Real Estate Gurus and Real Estate Seminars

Real estate seminars advertise their worthiness by proclaiming to all who will listen that “the skills and strategies you will learn here are literally worth their weight in gold.”  Their “students” will learn “secrets” of how to make huge profits in real estate, and become wealthy almost overnight.

Armed with these strategies and skills, seminar graduates will supposedly have the knowledge of how to profit from any market condition.

Seminar instructors stress that not only will these strategies overcome up or down markets, but will arm their student’s with knowledge few others are familiar with. Knowledge that

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Businesses still suffering as a result of landslide last year

All over the country, the SBA is accepting loan applications for small businesses affected by flooding. The Herald Dispatch reports that the SBA recently made loans available to residents and businesses that were victims of flooding in West Virginia and Ohio.

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently called attention to the fact that Economic Injury Disaster Loans were still available for small businesses and non-profit organizations economically impacted by the landslide that took place on October 25, 2009.

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Let’s suppose for a moment that you’ve taken a few steps necessary to establish business credit for your company.  You got approved for a line of credit with a few suppliers, made purchases, paid your invoices and see the payment experience listed on your business credit report.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

After seeing your business credit score you decide to jump into the big leagues and apply for a business credit card without supplying a personal credit check or personal guarantee. 

You’re shocked to find out that your business was declined and you can’t seem to figure out why. You have

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Do you own and operate a franchise? Many entrepreneurs and new small business owners go the route of owning a franchise to get a running start into an established business niche using a recognized name and operating paradigm. However, most often, these entrepreneurs depend too much on the franchisor to perform all search engine optimization tactics. Alas, that folly usually costs the entrepreneur valuable search engine ranking.

The fact is that even with a recognizable name, you need to announce your location, business hours, product or service offerings, special deals, etc. Your franchisor will not do that for you.

You, as a franchise owner, must take ownership of your own SEO efforts.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce not weighing in on $30-billion lending bill.

At a time when many small business owners are looking to Congress to enact a $30-billion small business lending bill, some of the nation’s most prominent lobbying groups have remained largely silent.

Bloomberg reports that the country’s three largest pro-business groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Manufacturers, have not come out in support of the bill.

Despite the fact that the three groups have spent more than $47 million on lobbying in the first six months of the year, many small business owners see the lack of lobbying for the small business lending package as a telling sign of where the groups’ priorities lie.

“Credit is a terrible problem” for small businesses, said Fred Knapp, president of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Columbia.

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Business Credit Bureau

As a business owner it’s important for you to understand the integral role that a business credit bureau plays in the world of business finance. The data it collects on your business can impact whether or not your application for credit is approved or declined, the rate of interest your company will pay and even the amount of credit you can obtain.

In simple words, a business credit bureau is a repository of collected trade and credit information on millions of companies.    

All this collected data is compiled into what are known as business credit reports which are furnished to potential creditors so the creditors can make sound credit granting decisions.

The integrity of this information being disseminated is vital to the success of our country’s credit system.

So it’s essential for you to know how a business credit bureau gets its information about your company. The more i

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Mortgage rates increased in the latest survey released this morning. Home mortgage interest rates increased after making all time lows in the prior week’s Mortgage Applications Survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Both 30 year mortgage rates and 15 year mortgage rates are increased from the lowest lowest point ever in last week’s mortgage survey.

The average contract 30 year mortgage rate increased to 4.69 percent for the week ending July 23, 2010, an increase from the previous week’s average 30 year mortgage rate of 4.59 percent. Mortgage discount points on 30 year mortgages averaged 0.88 points, down from the prior week’s average of 1.04 points mortgage points.

Current 15 year home mortgage rates are also higher for the week ending July 23, 2010. The current average

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Administration comes out in favor of healthcare reform

When it comes to healthcare legislation news for entrepreneurs, there is one business organization that is firmly in support, thanks to money-saving tax credits within the bill.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Region VII administrator, Daniel Hannaher, recently wrote that small businesses with fewer than 25 employees who make less than $50,000 a year will be entitled to a tax credit of up to 35 percent. Additionally, starting in 2014, the credits will increase to 50 percent on the premiums they pay for employees.

Hannaher wrote that the bill was a positive step forward when it came to enabling small businesses to provide healthcare to employees.

“Overall, the Affordable Care Act is a critical tool that will help millions of small business owners provide health insurance to people who they often consider to be members of their extended family ?

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Massachusetts bankruptcies increase 25 percent.
The first half of the year has not been kind to consumers and businesses in Massachusetts.

According to the Warren Group, a Massachusetts-based firm that publishes real estate and financial information pertaining to New England, bankruptcy filings in the Bay State rose 25 percent in the first six months of the year when compared to the same period in 2009. There were a total of 11,847 petitions for protection from creditors under Chapters 7, 11 and 13 through June of this year, a sharp rise from the 9,461 that filed in the same timeframe last year.

“Even though the economy is recovering, consumers are still hurting and struggling to pay off the debt they’ve accrued over the years,” said Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren. Read more…