King & King Business Advisors

Back a few months ago my wife and I were invited to join approximately 600 other top producing real estate agents with Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. for a Roman Holiday. In over 30 years of being involved in sales events and organizations, from small outfits to worldwide organizations like KPMG, LLP, I have never seen such a high quality, motivated, dedicated group of sales professionals. I truly admire what L&F has created and strongly feel they are without a doubt the finest sales organization I have ever had the privelege of being associated with. Pasted above you will see a picture of me and Mr. Wes Foster himself in Rome.

Much to my surprise, I received the below information in a press release from the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. I am not one to get too excited too quickly about anything that the SBA does but maybe, just maybe, this program will actualy help some entrepreneurial spirited AMERICANS start businesses. I get very angry when I hear we are shipping huge amounts of money overseas to help entrepreneurs in other countries when our own AMERICAN entrepreneurs have so much trouble getting help to start businesses.

I’m going to look into this progran a little more and reserve my fonal judgement until such time I see a real incidence of it working.

SBA Approves First Loans Under New Patriot Express Initiative
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Lending Partners Coming On Board Quickly, Approving Loans Rapidly Loans Go To Military Service Members, Veterans, and Spouses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) today announced that the agency and its network of lenders have already approved more than 20 loans under the Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative for military community entrepreneurs, rolled out one month ago.

Patriot Express is a streamlined loan product based on the agency’s highly successful SBA Express Program, but with enhanced guaranty and interest rate characteristics.

I will keep you al posted…

Just like selling a home, when you put your business up for sale you MUST stage the business. Staging a business requires you think about those things that a potential buyer would be concerned about and be prepared to take some action(s) to ensure you meet those issues head on. For example, when we receive an inquiry from a prospective buyer for a specific business we have advertised, they almost always want to know if we have the last two or three years of financial records for the business. The reason for this is simple, our buyers are usually buying a business to work themselves and need to have a certain income level to make the purchase make sense.

In his recently published book titled: “11 Secrets To Selling YOur Business - Harvest The Profits From Your Business Sale” Greg Caruso goes into detail explaining many of the things one should know to sell their business for the most money to the best buyer as quick as possible. Check out this quote for the book:

In simple terms, the value of the business is the sum of all the benefits that accrue to the owner during and after ownership.

To learn more about the business valuation process and the business sale process please visit our website at www.kingandkingmanagement.com

To purchase the Greg Caruso book go to: Amazon Link

According to a press release dated June 28, 2007 the SBA has begun accepting applications from lenders on behalf of military community entrepreneurs. The Patriot Express program was designed to provide assistance to service men or women who wish to start or expand businesses. Patriot Express is available to military community members including veterans, service-disabled veterans, service members leaving active duty, Reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of any of the above, and the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service, or of a service-connected disability.

Interest from the lending community is strong. More than 150 banks have already been approved to participate in Patriot Express, including many of SBA’s largest lenders, even though the program was announced only two weeks ago. SBA has many more lenders in the approval process and continues to receive more applications from lenders to participate every day. Loans are available up to $500,000 and qualify for SBA’s maximum guaranty of up to 85 percent for loans of $150,000 or less and up to 75 percent for loans over $150,000 up to $500,000. For loans above $350,000, lenders are required to take all available collateral to secure the loan and may obtain collateral for smaller loans depending upon individual bank requirements. Interest rate maximums for Patriot Express loans are the same as those for regular 7

(a) loans: a maximum of prime + 2.25 percent for maturities under 7 years; prime + 2.75 percent for 7 years or more. Interest rates can be higher by
2 percent for loans of $25,000 or less; and 1 percent for loans between $25,000 and $50,000.

Lets hope this program actually helps our veterans who deserve our support and help for the sacrifices they make for all of us.

Jim