If Marc, Fred and Bill can talk about it – so can I

That would be Marc Andreessen, Fred Wilson and Bill Gurley (if you don’t know who they are Google them). As venture capitalists’ they are seeing an environment amongst technology companies who have raised money and are burning through it because they have no understanding that money doesn’t grow on trees. While I am not in the venture capital business I see an amazing comparison to in my every day activities.

When Lisa and I applied for our first mortgage our interest rate was Continue reading “If Marc, Fred and Bill can talk about it – so can I” →

Do lower interest rates really stimulate anything?

DISCLAIMER: I am not an economist nor to I pretend to be. What I am is an entrepreneur who has owned and operated a business for more than a decade. Further, over my career I have been deeply involved in helping people and businesses with mortgages and loans. In thinking about the statement “lower interest rates are being kept low to stimulate economic activity” I was struck by the thought “do low interest rates do anything for the people I work with each day?”. If you have followed this blog over the past while you would know that getting money from the banks is tough. It’s tough to be approved, it’s tough to meet their conditions and it is very tough to get them to fund.

Continue reading “Do lower interest rates really stimulate anything?” →

Who is your champion? Don’t have one? Get one.

You may not know this or even have considered you would need this – but we all do. We all need a champion for our cause. Without a champion is can be hard to get to where we need to be or to get what we are looking for. In my experience over the past 18 years working to get money for people and businesses I can attest to the importance of having someone support your cause and help you fight the good fight. Continue reading “Who is your champion? Don’t have one? Get one.” →

It’s going to cost how much? Is that even legal?

It’s going to cost a lot. By a lot I mean more than usual. Your expectation will be that it will not cost a lot only to realize that the interest rate is high and the fees are ridiculous. You would find yourself in this situation if you needed money and the 11th hour was approaching with no money in sight. At the last moment, a lender comes along and provides you with the money without reviewing the mountain of paperwork you have and makes a decision to advance funds based entirely on their experience, knowledge and comfort with the security you are offering for the money. Who finds themselves in this situation? Many people do and here is what some of the reasons are. Continue reading “It’s going to cost how much? Is that even legal?” →

The one topic I address most often

If someone were to ask me “what is the one topic you have to answer or address most often” I would without hesitation say interest rates. Borrowers are always very intent on knowing what interest rate they will get, the reasons behind why one bank or lender charges more than another in addition to telling me what interest rate they think they should pay without having a sense of how interest rates are determined or how their specific situation impacts the answer. I could spend time explaining why this is a popular topic however I thought it would be more interesting to share an example of how a bank or lender would address the topic if they were perceived to have a higher Continue reading “The one topic I address most often” →