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Also what is the difference between an “agent” and a “broker”..

And is it better to do commercial real estate or residential?

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This video is the first installment in a series of Q&A sessions relevant to search funds. The topic is the current state of the banking and commercial lending in January of 2009. The conversation centers specifically around how today’s environment impacts the lower middle-market lending.

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Commercial financing has changed dramatically during the past few months. The net result has been a reduction in commercial lenders as well as stricter standards for acquiring commercial loans and commercial mortgages. Unfortunately there has also been no shortage of misinformation about the availability of commercial funding, so an important change issue is to realize that for commercial lending there are both apparent changes and real changes.

As is often the case with financial changes, it remains to be seen how many will be temporary or permanent. But from a practical perspective, commercial borrowers are left with no choice but to adapt to the changing commercial finance environment. Regardless of how long the changes might be kept in place, small business owners must be prepared to operate within a more complicated climate for commercial real estate loans and business financing.

Perhaps the most dramatic change has been a significant reduction in business lending activity overall. This has been due to several events occurring almost simultaneously. Several major commercial lenders have gone out of business altogether. Many banks have stopped business finance lending while continuing consumer lending. Numerous business lenders have enacted stricter standards for the commercial financing transactions they are still willing to consider.

What should commercial borrowers do about this? A primary option that business owners should explore involves looking beyond their local market area for help with commercial real estate financing and other commercial loans. To accomplish this, it should be helpful to contact a working capital financing expert operating throughout the United States.

In addition to fewer business lenders to choose from, there are two other significant changes which must be anticipated by small business owners before seeking new business financing. First, most lenders have cancelled or are about to eliminate unsecured lines of credit for many businesses. Second, commercial lenders are increasingly demanding more collateral for virtually all commercial finance funding.

One effective commercial financing strategy for overcoming the combined obstacles of fewer lenders, more collateral and fewer unsecured credit lines is to consider a business cash advance program based on future credit card processing activity. This is proving to be one of the few sources of commercial funding that has not been adversely impacted by recent events. To learn more, it will be advisable to discuss the potential with a small business financing expert who can provide advice about business cash advances as well as other business finance solutions.

Another key change issue for commercial mortgage loans and working capital loans is simply the likelihood that more changes will be forthcoming in the near future. It is increasingly obvious that many banks will continue to modify their business lending programs in response to changing conditions as they occur.

To adequately prepare for future commercial finance changes that might (or might not) occur is a daunting task for a business owner. A commercial financing expert familiar with Plan B contingency financing for commercial loans will prove to be a valuable resource for any borrower wanting to seriously deal with both current and future changes impacting the financial health of their business.

Steve Bush is a working capital financing expert. Small business financing and commercial real estate financing advice. Commercial finance and business cash advance programs at AEX Commercial Financing Group

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www.lendinguniverse.com Commercial Lending Loans in Montana Todays market is build upon loan modification together with commercial mortgage loan rates, loan money, and commercial money, commercial mortgage lender, mortgage money, mortgage bank. Fix and flip loans www.youtube.com house…

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Commercial Loans Are Disappearing Rapidly. Keeping Savvy with commercial loan lenders in this market place.

Even Small and Regional Commercial Banks Have Cut Back Sharply on Commercial Loans Lending

In these times its important to get your fingers on the pulse of the commercial real estate lending market. The CMBS lenders started to die late last year and now they are not lending at all.

Most of the mega commercial bank lenders got crushed in the subprime residential lending debacle. Their balance sheets are so underwater that they are making at most 2% of their 2007 volume of commercial loans. Essentially the mega-banks are out of the commercial loans lending market.

Until very recently, however, the smaller banks were still making some commercial loans. We were greatly disturbed last week, however, when several smaller commercial banks – lenders with no exposure to the subprime crisis – contacted us and confided that their balance sheets were so troubled that they too had stopped making any commercial loans.

We are pretty sure that this is a trend that will continue among the surviving small and regional commercial banks. As their commercial loans to local industrial companies start to go bad (sales of widgets and other industrial products are cratering), soon most commercial banks will stop making commercial loans completely – even permanent loans on standing commercial properties.

Many people are thinking that this is the last call for commercial loans from banks. If you don\’t close your loans in the next 90 to 120 days, you may have to wait five to ten years before commercial loans with decent interest rates reappear.

There is some truth in the idea that even the small bank commercial lending is going to dry up, although there will still be a handful of very savvy commercial loan lenders who can broker deals even in times of severe financial crisis. The key to success the current commercial loan climate will be finding the elite few lenders who are capable, and relying on them to broker your loans.

