, manage and grow your organization.
Educating The Flood Affected Nation
The recent catastrophic flood has brought enormous socioeconomic devastation to Pakistan, which includes a figure of more than 15.4 million affected people, a death toll of approximately 1497 with an injured toll of 2054, 2.6 m acres of devastated land and over 300,000 destroyed homes. These statistics are at present just approximates of the actual, which will be presenting a more deplorable picture of the overall scenario. The present actual and approximate data figures will rise exponentially in presence of a non reciprocating attitude of the Government and all the stakeholders.Wherein, much is being said about the economic reconstruction of the affected areas, it is of equally vital importance to rehabilitate the educational infrastructure of the flood affected areas. This article will examine the various possibilities and mechanisms for reconstructing the educational infrastructure in the flood affected areas.Before a model of reconstruction of educational infrastructure is presented, it is strongly emphasized that the decades old philosophy of the influential of these areas for having an illiterate population under their command needs to be discarded and discouraged. It is highlighted that the apparent political reasons for adopting this philosophy are (i) strengthening of favored vote banks and (ii) establishing command over illiterate population in such a way that the masses consider the influential as source of their livings. It is vehemently advocated that a literate population will also be instrumental in not only establishing strengthened vote banks and effectual subordination but also bringing in economic prosperity to both their areas and its influential. Many examples can be derived from countries like Bangladesh, where literacy in rural areas has brought in progressive results at both micro and macro levels. Another aspect raising importance of the schooling in the flood affected areas is the fact that masses of these areas are predominantly living under the shadows of illiterate religious clerics. These clerics in the affected areas are continuously announcing these floods as a punishment from the nature. They are most dangerously endeavoring to convince the affected population that all this has happened due to our policies of being of an allied country. In absence of proper schooling and education, these clerics will manipulate the psychology of specifically the affected youth and the these areas may develop as nurseries of terrorists and suicide bombers.The proposed educational infrastructure, specifically under the current conditionals will be based upon five pivotal pillars namely (i) Physical Infrastructure (ii) Pedagogical Infrastructure (iii) Faculty (iv) Syllabi and (v) Enabling environment. To achieve the objective of entire reconstruction of these five pillars is not a viable option in short term because (i) the educational infrastructure was in conked out condition even before floods and (ii) the present devastation requires concentration in other areas also and hence focusing on just on one area is practically not possible. It is recommended that the entire task of this reconstruction may be divided into phases with each phase as a manageable piece of work having its well defined deliverables and time framework. The first phase may be taken as most imminent and based upon gum and stick ad-hoc settings, which will gradually lead towards more permanent solutions in an incremental fashion. The following few paragraphs will briefly present the gum and stick ad-hoc settingsPhysical Infrastructure, though is most needed but will definitely carry enormous expenditures. In addition, the conditions in most of the areas are presently not allowing any sort of brick and cement work and thus it will be a quite daunting task to built schools in the present environment. Initially,it is recommended that camp school areas may be developed using soft construction material on the same grounds as it was used during the earthquake rehabilitation. Various leading private schools need to be encouraged to join in hands with the concerned authorities and NGOs to built up such a physical infrastructure. These schools can take such a venture as a Social Marketing effort. In addition to the leading private schools, multinationals involved in child care products and projects may also be involved for attaining this objective. They will definitely be getting a significant mileage in terms of visibility and other promotional aspects. For example P&G can contribute by providing fibre sheets printed with logos of Commander Safe Guard or Pampers. At this point, it is highlighted that these companies are already lavishly spending significant portion of their revenues on hoardings & panaflex advertisements. At par with this, a sizeable portion of land may be demarcated by government in each of the affected area for this purpose and the camp schools need to operate in three shifts, each of which may last for not less than three hours. As Winston Churchill once said “We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us”, the development of physical infrastructure of these schools on war footings will cast a profound effect on our future course of action.Pedagogical infrastructure carries equal importance and consists of all the facilities regarding the provision of course content. This infrastructure will consist of (i) Writing boards (iii) Classroom