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This guy walked into the bank yesterday in red cloth shorts, an inside-out t-shirt with a stain, and uncombed hair. He’s older - in his 60s. He asked to talk to a loan officer. The teller led him to my office.
I spent about 20 minutes talking to this guy. He was A LOT. He seemed very disorganized, both in his business plan and in his manner of speech. His hands shook as he talked. He tended to ramble quite a bit, in addition to repeating himself. I’ll try to condense it.
The main thing he was looking for was a loan for start-up money for a furniture store. Well, store isn’t the right word. He said he would keep the furniture in various storage facilities around the area, including his ex-wife’s garage. When I asked if that was a good idea, he said they were still on good terms, that they keep it together for the sake of their grandkids.
He wanted to sell the furniture online and in the Shopper (local free paper). If someone called up wanting to look at the furniture before buying it, he would meet them where it was stored. I hope this is coming across as odd as it feels to me.
He said there was no good building for a storefront in the town where the bank is. He said several times he wasn’t going to pay “$5,000 a month” to rent a building with a storefront. It makes me wonder if he actually priced that because it sounds high for our area, even for commercial buildings.
But he didn’t start by telling me this wild plan to sell furniture out of storage facilities. No, he started off by telling me he has property in a rural town about 20 mile north of us - at a location locals call “four corners.” His parents owned the original four corners restaurant and gas station. When they retired, they sold it, but he still owns the adjacent land.
Now, in my state (not sure about other states), land is parceled off into 40-acre squares. This guy’s parents originally owned two 40-acre parcels, but when they sold the restaurant/gas station, they split one of the parcels so they could sell about 10 acres that the business sat on and keep the wooded land behind it. Since then (he claims), the owners of that smaller parcel have built two storage buildings, both of which are partially on his land. He hasn’t gotten a survey to verify this, but he has a lawyer working on transferring that land back to him.
For a bit of background, adverse possession is a thing in my state, but you have to use the land as your own for 15 years without informing the actual owner. They have to not care that you’re storing your things there, mowing the grass, paying the taxes, etc. For 15 years. But this guy isn’t finishing that time period. He has a lawyer involved instead. More power to him, but that’s not going to help support a commercial loan.
Because of the angle of the highway, it cuts through one of the 40-acre parcels. So part of this guy’s land is on the other side of the highway. On that little triangle of land, the town has built a visitor’s center. He wasn’t clear whether the town was leasing the land from him or if he just let them use it. He said he didn’t want the visitor’s center to go away, but that could also be a good place to put up a storefront or storage for furniture.
I was thinking he also has a lot of land that’s right along the highway, just south of the parcel he’s trying to get back from the current owners. If he wanted to build a storefront, there’s plenty of space there. But I didn’t say that because I definitely didn’t want to give advice to someone this unprepared.
He kept saying that this furniture business was going to be a legacy for his kids and grandkids. It sounded to me more like he wanted someone younger to haul furniture around and deliver it. His kids both have good jobs that I can’t see them leaving. Neither of them need a side gig. The grandkids are teenagers, so he might run into labor laws there if he’s not careful.
He complained a couple times about big box stores coming into the area, pushing small family businesses out. There’s dollar stores popping up all over the place! Never mind that they don’t sell furniture.
At one point, he told me how he used to run a fuel oil delivery service. He had specific routes he ran. But he couldn’t afford to do it any more when regulators insisted he be properly insured. Sounds like he’s always wanted to cut corners on his businesses.
It took a while, but I finally got him to tell me what sort of loan he was looking for. He wanted $40-60k to buy furniture to sell. He would also use some of the startup money for advertising. He intended to incorporate the business, with him as the president and his kids as other officers. It didn’t sound like he’d actually talked that over with the kids, though. I gave him a blank financial statement to complete and told him to bring it back completed along with a written business plan and information on what collateral he wanted to use.
I also gave him BM’s and my cards. He looked a little taken aback when I told him I wasn’t our primary commercial lender. As if he’d been talking to the wrong person the whole time. Yeah, I was gatekeeping a little bit. But BM was busy and I wasn’t. I didn’t feel the need to interrupt BM with this nutjob.
Also, if he needs a loan for the entire startup amount for his business, that makes it sound like he’s not putting any of his own money in the business. That’s not a good way to start things off.
He got up and sat back down a couple times when it seemed he was about done rambling. He couldn’t stick the landing. When he finally left, I was relieved. I very much doubt we’ll hear from this guy again. He doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to write down an actual business plan with actual numbers. This feels more like pie in the sky thinking.
