In this business, like any other I guess, there are people who do the right thing and there are people who do the right thing… for themselves.

I’m reminded of a quote my son told me awhile ago, “You can take the moral high road or you can get stuck in traffic.”

Far be it for me to say I’m perfect, or anything so silly, but I do find myself presenting opportunities to people who seem to take the idea and then at some point simply stop thinking, or worse think themselves into a downward spiral.
I firmly believe in the law of reciprocity. The idea being, you give (and give…) and (eventually) it returns to you multiplied. Rarely is it returned to you in the same way you gave, but it does manifest itself in some way. The key is you first have to start by giving.

Recently people/books/movies have been trying to tell me about the “law of attraction”. You get into your life what it is that you attrack or want simply by asking. This is where I’m going to go against the grain and say that I think this is a load of bunk, to put it nicely.

I certainly don’t see how I have “attracted” certain things into my life and just by asking for different things they will go away. Instead I prefer to think that life has given me obstacles to overcome and challenges to face. Overcoming these things can be some of life’s greatest rewards.
I think Mark Twain has a great quote, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” The majority these days seem to be “attracted” to this new law.
I seem to be full of famous quotes today. “Help enough people get what they want and you will achieve what you desire.” Zig Ziglar.

Again, the key here is giving.

I think Sir John Templeton said it best when asked what the best investment one can make. His answer simple and straight forward. Tithing.
I guess it’s that time of year and the theme for this message.

Remember to give the thing that is most precious, your time. Give it to your family and your friends.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

A very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to all.

Well it’s official. Everyone is convinced that the world is in a recession. Some “official” groups are now saying that it “started” back in December of 2007. There were just a few hickups along the way to prevent the two consecutive negative quarters from happening in a row.

Well, I’m glad that’s been settled.

This week the big news was the Bank of Canada lowering it’s prime (following suit from the rest of the worlds cues) by 75 Bps. Big banks anticipated the drop by lowering their 5 year rate days before.

Now the interesing part is that even though the BoC has lowered by 75, the banks have decided (in unison) to only drop their bank prime by 50 Bps. It seems the banks are not as “excited” about stimulating the Canadian economy as the BoC is. They have instead collectively decided to hedge their bets this time pointing the finger at parliament and saying that there is instability there with it being prorogued (halted temporarily, I had to look it up too). They want to wait (delay as long as possible?) until the new budget is out in January.

I figure after the budget is out they’ll delay again claiming to wait and see the effects of the budget short term.

Ok, so in reality, the banks are still trying to send a message that all is not coming up roses. Things are better, but they’re likely looking at the bigger world picture and thinking to themselves “YIKES”. Let’s move cautiously until we can see where the effects of the global recession are going to hit us first.

Let’s just hope the R word doesn’t become the D word (deflation) which would then lead to the other D word, depression.

Maybe just maybe, the US real estate prices will finally hit ROCK BOTTOM and the world can get on with business. Uncertainty is such a powerful thing.

My blog contest rolls on. Deadline is Monday. I’ve got a few people willing to go that extra mile to get more entries into the contest. Thanks for those that have entered. I’ll post the results as soon after the draw as possible. It’s been a busy week. Likely to continue until next week. We’ll get ‘er done and mail out the gift certificate to the lucky winner.
Take care everyone.

JRW

In my travels this week someone was kind enough to pass along a Small Business Financing brochure.
I don’t normally like to advertise products on this blog, but I feel I need to get the word out on this one as it seems to be such a fantastic opportunity for small business owners out there.

Here’s the very interesting summary.

We can now offer (for a limited time) for small business owner occupied buildings, the opportunity to either purchase or expand their commercial real estate holdings through the Canada Small Business Financing Act (CSBFA) Loan at a preferred rate (prime +1) for the LIFE of the loan.

Through CSBFA, we can offer up to 90% or $250,000 of the business property value!
If your property is more than $277K, then we have a lender who will cover up to 85% (75% realistically) of the amount beyond that of the appraised value registered as a second mortgage, but at the rate of prime + 1.5%.

(For comparison, most business or mortgage loans are in the prime+3% category today)

The exciting part is the personal guarantee(s) are limited to 25% of the original CSBFA loan amount, plus interest costs.

Further there is normally an application fee of 2%, which the lender is willing to provide as a “cashback” (capitalized into the loan). Effectively there is no upfront fee.

The client is also given the ability to prepay 100% of the outstanding loan balance AT ANY TIME!

Amortizations available up to 20 years.

Purchase must be made in business name or owners name or via a sale from one to the other.

Quick example:
You have a business owner in a commercial condo unit.
Purchase price of say $300,000.
Owner can get a first of $250,000 at 5% and a second of 17.25 at 5.5%
(1642.81 + 118.06) = 1760.87/mo payments.

Given the state of commercial lending today (as summarized in an earlier post), this is quite the interesting opportunity for small business owners.