furniture / seating arrangement (iii) books and printed material and (iv) provision of uniforms. With reference to pedagogical infrastructure, it is recommended that rather than having state of art expensive boards, furniture, printed material and uniform, low cost items / donated items may be focused upon in the first phase. Unfortunately, it is a common tendency to develop budgets based upon high cost items, subsequent to which tenders are floated and whatever happens thereafter is known and need not to be further explained. As a nation, a volunteer movement is required, wherein donations in terms of old used furniture items may be requested and then those may be recycled to develop specific school furniture items. Similarly, used paper, old newspapers, magazines, and books may be recycled for having new books and other printed material. In this task, various multinationals may contribute by providing sponsorships for different pedagogical instruments. At present, many of the multinationals are sponsoring various sports events, conferences, exhibitions and seminars. Their deviation from spending on the mentioned events just for one fiscal year will be instrumental in building up our this quite imminent infrastructure.Provision of faculty to these schools is another important area. In this regard, again a volunteer movement is required. The responsibility of provision of faculty may be given to public and private universities. Targets may be given to them and their grants may be linked with the number of faculty members, they are contributing towardsthis cause. These universities can in turn ask their students to perform this faculty responsibility and for this the whole activity may be carefully planned and blended in accordance with the schooling needs of the affected area. Over here our defense forces may again play an instrumental role in provision of the necessary logistics and security arrangements.Developing objective oriented syllabi for primary and secondary education is another important and long awaited deliverable. Focus should now be more upon inducing skillset through the syllabi. Agriculture University Faisalabad has a major role to play in developing basic content, which can equip our students with tips and techniques for progressing agriculture in flood affected areas. This content may be included in the science subject’s curriculum. In addition to this, it is also recommended to include more elective subjects at intermediate level and instead of pronouncing intermediate as F.Sc Pre Medical, F.Sc Pre Engineering or FA, a unified nomenclature of Intermediate need to be adopted.All the above is not attainable without creating an enabling environment, which will entice students residing in these areas to opt for registering in these school camps. Besides provision of stipends, uniforms, and books, there are various other psychological techniques that can stimulate interest in the prospective students of these schools.
A Guide to Help You Pick the Best Air Purifier for Your Loved Ones
Holidays are around the corner. This is the time of year when people start purchasing gifts for their loved ones. If you are going to purchase an air purifier for someone you love, we have some helpful tips for you. If you want to purchase the best unit, you may be able to use this guide to your advantage. Read on to find out more.
1: Set Your Budget
Just like anything you purchase, make sure you have set your budget first. The price of the unit will vary based on a lot of factors, such as the capacity, filter type, features, and brand of the unit. If you don’t have a flexible budget, we suggest that you go for a product that is available to purchase for less than $300.
2: Consider the Needs of the Recipient
Your next move is to consider the needs of your recipient. If you are going to purchase this unit for everyday use, we suggest that you go for a unit that comes with a HEPA filter. On the other hand, if your loved one has a specific need, we suggest that you consider a specialized unit.
For example, if they are more prone to respiratory issues, such as allergies and infections, we suggest that you get a UV purifier for them. The devices are designed to neutralize viruses and bacteria.
3: Think About the Available Space
Another primary factor is to consider the available space in the office or house of the recipient. For example, if they need a general-purpose unit for a small apartment, you may want to consider a filterless unit.
On the other hand, if they have plenty of free space, you may consider a bigger unit that features a higher airflow rating. These units are powerful enough to cover a large face.
4: Consider Extra Features
Lastly, we suggest that you consider additional features that they will just love. For example, some units come with an indicator that turns on when the filter needs to be replaced. This will allow the user to change the filter so that the device continues to work properly.
So, you may want to consider these features before you place your order. These features may not be important to you, but your friend may just be over the moon.
Long story short, we suggest that you consider these four tips if you are going to purchase a gift for your loved one on these holidays. Since the air is full of pollution during winter days, nothing can make a better gift than an air purifier. Therefore, you should consider these tips before looking for an online or physical store to make your purchase decision.