27DecDecember 27, 2019 By Patrick

The Difference Between Bank Asset Based Loans And Private Asset Based Loans

Huntington Beach, CA Owning a business takes a lot of cash on hand. Cash to make payroll, pay rent (or a commercial mortgage), purchase supplies, marketing and advertising, etc. Business owners reach out first to the bank they have their business deposits with to see if they can provide them with a loan. Their bank is a good place to start, and if they can qualify, their journey ends there.

Different types of asset based loans.

Asset based loans can be made against any asset seen on a company’s balance sheet. The common assets used as a collateral for a loan are real estate loans, equipment loans, inventory and accounts receivable. Other collateral considered assets by a lender are purchase orders and supply chain funding lines.

Asset Based Loans Obtained From Banks.

Banks provide asset based loans, but have stricter requirements than the private sector. The first difference you will notice is that a bank will most typically require you to open a deposit account with them in exchange for doing the loan. Depending on the size and type of asset based loan, the bank will require you to switch you entire banking relationship over them as a requirement for doing the loan. Switching your banking relationship is no easy or convenient task.

If deposits are not required, that means that the bank will look to fit you in to an SBA loan program. Banks mainly offer term loans under the SBA loan program versus revolving lines of credit. Loans made against accounts receivable, purchase orders or for supply chain funding are not on the menu for most banks.

The preferred type of asset based loan banks like to issue are for real estate and equipment purchases. The range of your required down payment will depend on the type of loan being considered, your business and personal credit and the amount of liquidity you have on hand post purchase. Most banks set their bottom limit at a 680 credit score or better to be considered for an asset based SBA loan.

Private Sector Asset Based Loans.

In the private sector the whole credit picture is also considered, but not scrutinized quite as closely. The main consideration is the asset quality itself. For example, in an accounts receivable loan, the credit quality of customers, average collection days and historical bad debt write offs are of paramount importance. The private lender will look at business and personal credit scores and evaluate the company’s financial position, however they will also listen to the story. Many business owners have lower credit scores because all of their cash has gone in to their business and this sometimes creates issues meeting their obligations on time. The private asset based lender understands that an asset based loan will improve the company’s cash and allow them the growth opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have without access to capital. This especially true when considering loans to finance purchase orders or establish a supply chain line of credit.

What Asset Based Loan Is Right For Your Business?

Our advice is to always check with your business bank first. They are the ones that have the experience with your business and it’s always prudent to confirm their ability to assist.

The facts are that most business owners do not qualify for bank loans. This is the reason there is a market for the private asset based lender. Private capital can be used as a bridge or as a permanent financing for those that prefer less oversight from their lending partner.

What Value Does Huntington Coast Capital Bring?

In a word, experience. We have decades of experience in the private capital and institutional capital markets. We navigate our clients through the options, saving them time and when finding the right asset based lending partner for their business. If your business could use some additional capital to purchase equipment, real estate or to finance growth opportunities, we would like to speak with you.

Call us to learn more 714-719-8966.

19DecDecember 19, 2019 By Patrick

What An Asset Based Loan Can And Can Not Do For You

We occasionally receive calls from people who are looking to buy a business. The advice when seeking an asset based loan is always to target a company with at least some assets. Service companies such as accounting or legal practices for example, typically do not have hard assets that they use on a daily basis. This disqualifies the possibility of an asset based loan assisting in the purchase of the company.

What assets do lenders like to use as collateral for their loan? Essentially, any asset found on a company balance sheet can be used as collateral for a business purchase. These assets include accounts receivable, inventory, equipment and real estate. Ideally, a company has more than one of these available to be used as collateral for the lender.

When dealing with a new business acquisition loan request, the first course of action is to explore the SBA loan program and see if you can qualify for a government insured loan. The advantage of this loan is the low down payment of 10 percent required from the buyer. The disadvantage is that the SBA loan program is difficult to qualify for. The underwriting guidelines review the target company tax returns to ensure that the company can take on the additional debt used in purchasing the business. Tax return analysis is the most conservative form of cash flow analysis because everyone looks to minimize profits on their tax returns to avoid paying high taxes.

Secondly, the SBA is also required to take outside collateral when making a loan. This usually means a 2nd position on the buyer(s) residence. Not all applicants own a home, or if they do, have equity to offer in the home. The psychological effects of placing your home as collateral can also be a bit intimidating.

