If you are looking for a space to set up an office or taking a lease for commercial purposes, think and learn more about the commercial lease in order to obtain the best deal. There exist, in abundance, various properties out for commercial lease or outright sale, but equally found in plenty, are the many buyers for the same.

It is when a buyer gets serious about choosing a commercial piece of real estate for the business deal that the commercial lease for the space needs to be researched. It becomes imperative to spend some time on it by understanding not only the legal nuances involved but also the nitty-gritty’s of a lease agreement.

The lease agreement forms are the very important documents for the purpose of taking …

Our way of life has given rise to many problems that need to be addressed. Of these many problems, obesity has to be one of the most troubling and most common. A second problem that relates to obesity is impatience on the part of most people. I know that it may not seem obvious, but these two problems are interconnected. These two problems are connected because of our fast lifestyles and wanting a quick solution to everything. Unfortunately, we also expect the same thing when it comes to losing weight. With that being said, it does not mean that fast weight loss is not an option. All this means is that an instant fix is not possible, with an emphasis on instant.

One of the main issues with fast weight loss is that individuals expect to see results in only a one to two days. This is because of advertisements that make claims that you can actually begin to tell the differences within that short of a period of time. It is true that you may be able to lose six or seven pounds in a short time period but it may not appear so on your body. What needs to be done is to stay positive when you do decide to undergo one of these fast weight loss regimens. If you take the program or regimen seriously, you will begin to see results.

One of the best fast weight loss programs that you can possibly do is to go on a low glycemic diet. All the glycemic index is is a indicator of how fast sugars from carbohydrates will be released into your body. The quicker a sugar is released, the more of an impact insulin will have on your body. By consuming carbs that are low on the glycemic index, their sugars will be released slowly into your system. By following this plan, the insulin in your body will be able to use it up quickly, exactly how nature intended. As a result, no sugar will be stored as fat in your body because it will have been all used up.

An oil refining scorecard is a representation of key performance indicators just like any scorecard. This is an approach of management that is driven by numbers -numbers that impact the business performance not only in terms of productivity but also in terms of quality. These metrics that are incorporated in the scorecard are translated to how profitable the oil company is.

Profitability is not the only thing that is measured in every business. In 1997, the Environmental defense developed ways to rank oil companies based on factors that will affect the environment. This took into consideration hazardous elements that are being dumped in the ecosystem. Thus, one of the main components of this type of scorecard is waste disposal. To rank high among the others, an oil company must have less waste. This means that the common by products of an oil company must be recycled or used for other purposes.

This means people who run oil companies must think of their oil refining methods. This may pose extra expenses to the company since there will be a need to upgrade machines and processes. A good refinement system results to lesser wastes. Also, it is a given that with this effective process, the amount of pollution is also reduced. Pollution is also a key indicator of an oil business. The way this is measured is through the amount of toxic waste disposed in the land, air, and water. This is not limited to common toxic wastes such as carbon and sulfur but also to other materials that are generally harmful to the environment.

Other than the toxic wastes of the product itself, one way of measuring of how effective an oil company is being managed is through its logistics. Logistics involves the transportation of a product from its status as a raw material to the how it is delivered to the consumers. No matter how good a product is, there is no value to it if the customers do not know that it exists. And even if the customers are aware of its existence, there will be no essence if the product itself is not available.

The Million Dollar Question

How do you know if your business or organization is being charged the correct amount for workers compensation insurance? I’m not talking about whether or not you think your premium is too high. I’m asking what procedure do you have in place to confirm that what your business actually does is properly reflected in your rate classification? I’m waiting…OK that’s what I thought.

Does This Describe Your Company?

When you first went into the widget manufacturing business you understood that if you were going to have employees, you were going to have to buy workers compensation insurance. (If you didn’t realize it now would be a good time to read my previous article). So you called your insurance agent and said you were about to hire your first employee. Your agent had always done a great job on your car insurance so you figured she’s probably an expert at workers comp insurance as well. The agent came out and looked around your new business. She then studied her workers comp rating manual from ABC insurance company and picked one of the available 330 classifications approved by the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau (PCRB) and assigned it to your business. The insurance company then charged you a premium based on your classification and your payroll. End of story right?

Now It’s 10 Years Later

Congratulations! Not only have you remained in business for 10 years you’ve really prospered. Now instead of just one employee, you have 50. And boy has your business changed. No longer do you just make widgets, you distribute, install, and service them. In fact, you don’t really manufacture them at all. Five years ago you decided it was cheaper to outsource the manufacturing part of the business. Throughout this time your agent checked in with you and steadily increased your payroll as your number of employees increased. But she hasn’t walked through your facility in 10 years and doesn’t understand that your business has fundamentally changed. Therefore, you’re still paying your workers comp premiums based on a manufacturing rate. Think a manufacturing rate might be higher than a service rate?

