About Peoria County, IL

Ever thought about starting your own business? Have you been thinking about it even more lately? Well, give it a shot! LAUNCH has a business plan competition for aspiring entrepreneurs. The winner will receive cash prizes and a multitude of general business consulting services to get their business up and running properly. So if you have been thinking about starting your own business, please check out the information below and Good Luck!

What is Launch?

Launch is a new Business Plan Competition designed to encourage, foster and support start up businesses in Central Illinois and to promote entrepreneurship of all kinds.

How does Launch Work?

The 2009 Launch Business Plan Competition will include a preliminary round and culminate in a final round where the best business plan will be selected.
All contestants who present their plans in the preliminary rounds wil receive feedback and suggestions from the panel of judges. Those advancing to the final round will be eligible for the grand prize consisting of a cash award plus free consultant services from a variety of professional areas of importance to start up businesses.

The LAUNCH Business Plan Competition is open to anyone who has a new business idea and plans to start that new business in the Tri-County area. There is no application fee.

Business plan must be submitted by August 1st. The Business Plan Competition preliminary rounds begin August 25th. The winning business plan will be chosen during the final round on September 30th.

Submit Business Plan

Check out www.launchnewbiz.com for more information or to submit your business plan.

The winner will receive cash prizes and a multitude of general business consulting services to get their business up and running properly.

Free Workshops - How to Organize and Write a Business Plan

They are offering free workshops to teach you how to organize and write a business plan. Topics covered include:

• Selecting target markets
• Choosing the right location
• Creating cash flow budgets
• Estimating sales & expenses

Workshop dates are:

• April 21st
• May 27th
• June 30th
• July 30th

Time: 3:00 - 6:00pm

Place: Peoria NEXT Innovation Center; 801 W Main; 2nd floor

Besh Wishes!

A good friend once told me there are two types of investors. Those that trust what people are telling them and make decisions off their knowledge and advice, and those that learn about what they are investing in and do the research themselves. I have found that while most people start out as the first type of investor. The serious investors usually are a mix of the two types. They have trusted advisors, yet they also do some of their own research.

So I thought I would post some interesting information for you to view. The Housing Supply Outlook from PAAR. It shows you the housing supply within the given value ranges and by housing type. One thing to know when you are viewing the outlook data is that a market is considered to be balanced between buyers and sellers (aka not a buyers market nor a sellers market) when there is roughly a 5 - 6 months supply of homes.

View March 2009 Housing Supply Outlook

It has been a frustrating time for home owners. There is no doubt about it. I have listened to a lot of home owners who purchased their home with an arm loan thinking they would refinance in a couple of years and leverage some of the equity that was built up over that time period. However, with the foreclosures in their neighborhood or lower comparable sales prices, they have been unable to refinance. The sad part is that the banks would not even talk to them because they were not behind on their payments.

Well there are two new programs that I just heard about that I want to share with you. I want to through out the disclaimer that I have not heard of anyone who has leveraged this program yet. So I would appreciate the feedback if you have.

Home Affordable Refinancing

It is stated this program is for homeowners who pay their mortgages on time but are not able to refinance and take advantage of today's lower mortgage rates due to a decrease in the value of their home. They will help borrowers whose loans are held by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac refinance into a more affordable mortgage.

Home Affordable Modification

It is stated this program is for homeowners struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments maybe because their interest rate has increase due to an arm loan or they have less income. They will provide you with mortgage payments that you can afford. It was explained to me that they have been working with clients to adjust their monthly payments for a period of 3 or so years in order to help bridge them through this crisis. Then the mortgage rate and payments will be adjusted back to what they would have been at the time they began the program. So at the amazingly low rates that we are experiencing, which souns like a great program!


If either of these programs are of interest to you, then go to: www.makinghomeaffordable.gov.

In talking with another real estate expert, he gave me the following figures:

• Real Estate has beat inflation by 33% over the last 30 years.

• Real Estate appreciates about 6% a year (avg over the last 30 years), and the
  CPI (Consumer Price Index) goes up about 4.7% (avg over the last 30 years).

The one thing that real estate brings to the table is LEVERAGE. To make sure you understand the power of leverage lets do a couple of examples.

For example, if you have a home that you purchase for a price of $150,000 and you put $30,000 down. Taking the average appreciation amount (6.1%) for real estate, after a year your property would be worth $159,150 which is a gain of $9,150. Now if you purchase another investment, say stock, for $150,000, and for keeping things the same and state you have an appreciate of 6.1%. So your investment would now be worth $159,150, just the same as the real estate example. So, lets evaluate the resultss you made $9,150 on a $30,000 investment in real estate. You made $9,150 on a $150,000 investment in stock. So your rate of returns are the following:

• 30.5% rate of return on the real estate investment

• 6.1% rate of return on the stock investment

So...which is the better deal?

Second example, lets play with the numbers a little bit. Lets take the same home priced at $150,000 and putting $30,000 down. Taking the average appreciation amount for real estate 6.1%, and after a year your property will be worth $159,150 which is a gain of $9,150, which is the same as above. Now if you purchase an investment, say stock, for $150,000, and for discussion sake, lets say you have an appreciation of 12%, double what we are figuring on the real estate investment. So your stock investment would now be worth $168,000. Now, you have made $9,150 on a $30,000 investment in real estate, or you would have made $18,000 on a $150,000 investment in stock. So your rate of returns are the following:

• 30.5% rate of return on the real estate investment

• 12% rate of return on the stock investment

So eventhough we doubled the appreciation on the stock investment, the real estate investment delivers a better rate of return. Why is this? Because the real estate investment allows you to LEVERAGE your money.

I have an investor looking to put together a portfolio of commercial property totalling $4 million with an 8% cap rate or better.

They are interested in the following areas: Peoria, Bloomington, Springfield, and Champaign.

Please forward me any listings you may have or know of (info referral will be given if property is purchased). We are looking to put together some portfolio options asap.

Thank you