Even though longer-term business financing techniques might be appropriate for many circumstances, there are some important short-term business loan options that will be less costly in producing improved credit card financing and commercial mortgage results for business owners. Short-term commercial financing choices can be misunderstood because of a preference by many business owners for long-term working capital management programs.
Two Important Short-Term Business Financing Choices
Possibly the two most important short-term business financing approaches are short-term credit card financing programs and commercial property loan programs. Although both business loan and commercial mortgage programs are applicable to most business owners, these strategies are often misunderstood and misused.
Programs for Short-term Commercial Real Estate Financing
It is important to note that long-term business financing has a very important place for any business that owns commercial property. Business properties should normally not be financed with short-term funds. When longer-term business financing is appropriate, it is essential to obtain a long-term commercial mortgage of at least 15-20 years (and longer is even better).
Nevertheless there will be business loan scenarios where long-term commercial real estate financing is not the best option. When this is the case, a business owner needs to realize that there are practical business financing choices.
When is Short-Term Business Financing Preferable?
It is prudent to explore short-term business loan choices for business owners who want to refinance or sell the property within a short time frame. Appropriate short-term business financing will have more reasonable "lockout" fees and prepayment penalties than typically required with a long-term commercial real estate loan.
The avoidance of business loan prepayment fees and lockout fees fees in some short-term business financing programs is an important benefit of these short-term commercial mortgage approaches. The absence of these potential fees could produce a savings of up to 20% or more if the business property is sold during the period which would have involved lockout fees in a longer-term commercial loan.
What are the Tradeoffs in a Shorter-Term Commercial Mortgage?
There are some trade-offs that need to be understood if a business owner chooses shorter-term business financing even though prepayment fees will usually be avoided with a short-term business loan. When short-term commercial real estate financing is a realistic option, the loan-to-value will usually be no higher than 70%, the commercial mortgage will not be readily available for special purpose business properties such as golf courses and the interest rate will frequently be in the range of about 12%.
Best Possibilities for a Short-Term Commercial Mortgage
Warehouse, multi-family, office, mixed-use and retail business properties are the best possibilities for short-term business financing. Business owners should be comfortable with a time period of less than three years for a typical short-term business loan.
Fewer Lenders for a Short-Term Commercial Real Estate Loan
There will typically be a very small number of commercial lenders who are effective at implementing the short-term commercial mortgage loan strategy properly. There are also a number of problems to be avoided with short-term working capital management programs for a commercial mortgage loan, so choosing an appropriate provider is extremely important to any business owner considering a short-term commercial mortgage loan program.
Credit Card Processing and Credit Card Financing
An underutilized commercial financing strategy for businesses is possibly the best commercial loan strategy to secure cash for their business: a business cash advance using credit card processing. Credit card financing and credit card processing are effective business financing tools that are usually overlooked by any business accepting credit cards as a customer payment method.
The most likely candidates to benefit from this working capital loan strategy are retail stores, service businesses, restaurants and bars. This highly-effective working capital management strategy uses an under-utilized business asset (credit card receivables) to obtain business cash advances based upon a merchant's sales volume.
Credit Card Financing Based on Credit Card Processing Programs
This working capital management strategy is also known as "credit card factoring". Many businesses have relied upon a working capital loan strategy called "receivables factoring" or "receivables financing" which allows them to sell their future receivables at a discount.
Very few retail and service businesses can properly document their accounts receivable to acquire business financing. Smaller service businesses and retail stores are not likely to have receivables for a business loan.
What these businesses do have in many cases is documented sales volume and documented credit card sales activity. It is this documented level of sales volume and credit card sales activity that becomes a financial asset to the business and its working capital management strategies. Business cash advances from $5,000 to $300,000 can usually be obtained based on a merchant's sales volume and future credit card sales.
The working capital loan time period covered by a business cash advance is typically 12 months or less. For businesses that desire to continue the merchant cash advance program beyond this period, it is usually an easy matter to get an additional working capital cash advance once the initial one has been completed.
Avoiding Problems with Credit Card Financing and Lender Limitations
There will usually be only a few business financing sources that are regularly successful at executing the credit card financing and credit card processing. There are key difficulties to avoid with a working capital cash advance, and selecting an effective funding source is essential to any merchant needing a merchant cash advance.
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