Is Misclassification Pretty Rare?

NO! In fact there are companies out there that do nothing but audit organizations’ workers comp premiums looking for mistakes. The industry consensus is that anywhere from 60%-75% of all companies have some sort of miscalculation figured into their premium.

What Could that Mean to My Organization?

Assume that the rate for widget manufacturing is $8 for each $100 of payroll. We’ll further assume that 40 of your 50 employees are currently classified as such and as a group represent $1,200,000 of payroll. Your unadjusted workers comp premium for this group would be $96,000 per year. But what if your employees were properly classified at the lesser widget service rate? For this example we’ll assume the rate to service widgets is $5 for each $100 of payroll. Well, you just saved yourself $36,000 a year. Multiply that by the number of years you’ve been misclassified and you may start sobbing uncontrollably!

Commercial Lenders do have money to lend and still need to buy loans. However in this post Sub Prime era, Lenders have a "back to reality" mentality.Direct Commercial Lenders still want good loans and will gladly fund loans that meet historic standards!

Most of the "investors" that market to commercial brokers are not real lenders. They are correspondent lenders, who then wholesale their loans to the big bank lenders. The credit crunch has both constricted their lines of credit and their ability to sell into the secondary market. That is why Interbay, Silver Hill and others have cut back operations, downsized and given the commercial broker industry the perception that no one is presently lending.

Actual demand for commercial loans is substantially up over 2007 and not being met with fundings. Therefore direct commercial lenders are having to become more reliant on both commercial and residential brokers who can weed out good commercial loans from bad. As a result, 2008 can certainly be a banner year for experienced professional commercial brokers or those who are willing and able to learn the intricacies of matching good loan requests with direct lenders who want that particular niche deal.

Below are some quick tips to help YOU fund more commercial loans:

· Partner with the right sources for your commercial loans

· Don’t be greedy with your commissions. Earning a point on any commercial loan over $1M is normally sufficient. Two points on deals under $1M won’t raise lender flags.

· Pretend that it is your money that you are lending. If you wouldn’t do the deal, don’t waste your lender’s time and your perceived level of expertise.

Finally, focus on the right property niches, products and underwriting standards that will fund in this present market.

Acquisition and Development deals are dead in this market. Fear has run lenders out of the business at this moment.

Stated Income (No Doc) deals are rarely being funded now. The property will have to have a very strong cash flow, meaning a 1.25 or better DSCR. Expect purchase LTV’s at 70% or lower, 65% for rate & term refinances and 50% for cash out, and generally only if the cash is going back into the property.

Investor deal are funding at 75% to 80% LTV, if the property strongly cash flows, the owner has at least 3+ years experience in the requested niche and amble liquidity.

Be careful with hard money deals. Hard money lenders tend to live off due diligence fees in tough times to shelter their money until the economic smoke clears.

Owner Occupied deals are being funded at between 80% and 90% LTV and rates are historically good. Professionals purchasing new office space can find 100% financing, including build out, so this market is hot right now!

Knowing the market parameters will help you find fundable deals right now, — if the deals make economic sense and demonstrate strong cash flow. Screen out weak deals quickly so you can focus on the good ones.

Debt Service Coverage is KING in this market!

During the past 5 years of "Easy" money, even commercial lenders let DSCR’s slip so they could compete with other lenders and get their money on the street. The result was lower Cap Rates that inflated prices of commercial properties.

The shock of the sub prime mess gave all lenders "religion" again and debt service ratios are back to historic norm’s of 1.2 to 1.3 which means properties appraised last year, say at $1M, will probably not cash flow enough to fund today at that price, under the "born again" DSCR rules.

Forget past appraisal values! They mean nothing in this market. In today’s market, a new appraisal will depend solely on debt coverage to arrive at value. Comparables and Replacement Cost analysis is just fluff and will be discounted to support the value arrived at through acceptable debt service coverage analysis.

As a Broker, it is your job is to educate your clientele of the realities of the present commercial financing market.

When you think of the name Orient Express, you may have visions of train travel at the turn of the century or maybe even an Agatha Christie novel! Little do most people know that the Orient Express is STILL operating its luxury train line more than 120 years after the first train departed from its station. This fascinating history dates back to 1883 when the first Orient-Express train service was inaugurated. The initial route ran from Paris to Giurgi (on the Danube in Romania), via Strasbourg, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest. These trains continued to run until May of 1977. However, its final run consisted of just one shabby sleeping compartment and three day cars. Thankfully, the train was saved by entrepreneur and rail enthusiast, James B. Sherwood when in 1977, …