Thursday, August 24, 2006
I've been talking with some people in my circles about the emerging popularity of the website: www.prosper.com. It's kind-of like an e-bay model but instead of selling stuff from your garage, it is site to bid and engage personal lending to individuals requesting money (in various amounts) for a wide-range of needs. It's really interesting and I have to wonder what it says about our lending communities and the future of loans. We are seeing a lot more activity with private investment groups, and this seems to fill a niche for smaller-size deals as well as personal needs. I'd love to hear others thoughts and predictions on this - its evolution is very curious to me.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
SBA Woes Continue
I was reading this article in Fortune Small Business last night and thought it was interesting:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2006/06/01/8378595/index.htm
The author did not have many nice things to say about the SBA and its state of affairs. I'm always struck with how many buyers think that they can buy any business through the SBA, thinking it's an easy deal. (It's not.) In fact I cringe when they tell me that they plan to apply for a loan with any of my deals, knowing the likelihood of getting financing is often not good and it slows down the process tremendously. More and more sellers are having to carry notes back -- even with successful SBA financing. I wonder how and if the changes in leadership will effect our deal flow in the future.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2006/06/01/8378595/index.htm
The author did not have many nice things to say about the SBA and its state of affairs. I'm always struck with how many buyers think that they can buy any business through the SBA, thinking it's an easy deal. (It's not.) In fact I cringe when they tell me that they plan to apply for a loan with any of my deals, knowing the likelihood of getting financing is often not good and it slows down the process tremendously. More and more sellers are having to carry notes back -- even with successful SBA financing. I wonder how and if the changes in leadership will effect our deal flow in the future.