Reliant C Loans is the leader in savvy commercial loan lenders. Contact 1 888 972 1948 for FREE consultation on your commercial loan!

In troubled financial markets with tightening credit you will need a savvy comercial loan broker who maintains great relationships with industry niche lenders. Reliant is and has always maintained personalized contacts as a real commercial loan lender ready to weather any marketplace. Contact 1-888-972-1948 for FREE consultation on how to get the commercial loan you need.

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Slump in small-business lending vexes Washington
Small business lending remains down after two years of attempts by Washington to revive it. The latest remedy to surface is President Obama’s $30 billion plan to offer capital to small banks with incentives to loan it to small companies. That plan passed the… Small business – Barack Obama – Business – Washington – President of the United States

Read more on San Francisco Chronicle

At jazz festival, Anderson, Reed and Zorn paint in the abstract
Performance devoid of rhythm or vocals incites anger for some in Montreal audience

Read more on The Globe and Mail

John Flerlage: Mike Coffman Votes against Local Banks, Small Business
What further proof do you need, business leaders, bankers, citizens and voters, that Mike Coffman has little interest in solutions, in helping small business,…

Read more on The Huffington Post

Holding On to the Perks
As we plow through the legislation to figure out the winners and the losers of the new financial rules, it’s worth pondering what Wall Street got out of the crisis. Most of the reaction, in fact, nods to it being a boon to the banks. And some of those benefits will remain intact even after the legislation passages. Here’s a look at the handouts given to Wall Street.

Read more on Newsweek

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Nagpur is famed as the ‘Orange City’ of India, has transformed over the last few years into a metropolis embellished with high end living, luxurious residential complexes, improved infrastructure and sound healthcare facilities. The third largest city of Maharashtra following Mumbai and Pune respectively, Nagpur is fast emerging as the upcoming Industrial and Multinational hub.

Nagpur is sprawling to become a potential real estate market with the developing commercial and residential sectors. According to the 2001 Census, Real Estate Property Agents Nagpur is the country’s 13th largest urban agglomeration.   

Transformation in lifestyle and social set up has triggered a more talented, aware and informed generation that seeks quality living and a sound employment scenario. As Nagpur is bracing further to accommodate further commercial expansion by IT, I.T.E.S and BPO Sectors, factors such as sound infrastructural amenities, vital location and sound connectivity to Mumbai cater immensely to the real estate investments multiplying in the city.

Another crucial reason for the expanding Nagpur real estate is the huge inflow of working professionals shifting base to the city with the growing job opportunities generated by the widening commercial sector. The consistent transfer of individuals into the city with the upcoming commercial sector has led to further development in the residential sector.

Nagpur is undergoing significant economic boom over the recent times. With the developing commercial inflation, there have been significant demands for residential spaces across the city.

The realty sector of the city is thus witnessing price hikes with increasing demands from the commercial as well as residential segments.

The property trends ascribing to the commercial sector are on an upturn with the availability of abundant land at affordable rates. Investments from prime multinational companies, IT and BPO firms have led to increasing demand for office and marketing spaces. The values of the commercial segment have considerably increased with the growing demand that flow in. the realty graphs also undergo an upswing with the increasing operational bases of prominent firms being established in the city.

With a wave of eminent firms such as Genpact, Wipro and Infosys setting base in the city, the real estate values are expected to further inflate giving significant economic boost to the city. Also, the value figures of Maharashtra Airport Development Authority (MADC) is Rs.80000 per acre, whereas property prices of upcoming commercial areas of Nagpur are touching the limit of Rs.2 crore per acre. 

Nagpur’s residential sector is emerging significantly in the real estate market of the city. The residential sector is being expanded to the peripheries of the city like its north-west, north-east and southern fringes. Properties in areas such as Civil Lines, Dhantoli, Shankar Nagar and Ramdaspeth command high prices such as Rs.3500/sq.ft. Whereas rates of residential colonies like Pratap Nagar, Surendra Nagar and Vardhaman Nagar range between Rs.1200 to Rs.2000/sq.ft.

Residential projects like Pioneer Regency are also floating on high priced values, accelerating enormous real estate benefits for the city.

The retail sector is also fast picking up the upward trend with expanding shopping arenas. The market of property in Nagpur is escalated by demands for land for the expansion of retail sector to satisfy shopping needs of the city’s population. There have been considerable investments from potential builders and property financers for developing luxurious shopping malls for a lavish shopping experience.

