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7 Steps for Buying a Commercial Real Estate Property

December 23, 2019
By Michelle Black –

Building

Buying commercial real estate has the potential to be an excellent investment, often more so than residential properties. Yet even if you’re an experienced real estate investor, it’s crucial to understand that buying a commercial property isn’t the same as buying a house.

Before you purchase a commercial property, it helps to know the pros and cons of this type of investment. It’s also important to understand that with the chance for more reward often comes a higher purchase price and more risk.

How to Buy a Commercial Property: An In-Depth Review

1. Understand your motivations for investing in commercial real estate.

Why do you want to invest in commercial real estate? It’s an important question to ask yourself before you start hunting for properties. (more…)

Hawk Knob Owner Turns Lifelong Passion Into Successful Agribusiness

December 17, 2019
Hawk KnobWest Virginia Success Story –

Morgantown was Josh Bennett’s home while he attended West Virginia University in 2006, but the distance between the college town and the farm he grew up on in Highland County, Virginia stretched further than the 150 miles of country roads separating the two locations. As far as Bennett was concerned, city living and farm life were a world apart.

Bennett had a genuine passion for agriculture and couldn’t wait to get back to his roots once he finished studying horticulture at WVU.

“All I knew was that when I got out of college, I wanted work with agricultural products,” he said. “I wanted the agrarian lifestyle.”

Bennett only needed to find a way to make it all work.

From passion to business (more…)

Family-Owned Auto Shop Still Growing After 40 Years

December 10, 2019
Vermont Success - Don's Auto ServiceVermont Success Story, by Amanda Kuhnert

“They are honest, capable, and efficient, and it’s good to know there’s a local auto shop with friendly people I can trust to do a good job with my car.” This is just one of nearly 700 five-star customer reviews that say, in one way or another, the same thing. Don’s Auto Service is known for its friendly service, honest work, and fair rates.

The auto shop has been a staple in Derby, Vermont since 1979. Unlike many second-generation businesses, its reputation hasn’t suffered with the passing of the baton. After his father, Don, passed away in 2001, Scott Keenan became part-owner of Don’s Auto Service with his mother, Cheryl. Scott’s wife, Deanna, and daughter, Ashley, also work at the shop.

After becoming a partner in the business, Scott realized that they had outgrown their existing space. He identified a larger building for sale that would fit their needs. But to secure financing for the purchase, he needed to prepare a business plan and financial projections. That’s when he reached out to the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC). (more…)

How to Read a Business Appraisal Report

December 3, 2019
By Shawn Hyde, International Society of Business Appraisers (ISBA) –

If you have ever seen a business appraisal report, you by no means have seen them all. There are almost as many different styles and types of reports as there are business appraisers. Fortunately, each report should have a few things in common that a reader can lock onto and use to decipher what the rest of the report means. I want to share a few of these and some tips I have come up with over the years for reading valuation reports.

Things to look for –

1. Not all business appraisers follow, or are required to follow, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), but most of them will still put a page somewhere in the report where they state their concluded value. Usually, they will also state what exactly it was that was appraised. Do not assume that the appraiser appraised what you thought was appraised. Many times, I have been asked to appraise a business, and when I asked for more information on what exactly the client was looking for, I had to educate the client on the possibilities.

I can appraise an ownership interest in the entity that owns the business assets, or I can appraise only the assets that would normally transfer in a sale.

In the first option, I can appraise a 100% ownership interest in the equity or in the invested capital. Equity means just what it means elsewhere — assets minus liabilities equals equity. Invested capital means I am providing the value regardless of how the operations were financed. Each option will come up with a different number and both will be correct. (more…)

An End-of-Year Checklist for Small Businesses

November 25, 2019
By Andriana Moskovska –

Keeping your business afloat in a highly competitive market is not exactly a walk in the park. Approximately 20% of new ventures don’t even make it past their first year, so it’s important to do all that you can to rise above the competition.

With that being said, finishing up another year without your business closing down is already a major milestone. But don’t start celebrating too soon. Now is the time to reflect on the past few months, and set goals for the upcoming year. Preparing for the year to come will ensure steady growth for your business.

Poor business planning and market research are two of the main culprits of business failure. Simply put, there’s no room for incompetence in the world of business.

It’s important to avoid procrastination. Take care of smaller tasks as they come, so you can focus on the bigger things ahead.

Here are a few things to add to your end-of-year checklist so you can start the new year with a clean slate: (more…)