Tag Archives: work
How to Prepare for Government Grants to Start a Business
The fact is that the US government gives out billions in government grants to start a business each year. Sound like a lot of money? Well would you believe that the federal government gives away a total of $25 billion in domestic business aid, all together each year?
However; the truth of the matter, is that in spite of there being such a large available pool of money, competition is stiff. This of course means that the people who are the most prepared and knowledgeable, generally tend to walk away with the lions share.
The First Thing to Do
The very first thing that you need to do is to come up with a complete and comprehensive business plan. Not just a good plan but rather, an excellent plan. Consider using the Internet to conduct your market demand research.
Your plan should also demonstrate your complete familiarity with all the products involved in the business you are proposing. You should also be able to demonstrate a complete familiarity with employee wage scales for the type of labor performed in the course of your business.
The Second Thing to Do
The second thing you can do, is to begin to work on your presentation skills. You see, you have to understand that aside from all the paperwork you’ll have to submit, there will be personal interviews. People you will have to convince that your plan is viable.
The Third Thing to Do
The third thing that you will need to do is to familiarize yourself with the entire process of getting government grants to start a small business. This is no time to learn on the fly. There’s just too much at stake. Consider paying for the services of a consultant.
1) Before you start applying for grants, make sure that you have your business planned meticulously. Be prepared with an excellent business plan, with the exact amounts and figures that you require in every aspect of your business such as overhead, manpower, facilities and other expenses. Once you have the figures in place, add an extra 25-30% to this amount as a contingency measure to safeguard you against unexpected expenditure. A well-planned business plan could work wonders towards you obtaining a good grant to help you with your business.
2) Engage in the services of a consultant to help you find and obtain a small business grant. Although this may prove to be slightly costly to you, but the experience and knowledge that the consultant brings for your grant application could prove to be priceless, and may be the deciding factor in you obtaining it, or failing in your bid.
3) Use the internet and available website to good effect. Visit relevant sites such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) where you could find a list of small business grants that you could apply for, as well as the Small Business Administration (SBA) website where you would discover all the information required in regards to grant applications here. Other useful sites especially for women entrepreneurs include usagovernmentgrants.org, and of course grants.gov, a government-linked site where your grant-seeking activities could bear fruit.
4)Do not forget to work on your presentation skill as well, as you would be required to present in front of a grant-awarding committee. Thus be prepared to impress them with your proposal, and all the best in obtaining the small business grant for yourself!
What are Hard Money Loans?
For the purpose of financing your investment properties there are two options- Hard Money & Soft Money.
Soft Money- is simply money that is borrowed from banks and other lending institutions. This is the normal loan process where the loan is underwritten by an underwriter. There are rules and guidelines that are made by the lenders or by the groups that buy the loans from the lenders. This would include all loan types and verities.
Hard Money- is money from investors to fund your investment property. Hard Money is normally sort term. Hard Money is normally used when the property needs some repairs and rehab. With Hard Money you can finance the expense for repairs as a part of your loan. If you are able to locate a home with good equity you will be able to do the entire purchase and rehab with no money out of your pocket.
The Rules- since the money is coming from private investors they can make their own rules, unlike soft money above where the rules can be more restrictive. For this reason you can obtain money and eventually additional money based upon your track record and performance with a particular Hard Money Lender.
After Repair Value (ARV) – This is what the property would be worth after your rehab is competed and this value is normally determined by appraisers that work with your hard money lender. Normally Hard Money lenders will loan 65 of the ARV. This is how it works
if you buy a home for $100,000 you can borrow $65,000, 65 of that amount or $130,000, now you have money to buy the house for $100,000 and pay for your rehab.
Escrows- This is money that is held by a 3rd party, normally a Title Company, for a specific purpose. In the case of Hard Money Lending they would escrow your repair money and in some instances they would escrow your first couple of payments. This is done to ensure that the work on the property is actually completed. When you first apply for your Hard Money Loan for a specific property you would prepare a work sheet of what needs to be done and the cost of that work. This would be used to set up your escrow account.
Draws- The way the money for repairs is disbursed is by using draws. The Hard Money Lender would physically inspect the property to ensure the work was actually done and disburse the money accordingly. The money is not released all at once, rather in gradual portions as the work is completed. Each portion is a draw.
When & Why- There is a time a place to use Hard Money Loans. Normally for Soft Money to be used the property needs to have a roof, windows, doors, floor coverings. If the property does need some work this is called deferred maintenance. This would be noted by the appraiser when the appraisal is done. Traditionally if this number is over $2,000 you would not be able to receive a Soft Money Loan. The other reason investors use Hard Money Loans is so they do not need to use any of their money or to personally fund their project. As you can see a good portion of the properties an investor buys would be financed with a Hard Money Loan. This is due to the fact that most foreclosed properties are not well kept. However, there are always exceptions to this.