If the applicant can not qualify for an SBA loan, there are private money solutions available. Asset based lenders outside of the SBA program are a bit more flexible. They look at the collateral of the business and see what cash can be taken out of the existing assets. For example, if a company owns equipment and real estate, can those assets be leveraged and applied toward the purchase price? Another popular way of purchasing a business is through factoring the accounts receivable. Invoice factoring companies are asset based lenders focused strictly on the accounts receivable of the business to be acquired. By factoring the accounts receivable, they can make additional cash available for the purchase. For example, if a company has $1,000,000 in open accounts receivable a cash availability of up to $850,000 can be made available for the purchase.

The last piece is what is referred to as a “seller carry back.” This is simply an amount of the purchase price that the seller agrees to accept over the course of a payment plan agreed to between buyer and seller. Asset based lenders view this as equity, but also prefer that the buyer has cash to bring in to the purchase. Cash investment from the buyer is important because it keeps them invested in making the acquisition a success. If the buyer has no capital at stake personally, it is easier to walk away from a failed acquisition. Buyers prefer 100% financing and lenders want some “skin in the game” in order to keep the borrower invested.

Asset based loans can make your business acquisition goals a reality. However, buyers need to be realistic in their expectations. If a buyer has zero capital to put down towards the acquisition or the company targeted for purchase has zero assets, the likelihood of success is very slim.

Advice: if you are looking to acquire a business using mostly outside capital, make sure the business has hard assets and you have a portion to apply to the purchase price. What was not mentioned previously is buyer experience. You should also have some experience in the industry your acquisition is in. For example, purchasing a repair shop and have adequate prior experience as a mechanic.

If you would like to talk about acquiring a business, give us a call 714-719-8966.

To you success!

Patrick Zazueta
Huntington Coast Capital, Inc.

14JulJuly 14, 2019 By Patrick

$500,000 2nd Position Commercial Real Estate Loan Secured For A Lodge In Big Bear, CA

Huntington Beach, CA A client came to us looking to pull cash out on his lodge property in the Big Bear area of California. The funds were to be used for improvements to the property. The request was a challenging one due to the fact that the commercial real estate loan request was really more of a small business loan.

Commercial real estate loans for specialty use or single purpose properties require a deeper analysis. Unlike traditional commercial real estate loans against traditional properties like office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties, specialty use properties need to be analyzed beyond the loan to value and income of property. If a bowling alley closes down, for example, the is significant cost in changing in to something else of improving the location under new management. The lender has to not only be in the property at a conservation loan to value, but also has to buy in to the business being able to survive on a going forward basis.

“This place has been here for years! This is not a risky loan for the lender!”

This is something we hear quite often when being sold on securing funds for specialty or single purpose properties. Anyone remember Circuit City? They were forced to close their doors and are currently under a massive re-organization. Established in 1949, they enjoyed steady success through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s before feeling the pain of consumer shift to online shopping and competitors entering the space. I have personally witnessed McDonald’s locations closing! The point is that anything can happen with business purpose commercial real estate, no matter how large or how small the operation is.

What additional analysis is required?

Some of the points to consider with these property types are the following:

market demand for property
competition in the surrounding area
obsolescence of amenities or attraction (how many kids go to the arcade nowadays?)
quality of management
customer experience (in today’s world a bad Yelp review could have damaging impacts)
landscaping and overall desirability of the property

This is not a complete list, but covers some key points to be considered when financing these property types.

If you have a challenging loan request, we would like to hear from you!

To your success!

Patrick Zazueta
Huntington Coast Capital, Inc.
714-719-8966

31MayJune 5, 2019 By Patrick

HCC Can Now Offer Commercial Real Estate Loans In California

Huntington Beach, CA Huntington Coast Capital is now licensed to secure asset based, institutional commercial real estate loans in California. Prior to receiving the license, we were only able to place private money asset based loans for bridge or special purposes. Now that the broker license is in place, we can secure permanent funding for all asset types in commercial real estate.

We look forward to better serving our clients with our expanded asset based loan product offering. All types of commercial real estate will be considered. If you are looking for a commercial real estate loan, give us a call 714-719-8966.

08MarMarch 8, 2019 By Patrick

Why You Do Not Need Good Credit For An Asset Based Loan

Huntington Beach, CA

In the lending world, so much relies on personal credit as part of the analysis. Strong personal credit is something not everyone has, fewer than you think in fact. As business owners, when payments are delayed, you are forced to delay your payments to suppliers. However, because your business income is your primary source of income (in most cases), this means personal obligations can also be delayed. Timely payments on items such as your personal mortgage payments, electricity bill, car payments, and so forth all attribute toward your credit score. Delays in revenue and income from your business can quickly effect your personal life and negatively impact your credit score. A poor credit score makes it nearly impossible to be approved for additional credit.

