Establishing a strong business plan and model as well as understanding the franchise brand are essential.
Online, June 30, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Picking a franchise to purchase can be a difficult task, but finding a franchise loan to fund the venture could prove even more difficult. Formulating a business plan, understanding your financial strengths and weaknesses, and connecting with the right lenders are just a few of the steps toward getting the funding you need.
Where to Start
Establishing a strong business plan and model as well as understanding the franchise brand are essential before you are ready to work with lenders on the financing.
Reviewing the brands franchise disclosure document (FDD), speaking with existing franchisees and financial professionals, in conjunction with support from the franchisor, will help you formulate your business plan and build financial projections. Outlining your management and marketing skills, past successes and future goals by including resumes for yourself, planned partners and other employees will allow all parties involved, from the franchisor to lenders, to understand the strengths of the ownership and management team. Personal credit history and financial strength will also play an important role in opening a franchise business.
Understand the Lending Market
There are sources of startup money that may not be as obvious to franchisees that can be helpful. Using equity from a home loan or a 401(k) plan, can provide a kick-start to your business if conventional sources of financing are not available. However, those products may not be optimal over the long run when compared to loan products specifically geared to funding a small businesses.
Often times, a franchisee looking to open their first franchise will fit nicely into a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan product. SBA loans are made by banks or other participating lenders - not the government. SBA loans allow the lenders to extend credit to borrowers, who they may not be able to lend on a conventional basis, by taking advantage of a guarantee that the SBA provides to the lender in the event of default. There are a few different options, but the Flagship SBA 7a product gives the bank a 75% guarantee if your loan defaults - so that the money that the bank lends to you is not entirely at risk. SBA loans are typically priced at Wall Street Journal Prime + 1 to 2.75%, for terms of 7 to 25 years, depending on the use of funds.
Curious how fundable you are? Call CRE- Finance, to help with your franchise loan.
Having liquid assets, valuable collateral and a good credit rating will go a long way to helping you get a franchise loan. According to The Wall Street Journal, most banks will be looking for around one-fifth or 20% of franchise startup costs to come from the owner before considering lending options, and without a good credit score, most lenders won't feel comfortable extending a loan even if the proposed franchise is known for long-standing success.
In some instances the franchise itself will extend financing to you. Some companies, like 7- Eleven, actually build the store for new franchisees and lease the location to you, meaning you incur minimal startup costs and the transaction is handled directly between you and the franchisor. Others, like Subway may buy back locations from existing franchisees and then sell them to you as a new location, meaning you'll be handed an established store, sometimes with existing employees and inventory.
Make rational requests
The brand you choose to work with may provide upfront estimates of how much it will cost to start a new business and can also give you information on monthly and year-over-year revenue goals and expected progress. This information, if available, is often found in Item 19 of the FDD. However, a franchise is not required to provide this information in their FDD - so speaking with several existing franchisees is always a wise choice. Based on this data and your own projections make sure you understand when your business will break even, factoring in both expenses as well as the loan payments and always assume there will be unexpected costs. When determining your loan amount make sure to include working capital to get you through the ramp-up period of the business until the business can support expenses and loan payments.
When lenders review your loan application they will pay attention to several key things, but 2 items that you should be aware of are Loan To Value (LTV) and Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR). LTV is a measure of the total value of the loan amount compared to the collateral pledged. Lenders will look at the collateral as a secondary source of repayment of the loan and in many cases with a start-up financing may look for collateral to cover the full loan. In cases where there is not enough collateral the lenders will look to other strengths of the deal. DSCR is a measure of the cash generated by the business available for the loan payments. The higher the DSCR, the better because in the bank's view there will be a cushion of cash just in case there are unforeseen problems or slow periods for the business.
For More Information call CRE-Finance at 855-515-5585. Rich Tretsky is at extension 504 and Todd Tretsky is at extension 505 or you can visit our website at www.cre-finance.com to get started!
Share: