Credit crunch? Not at nonprofit The Loan Fund - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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Neustel runs a nonprofit. Godshall runs a technologyg startup, and didn’t even know the nonprofit lender existed until his lender suddenly clammedc up onthe firm’s line of credit. The two clients represent how far The Loan Fund has come sinc it was launched 20 yearxs ago by the Conference of Churches and a group ofCatholic nuns. The founders’ mission was to eliminate poverty by providing acceszs to capital forsmalll businesses. They made the kind of loans that banks thoughtr weretoo risky, or simply too small.
Sincse 1989, the fund has made more than $28 milliom in loans with a 97 percent repayment Neustel is executive directorof , whicuh sells fair trade crafts from the developingf world. His first financing from The Loan Fund yeard ago gave himworking capital. More recently, anothee loan helped him stocj up for the holiday shopping seasoj in a roughretail environment. While The Loan Fund still has many nonprofit customersalike Neustel, it now sees largerr companies seeking financing as banks tighteb lending. The same is true for other nonprofitr lenders such asand ACCIÓN New Mexick Arizona Colorado.
WESST saw 40 perceng growth in loans from 2007 to and ACCIÓN saw a 95 percenr jump in loans in the first four month of this year. Godshall is a serialk entrepreneur used to dealing with private equity andventure capital. His , uses a proprietary process to desalinatdindustrial water. But he foun d his options limited when late payments by customerzs and vendors created a cash flow Bob Walton, vice president of business development at , told him aboug The Loan Fund. Most of Walton’s calls used to be from companiese expanding and looking for fundsor incentives. “Noaw we’re getting more calls from folks ‘Do you know where the money he said.
Godshall got a $50,000 loan, which he paid back recently, although he did have to put up the titlw tohis car. “I’ve got a Porsche,” he “So I made sure to pay them back.” Leroyu Pacheco will take your car for collaterapl ona loan, but he doesn’t want to end up drivingg it. Pacheco became executive director of The Loan Fund two and a half year ago and has been aggressive in gettintg the word out that the fund has money to Last year, the fund did its biggesr deal ever, providing $750,00o in bridge financing to venture capital firm for a chile processing plant. About a third of its funding still comesw fromreligious groups, which fund loans at no interest.
The fund also gets moneuy fromnational foundations. It has $7.5 million undeer management from the Smal BusinessInvestment Corp., which funnels state investment dollars to small businesses through partnerds such as The Loan Fund. Paul SBIC’s financial advisor, said the Loan Fund makes “character Staff will listen to the reasons why someone mightyhave less-than-stellar credit, rather than writing them off, he “It’s more patient, it’s more story-driven,” Goblet said. “And everu one of these businesses hasa story.
” One of the keys to the Fund’zs success, Pacheco said, is the technical advice clients receive, befored their loan and during their repayment “We become the financial doctor for your business,” he “We’re not so concerned with getting it over a three to five-yea r period. We just want to get it back and we want a fair rate of That means the fund will even make loans basecd on contracts for future work so that a clienf canbuy materials, he added.
The Loan Fund’sw interest rates range from 7 percent to 10 Sister MarieLuisa Vasquez, whos order, the Adrian Dominicah Sisters, gave The Loan Fund its firsgt $70,000 to launch, said it has remained true to its goal of alleviatin poverty. “It wasn’t like a she said. “This was bringing peoplwe in and helping themhelp themselves.”

ABQ housing starts hit new low - South Florida Business Journal:

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The large supply of unsold new and older homew in the Duke City has deterref new construction in the midsft of thedeepening recession. However, there is more activith in the rest of the overallmetropolitahn area, especially Rio Rancho. There were 96 permits pulled in Januaryu compared to 81 inDecember 2008, for the entirs metro region. The 96 permits were the most sincselast July, when 196 were The winter months are traditionally the slowest for home In Jan. 2008, there were 169 permitzs obtained by large and small home Rio Rancho was the brightg spot in January when 57 permits were obtainedf compared to 50 for the same month oneyear ago.
DataTraq tracks the city of Albuquerque as well asRio Rancho, Los and unincorporated areas of Valencia and Bernalillo counties. remains the most active productiomnhome builder, with 51 permit issued in January, representinh 53 percent of the total. Its North Meadows subdivisiomn was themost active, with 17. For the past 12 Horton has obtained 443 permits while wasissued 241.