Asset based loans come to the rescue in these cases! Asset based loans can be used for either real estate or business loan purposes. Let us explore below.

Asset Based Loans For Business.

The company balance sheet reflects all the assets of a business (remember assets, minus liabilities equals equity?). Assets that can be used as collateral for an asset based loan are accounts receivable, equipment, inventory, and real estate (more on asset based real estate loans below).

Accounts receivable are payment obligations from customers for goods purchased or services performed. An accounts receivable invoice reflects the amount due and when payment is expected (usually with 30, 60 or 90 days). These invoices are considered assets and can be used as collateral for a loan.

There are two types of asset based loans available against invoices and those are factoring loans and an asset based line of credit. A factoring loan is a buy sell agreement where the factor provides and advance against the face amount of the invoices to improve the cash flow of the business. Factoring loans are more than just an advance. In a factoring arrangement the factor manages the back office and credit and collection functions for the client. Outsourcing the back office functions is often more cost effective than hiring internal staff. For more information on factoring loans click here.

An asset based accounts receivable line of credit provides an advance against accounts on a total availability In this type of arrangement the lender looks at the accounts receivable aging and advances against the total balance outstanding. There is no back office management involved in an asset based line of credit and as such, the rates are a bit lower.

Asset based loans against inventory and equipment are just as you would expect. The lender advances against the value of the collateral. Proceeds are used to increase working capital and assist in growing the business. Equipment loans have been a major source of growth for us in the asset based loan category. For more information on this type of loan please visit our sister company Equipment Finance Quotes.

Asset Based Loans For Commercial Real Estate.

Commercial real estate transactions also use asset based loans on a broad basis. If you have a traditional property type and have plenty of time to close using a bank is your best bet. High scrutiny in underwriting translates in to lower rates although the process can be tedious.

Asset based loans in commercial real estate are used as bridge loans to acquire property. Scenarios where time is of the essence or where a property requires creative underwriting, fit well with asset based commercial loan requests. Virtually all property types are considered and the process is much faster and much less document intensive than traditional bank loans. For more information on asset based loans for commercial real estate click here.

You noticed that I did not mention personal credit in any of the explanations above. This is because it does not come in to the analysis to any important degree. The only exception to this is if the borrower has a negative mark on his credit where a lender providing a similar loan took a loss on that loan. Poor credit due to inquiries, slow payment of personal obligations, charge off notices, default on credit cards and the like rarely come in to play. The main focus is the quality of the asset being used as collateral.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. If your business could use an asset based loan or if you need an asset based loan to acquire commercial real estate, give us a call at 714-719-8966.

To your success!

Patrick Zazueta | Managing Director
Huntington Coast Capital, Inc.

28JulJuly 29, 2018 By Patrick

Huntington Coast Capital Secures $300,000 Factoring Line Of Credit

Huntington Beach, CA An advertising company is the latest example of our asset based loan success stories! The company specializes in Social Hotspot/WiFi Advertising. Their slogan, WiFi is Smart. Phones are Smart. Is Your Advertising Smart? says it all. Their ability to target the audience of their clients with real time advertising sent to the target customers cell phone, is a powerful and engaging marketing concept. They can target age, gender, interests, location and more, to drill down and put the appropriate ads in front of people that would have the most interest. Targeted mobile marketing is the wave of the future in advertising!

The Challenge: Like most of our clients, they were growing quickly and struggling to keep up with the day to day working capital needs of the company. They needed an asset based loan secured by their accounts receivable to speed up their cash cycle. However, this was a more difficult funding request due to the fact that they bill their customers ahead of services rendered. I would estimate that 99 percent of the asset based loan providers that are lending on accounts receivable need to finance the invoices after the service or product has been delivered. We literally spoke with over a dozen companies to discuss a factoring loan for this client. After several attempts we found success with a progressive and forward thinking asset based loan lender. They secured the working capital loan they needed and can now grow the company without worry of running out of cash to support their growth!

If your company could use an asset based loan for your business or an asset based loan secured by commercial real estate, we would like to hear from you! We enjoy these success stories and would like to feature your business in the next one!

To your success!

Patrick Zazueta | Founder
Huntington Coast Capital, Inc.
714-719-8966 direct