The realty market is therefore further augmented with the consistently growing commercial, residential and retail advancements.

The city is witnessing substantial growth in its real estate with the intense requirements for properties. With the interests of prospective NRI buyers is also escalating property values in Nagpur. Property investments in the city are expected to increase further triggering development on a higher scale in the real estate segment. Nagpur is increasingly being viewed as a ripe location for investing in large-scale property deals.

Kriti Seth writes on behalf of 99acres.com, which is an internet portal dedicated to meet every aspect of the consumers needs in the real estate industry. It is a forum where buyers, sellers and brokers can exchange information, quickly, effectively and inexpensively. At 99 acres, you can advertise a property, search for a property, browse through Nagpur property and other Properties.

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The humdrum in Pune, one of India’s busy cities, was as usual that day when the city woke up with news journals crying out loud for help. Help for the routine victims of various common factors governing any cosmopolitan city. Government’s apathy towards order is letting the chaos form its own pattern and has reached such an extent of perfection that a father often finds contradicting his lessons after being imparted to his child by himself. Today, there is tremendous rush for paradigm shifts. India Inc is dreaming to make it larger than life. The bourgeois approach in today’s economy leaves very little room for labor laws to protect individuals, as the concept is widely misunderstood and feared after we observed the results of radical implementation of Trade Union role in jeopardizing the concept of profit, towards which, not only the Organizations thrive but ‘profit’ is in the womb of any idea that is finally shaped and formed in the form of any financial bill. The cosmopolitan citizen thrives to be better with each passing day. Some say success is directly proportional to the salary earned while there are others who believe in power and degree of control exercised over others to be the actual flavor of success. In a way quite innovative and convenient to achieve the end result desired, today’s corporate world and especially the Organizations in the BPO sector have derived effective tools to deliver within stringent deadlines and equally stringent budget constraints alongwith a continuous mad rush to achieve the Nirvana of being the most cost effective Organization. One such tool exercised by the Transport Departments of some of the Organisations in the BPO arena to get their employees on time to work is the lethal ‘Late Fine’ imposed on the cab drivers. Using a morbid adjective before the term ‘Late Fine’ is not due to ignorance as one soon finds out what happened on this ‘just another day’ in Pune.

 

The alarm clock rings !

Its time to get up and go.

Like every other day, Ravi prepared himself for the battle ahead, early in the morning.

 

Ravi is a 26 year old male with almost negligible cosmopolitan lifestyle bad habits and believes thoroughly in the old Hindu norms and practices to keep his soul pure and lead a contended happy life. Allow me to use the author’s liberty to term the essence of this nature of mankind to maintain harmony between the soul and the body as a true gift which nature blesses us all with, but almost none retain it long enough for it to get ingrained in us in such a way and implemented in practical life so that our decision making seems more lucid and one can see the many opportunities that life offers to laugh and feel satisfaction, which, doesn’t need to be substantiated with numbers, more cohesively put, the total money value one has accrued . Ravi has arrived in the city a couple of years ago from a small town near Khopoli located a few hours from Pune. In the last few days, owing to Ravi’s successfully establishing him quickly in the profession and renting a ‘chawl’, where there is privacy which seems extremely impossible to fathom for the elite class. His aunt and mother have successfully convinced him to finally get married. The engagement function is planned after a week, after ‘pay day’, to be precise. He is an absolute contrast to the common desires of any man of his age in a busy and ever growing city like Pune. Ravi is a pious person and believes strongly in the concept of ‘Karma’. He is employed with an individual who has hired out his vehicle to an organisation which in turn provides cabs and drivers to various organisations, mainly BPOs. His job entails him to pick up employees from their doorstep and reach them safely to the company and also drop each employee back to their doorstep after the shifts are over.