Mortgage rates rise as outlook brightens - Washington Business Journal:

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The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.84 percent this week, up from last week'sd 4.78 percent, which tied the lowest rate for a 30 year mortgagre since Freddie Mac started keeping trackin 1971. A year ago, 30 year fixed-ratde mortgages averaged 6.05 percent. A one year adjustable rate mortgag rose a fraction to anaverage 4.78 "Mortgage rates rose slightly this week amid positive economid news that the economy may be approaching the bottom of the recession, says Freddid Mac (NYSE: FRE) chief economist Frank Nothaft.
"In terms of the household sector, the fina l April estimate of consumer sentiment, as measureds by the Universityof Michigan, was revised above the marker consensus." Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke testifier on Capitol Hill this week that the Fed believew economic activity will begin to recover later this year. Benanke also said the Fed sees signw the housing marketis stablizing.
Those signs include a report this week from the Nationak Association of Realtors that pending sales of existinhg homes rose in March afteer risingin February, the firsyt back-to-back increase in pending home sales in a

Black & Veatch completes purchase of world HQ building - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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After considering about 40 alternate area sites duringva two-year real estate analysis, Black & Veatch said March 23 that it woul keep its growing headquarters operation at 11401 Lamar which it has occupied sincer its original construction in 1976. Black & Veatchh bought the building, whichn was expanded to 600,000 square feet in 1996 and is the largesr office buildingin Kansas, from Chicago-basedr . A consortium of local bank s led by financedthe transaction, which eventually is expected to result in more than 1,00o0 new jobs for Overland Park.
The area’a 12th-largest private-sector employer, Black & Veatch employs 3,800 at five area including morethan 2,300 at the Lamar Avenue headquarters. Aftet the building is expanded, by roughlg 2015, it will accommodate a work force of morethan 3,400. “Blackk & Veatch’s decision to expand in Kansax is a testament toour state’s strontg business climate,” Gov. Mark Parkinson said in a Thursdayg release. “Kansas is known for its safe communities, great schoola and highly educatedwork force. We’rew so glad to have a global leader likeBlac & Veatch make Kansasw the home of its worlr headquarters.
” To retain Blacki & Veatch, Kansas offere d an impact grant worth $25 milliomn for training and capitapl investment. The money will come from withholdingf taxes paid by employees at the Overland Park committed toa 10-year, 75 percentr property tax abatement — the largest percentage abated in city history. “Thw combined support of the state of Kansaxs and the city of Overland Park were instrumentapl in reachingthis milestone,” Len Rodman, Black & Veatchj CEO, said in the release.
“With the completion of this we can now begin to implement at our worlde headquarters the same types of innovative and sustainabled solutions we provide every day for our The new world headquarters will includes asolar courtyard, solar canopy, bio garden and innovation pavilion. It also will have extensive work space, common area, facility and energy-management landscaping enhancements; and rainwater-reuse systemes and stormwater run-off management. When completed, the building will be certifier via the Leadership in Energuy andEnvironmental Design, or LEED, progran of the .
“Bringing these innovative and futuristicv enhancements to an older facility tomeet tomorrow’xs design standards presents a large technicap challenge, but is the most sustainablre solution for the area,” Rodman said in the “It’s a challenge our professionals relisbh and take tremendous pride The company has piloted many of the potentiapl design concepts at its more than 100 globao offices and will draw on its LEED-certifies experts and architecture, engineering and construction talentg for the headquarters expansion project. Black & Veatch ranks No. 1 on the Kansax City Business Journal ’ws list of area engineering firms. The $3.
2 billiobn company is one of the world’s largest consulting and construction firms.