To our friends and clients -
· Last month we mentioned the four P’s - Purpose, Passion, Pride and Persistence. As an observer of success, we often wonder what makes a company, team, individual or organization “tick”. One thing we know for sure - Passion generally exceeds technique. When you play/work with passion you separate yourself from mediocrity. Take care of the small things passionately and the big things will most likely take care of themselves.
· Listened to a panel of regulators that included OCC, FDIC and the State of Texas and learned that as a % of Total loans in Texas 44% are CRE v. 25% nationally, hence they are very concerned that if CRE deteriorates, it could cause major problems for Texas Banks. The takeaway is that no one should expect lending institutions to be anywhere close to aggressive in the coming years.
· State of Texas banking regulators send out a survey each quarter to lending officers across Texas, most recent Q3 information show two very interesting changes, 54% reported underwriting standards are tightening and 61% are pessimistic that CRE sales activity will decrease.
· Let’s talk email, ok who has that person in their life, someone who you really enjoy in person, but their email etiquette is so horrid… and you just can’t bring yourself to flame them and say please stop sending me every bad joke, political commentary, virus warning, free Microsoft offer, etc. I guess it doesn’t take that long to hit the delete button.
>· While we are on email - Question: are the auto-replies in email actually effective? Do we get any useful information out of them? Call so-in-so in my absence, but I will probably respond on my blackberry anyway…. blah…blah…blah. The one useful ones are humorous, we have an attorney who says something to the effect of - I know the finance world can’t operate without me, so go home until I get back from vacation.
· We attended the Commercial Finance Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas with 800+ other lenders this month, attendance was off 20% from last year and the membership has dropped by 15%. Most of the panel sessions were about, Lesson’s We’ve Learned, How not to get Screwed, etc., once again reminding us all that the most important element in a lending relationship is Character.
· The positive takeaway from Vegas was that the lenders left standing after all this mess are very busy with new opportunities and pumped up for 2010. If you have capital and a solid team, you are in a very good position, hence we are pumped.
· Fairly amazing to see we have recaptured 78% from the lows last March.
· If you are planning on getting your tummy tucked or your boobs “done”, you better hurry, there is a 5% sales tax planned for cosmetic surgery in the new health care bill to pay for the new government run program. So much for no new taxes on those making less than $250m. This is on page 2045 is anyone is interested in reading it in your spare time. This is just one of the new taxes proposed.
· Should people who refuse to purchase health insurance be subject to a $250,000 fine and/or five years in jail? Seriously, a slim majority of the US House of Representatives think so. It is hard to believe we are really to a point of fines or jail.
· Heard a friend tell a story on how he taught his kids about taxes, he made them spread their Halloween candy on the table, then he took 1/3 of it and said. “That is tax.” Better than them finding out 10-15 years later and saying, “Who the heck is FICA and FUTA?”
· Unemployment is a big problem. Forget the 10% reported by the mainstream media; the real number is close to 18% or 28,165,000 people. Don’t believe us, go to http://www.bis.gov for details. When looking at the real number you must watch U-6 - which includes unemployed workers, plus discouraged workers, workers forced to work part-time because they are not able to find and secure full-time work and marginally attached workers. If this is not enough - 36% of the unemployed were jobless for 27 weeks or more. We think all this spells a slow, slow, slow recovery.
All our best -
Cole Harmonson | 512-528-1494 | cole@farwestcap.com
Don Stricklin | 512-528-1490 | don@farwestcap.com
Brian Center | 512-528-0382 | brian@farwestcap.com
Mary Rettig | 817-490-5052 | mary@farwestcap.com
Jennifer Royal | 512-528-7620 | jennifer@farwestcap.com