 

Odd and long hours are the order of each day for any cab driver in the call center industry. The vehicle owners do not really form any sort of association as individuals and institutions both rent out commercial vehicles. Probably the lack of any such regulatory body has led to reckless selfishness for Organizations while drafting policies in the best benefit of cost and profit. As much intrigued Ravi gets gazing at the ways and norms of city life, equally intriguing seems the lifestyle of a BPO cab driver to him. The everyday trivial confrontation with the Transport Department, sometimes also known as the Infrastructure or General Services or Logistics Department, has given birth to an absolute culture of itself. A virtual bout goes on for 24hrs, round the clock, with topics of arguments varying at different hours of the day, better known as ‘Shifts end’ or ‘Shift start’ in the BPO lingo. All the numbers seem to be chasing ‘profit’, sometimes also conveniently referred to as ‘efficiency’ by the top brass of business executives passed out from elite business schools which taught about many other responsibilities of a function in running a business but practical life has left them with just one, more and more and more ‘profit’. Conveniently camouflaged with the word ‘efficiency’. As a common man from the rural in this society of cosmopolitan gizmo Ravi could never fathom the amazing balance act of such a vast array of socioeconomic cohabitation. A mammoth of a contrast is lived by him everyday, how can he ignore the influence of social status difference? The drivers of the BPO Industries, mostly, earn in the range of three thousand to a maximum of four and a half thousand rupees per month. Amidst an array of difficulties with employee cooperation factor, mostly employees requesting the drivers to wait ‘just a little’ by putting on the gimmick of a friendly approach, city traffic and road conditions, the deal seemed to be a tough one. Of course, one would cry havoc if its monsoon and the city is poured with power cuts to make life miserable just a little more. Ravi along with approximately 4 Lacs of other cab drivers are subjects to a penalty of almost 500 rupees if they arrive late for more than five minutes with the employees in the organisation, which entails an allowance of only a couple of times of leeway to be late, and, the full month’s salary is shelled out. A driver has to make good with some contributions from the cab owners as well, else, will leave him with zilch to support his family or himself, slipping him away to the dungeon of loans and interests, of course how can one ignore the immediate aftermath of such an atrocious stress and pressure to lead most of the drivers to alcohol or other means of intoxicate gateways far from the pain and agony of truth. Far away and fast, so one feels a little rejuvenated for the next pickup. For most of the young ambitious drivers, driving for more than 12hrs each per day is quite normal, for some, even seven days a week.

 

The alarm clock rings !

Its time to get up and go.

Like every other day, Ravi prepared himself for the battle ahead, early in the morning.

 

He leaves…., Usual daybreak, and as usual humdrum of the busy city streets known to him. He smiles and dodges all the obstacles with his deft hands behind the wheels. He is dreaming of a life ahead, with kids and wife. He needs to save every penny that he can before the marriage, he is aware of the fact that he is starting a new and far more responsible life very soon.

 

Ravi reaches the first house for his pick up and all’s well today, he sees the man waiting right outside his complex. Most of the days this employee waits till the vehicle is visible right in front of his gate, though he is quite aware that it takes quite a while to reverse in that narrow lane, however, walking till the main road is a complete no-no as the company bears ‘Doorstep pickup’, Ravi is enthralled. “Thank You Sir!” He exclaims and with a happy face keeps dreamin
g on. Well, sometimes, just sometimes, dreaming is better than living. ‘We have three more pick ups’ he mumbles at a low voice filled with the pace and heat of the engine of the vehicle, ‘so let’s get going’ says Ravi to himself. There’s a wonderful song going on air. Radio has gained its omnipotence again!

 

In the busy street of MG Road was the next pick up for Ravi and he, with his adroit driving skills, overtaking all the obstacles tries to reach his destination as fast as possible. The undisciplined, unruly ocean of mob, which has become one of the identity of our country continues to galore and adorn the nature and basic thought process of our fellow countrymen’s traffic and civic sense, well for most of our countrymen. Like any other driver, Ravi is used to expect the unexpected. He swerves to the corner meant for parking, and with his youthful flamboyance climbed the staircase to inform the lady employee that the cab has arrived and its time to leave for work. It’s sort of a wakeup call, telling Ravi to wake up, as if screeching through the silence of the approaching dawn and piercing into our ears from an alarm clock, forcing him to believe that not all grapes are sour. Today Ravi is full of luck; the second pickup went through really successful as the lady was ready and waiting for the door bell to ring.

 

