This report was intentionally structured to produce a concise overview of pertinent commercial mortgage financing issues by describing difficulties likely to be encountered with commercial real estate loans in seven words. A review of commercial financing reports such as “six more words about working capital” and “seven words describing merchant cash advance options” should also contribute to a more complete understanding of the practical small business finance options necessary to cope with one of the most chaotic commercial banking climates seen in decades. Small business owners will generally need to plan ahead and be more aggressive in their efforts to successfully locate reliable business financing alternatives because effective and practical commercial real estate financing options seem to be declining.

As our first seven-word description, “business financing is the next big problem” indicates growing commercial property loan concerns on several levels. Far too many banks have not yet satisfactorily put their initial big problem related to residential mortgage financing behind them. Declining sales, decreasing business property values and depleted bank resources are part of the overwhelming evidence to support the likelihood that commercial real estate loans will become an even more serious problem. Further bank bailouts related to commercial property loans are highly unlikely, and banks are continuing to fail at a record rate.

The second illustration of seven words to describe commercial real estate financing is “commercial loans are getting harder to find”. Hearing a bank say that they can help with commercial property loans or any other form of small business financing is not sufficient by itself. Finding banks that are routinely providing commercial mortgage options to small businesses is the acid test. Bankers are typically stating that they are lending normally when in fact they are not, and this is both a disappointing and common observation.

“Borrowers need a healthy amount of skepticism” represents our third example of seven words describing commercial real estate financing. Even if a small business owner is in the enviable position of believing that they have no current worries about commercial mortgage loans, this observation is still relevant. It might be helpful to recall that banks were almost universally less than accurate and candid in describing their problems with residential mortgages. This observation should be evaluated in the light of banks reporting that they are lending normally to businesses while simultaneously eliminating or reducing commercial loan programs for small businesses. Being skeptical of commercial banks for the foreseeable future is appropriate for any prudent commercial borrower.

Our final group of seven words describing commercial real estate loans is “contingency planning is critical for commercial mortgages”. To help businesses plan in advance what to do if something goes wrong, this approach to business planning has always been an invaluable tool. During the past two years it has become more clear to small business owners that a similar contingency planning perspective is equally valuable for improving commercial mortgage options. If a commercial borrower has a small business loan that their current bank can recall with very little advance notice, this strategic thinking is especially critical. Such a possibility is particularly common with commercial mortgage loans for small businesses.

Business borrowers should be aggressively developing strategies for dealing with the serious ongoing commercial banking problems likely to negatively impact their ability to obtain business finance help because there are very few reliable signs indicating that commercial mortgage options are about to improve. This report provided several straightforward and brief descriptions using seven words to explain commercial real estate financing and to facilitate efforts with lenders. Consistent with our in-depth analysis about the growing consensus that small businesses are currently confronting one of the worst commercial lending environments during the past sixty years, we adopted a similar approach in commercial financing articles that include “six words describing small business loans”.

Author Bio: Steve Bush has provided practical small business finance expert advice for 30 years. He delivers commercial mortgage options, commercial finance consulting and working capital financing throughout the United States. Stephen and AEX Commercial Financing Group are an experienced source of business cash advances and commercial real estate loans.

Category: Finances
Keywords: commercial real estate loans,commercial mortgage options,commercial mortgage loans,finance