I spent about 20 minutes talking to this guy. He was A LOT. He seemed very disorganized, both in his business plan and in his manner of speech. His hands shook as he talked. He tended to ramble quite a bit, in addition to repeating himself. I’ll try to condense it.
The main thing he was looking for was a loan for start-up money for a furniture store. Well, store isn’t the right word. He said he would keep the furniture in various storage facilities around the area, including his ex-wife’s garage. When I asked if that was a good idea, he said they were still on good terms, that they keep it together for the sake of their grandkids.
He wanted to sell the furniture online and in the Shopper (local free paper). If someone called up wanting to look at the furniture before buying it, he would meet them where it was stored. I hope this is coming across as odd as it feels to me.
He said there was no good building for a storefront in the town where the bank is. He said several times he wasn’t going to pay “$5,000 a month” to rent a building with a storefront. It makes me wonder if he actually priced that because it sounds high for our area, even for commercial buildings.
But he didn’t start by telling me this wild plan to sell furniture out of storage facilities. No, he started off by telling me he has property in a rural town about 20 mile north of us - at a location locals call “four corners.” His parents owned the original four corners restaurant and gas station. When they retired, they sold it, but he still owns the adjacent land.
Now, in my state (not sure about other states), land is parceled off into 40-acre squares. This guy’s parents originally owned two 40-acre parcels, but when they sold the restaurant/gas station, they split one of the parcels so they could sell about 10 acres that the business sat on and keep the wooded land behind it. Since then (he claims), the owners of that smaller parcel have built two storage buildings, both of which are partially on his land. He hasn’t gotten a survey to verify this, but he has a lawyer working on transferring that land back to him.
For a bit of background, adverse possession is a thing in my state, but you have to use the land as your own for 15 years without informing the actual owner. They have to not care that you’re storing your things there, mowing the grass, paying the taxes, etc. For 15 years. But this guy isn’t finishing that time period. He has a lawyer involved instead. More power to him, but that’s not going to help support a commercial loan.
Because of the angle of the highway, it cuts through one of the 40-acre parcels. So part of this guy’s land is on the other side of the highway. On that little triangle of land, the town has built a visitor’s center. He wasn’t clear whether the town was leasing the land from him or if he just let them use it. He said he didn’t want the visitor’s center to go away, but that could also be a good place to put up a storefront or storage for furniture.
I was thinking he also has a lot of land that’s right along the highway, just south of the parcel he’s trying to get back from the current owners. If he wanted to build a storefront, there’s plenty of space there. But I didn’t say that because I definitely didn’t want to give advice to someone this unprepared.
He kept saying that this furniture business was going to be a legacy for his kids and grandkids. It sounded to me more like he wanted someone younger to haul furniture around and deliver it. His kids both have good jobs that I can’t see them leaving. Neither of them need a side gig. The grandkids are teenagers, so he might run into labor laws there if he’s not careful.
He complained a couple times about big box stores coming into the area, pushing small family businesses out. There’s dollar stores popping up all over the place! Never mind that they don’t sell furniture.
At one point, he told me how he used to run a fuel oil delivery service. He had specific routes he ran. But he couldn’t afford to do it any more when regulators insisted he be properly insured. Sounds like he’s always wanted to cut corners on his businesses.
It took a while, but I finally got him to tell me what sort of loan he was looking for. He wanted $40-60k to buy furniture to sell. He would also use some of the startup money for advertising. He intended to incorporate the business, with him as the president and his kids as other officers. It didn’t sound like he’d actually talked that over with the kids, though. I gave him a blank financial statement to complete and told him to bring it back completed along with a written business plan and information on what collateral he wanted to use.
I also gave him BM’s and my cards. He looked a little taken aback when I told him I wasn’t our primary commercial lender. As if he’d been talking to the wrong person the whole time. Yeah, I was gatekeeping a little bit. But BM was busy and I wasn’t. I didn’t feel the need to interrupt BM with this nutjob.
Also, if he needs a loan for the entire startup amount for his business, that makes it sound like he’s not putting any of his own money in the business. That’s not a good way to start things off.
He got up and sat back down a couple times when it seemed he was about done rambling. He couldn’t stick the landing. When he finally left, I was relieved. I very much doubt we’ll hear from this guy again. He doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to write down an actual business plan with actual numbers. This feels more like pie in the sky thinking.
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