The twist in the tale arrives with the third pickup and onwards. This employee, the third employee, was persistent with the fact of her being picked up from a certain specific location and called up to plead him stating it was an emergency. Ravi drove as he spoke on his cell phone. Though reluctant, he agreed. The road was not en-route and he had to enter a by lane. The lane was dingy with kids playing here and there so he had to be very careful and alert. This slowed him down. After moving a little further appeared the big jolt. Standing like a mammoth giant covering the whole breadth of the lane was a truck downloading food grains to a food rationing shop. He realized the gridlock and turned back only to find a series of other vehicles behind him. This meant neither could he move ahead nor could he reverse. He was in a fix. He looked at his watch. He might get late. He might be fined. This very feeling of shelling out cash suddenly twirled his head and turned the comfortable sunny day into a hot and sweaty one. His blood pressure rose as he realized the impact of the loss deeper and deeper. The radio seemed an irritation. An argument struck between him and the truck driver to back off the truck for a while for him to move on but the truck driver wouldn’t budge. The owner of the food rationing shop also came out favored the truck driver. Ravi was outnumbered. He relentlessly persuaded but with no effect. Realizing the criticality of the situation he had to wait till the download was completed and the truck backed off to give him and the other vehicles space to move ahead. Now Ravi drove in a frenzy to pickup the third employee, which he finally did. The fourth employee resided close to the premises of the office itself so that was never a matter of concern. He realized he was late. He will be definitely late no matter how much he tried. In an impetuous, reckless and rash fashion Ravi speeded the car through busy streets honking and shifting gears as if a ten year old playing a video game. The employees seated behind pleaded him to slow down but all he could think of was the ‘Fine’. His vehicle almost kissed a few motorcyclists and startled the heart out of a few pedestrians but he was ruthless. An otherwise calm and composed man has suddenly been transformed to some sort of maniac let loose on the street surfacing from the bottom of an ocean as a monster. The employees screamed at a couple of occasions when it almost felt inevitable to be hit or for the vehicle to hit someone but Ravi had turned deaf. The omnipotence of the word ‘fine’ has gained the reigns of his mind and he, like a slave in the pursuit to save it, clenched the steering rod and responded to only his instincts. An unusual confidence overtook his conscience which led him to believe that the whole wide world would sense his urgency and give way. He drove with just one technique, assumption. Fast and rash. He could still make it he believed. He could definitely reach 4minutes late saving sixty seconds and 500 rupees of fine. Ravi was winning; he was gaining and getting closer and closer to his goal when suddenly at a distance of a hundred meters he saw the signal turning yellow, an indication to slow down. Like most of the Puneites he sped up instead of slowing down at the sight of a yellow light aiming to cross the signal before it turned red. The employees seated behind were almost petrified by then and were holding on to their dear lives praying to get off this wild bull as soon as possible. He accelerated from 60km/hr to 70km/hr to 80km/hr and just when he was ten or fifteen meters away from the signal, the lights turned red. By then it was too late, Ravi couldn’t have pulled the brakes anyways at such a high speed so the only way out was to jump the signal.

 

There was a giant green that emerged from his right; right at the four street crossing with the sound of his heart beat dropping. The sound screeched through the radio, through the speeding wind, shattering windshields, right across his veins to his heart. He felt a slithering pain down his spine and numbness all through his senses. He could hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing and think nothing. The city street and the shops and the sky above toppled over and over and over again. Death was engulfing and embracing Ravi right at that very moment. A single moment so long, that each droplet of time fell slow as if poised to make him the witness of his last breadth. Ravi’s mother screamed, his village school corridor seemed so long, the garden where he would go with his friends to steal mangoes had all the leaves turned brown and his fiancé with his dream of a family faded out in front of his eyes, from his mind. His dream of a family, his vows to his old parents, his duty towards his fiancé, all incomplete, a life filled with emptiness which was ending drop by drop. He could see it all. Feel it all. A tear broke and fell somewhere. All that was left in these few seconds was a dying body, empty soul and drying tear drop that fell somewhere. He could only hear the screeching sound of the horn getting louder and louder and louder. He wanted to cry in agony, in distress, in pain and time didn’t permit him the time.

 

All that remained was just an omnipotent yelp of the nagging horn that was audible, getting louder and louder and louder.

 

The alarm clock rang. Louder and louder and louder and it was time to get up and go.

 

Ravi woke up startle, scared, shivering and numb. He was sweating, his heart beating fast. It took him a while to realize the intention of such a cruel nightmarish reverie. He looked around. He couldn’t move his head. He couldn’t move his fingers. After a while, when he looked at the alarm clock he made himself believe that he was still alive. But someone, I don’t know who, he didn’t either. Someone has sent him an important message that day, “Life with all its grace and beauty and opportunities is far worthier than any penalty that the worldly matters can inflict upon us, ever.”

 

“Life is….. And will always remain, deeply, far more finer than any ‘Fine’”.

 

 

Amitav Banerjee

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Analysis and discussion with President of Commercial Tenant Real Estate Representation Marisa Manley. She says the commercial real estate market continues to get negative absorption. (Taking Stock)

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