Hiring a Property Management Company

Congratulations on your property investment purchase. Now it's time to maintain and run your property. You might think you will be able to maintain the property yourself, but there are other issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, are you sure, you can keep up a high quality of living for your tenants at the lowest possible price? Secondly, will you be able to get the rent collections and not be taken advantage of by the tenants? Lastly, are you going to be in over your head time-wise?

Many people think real estate management is easy, but end up becoming overwhelmed by the day to day tasks, and end up with apartments that have neglected repairs and unhappy tenants. It's time to hire a property management company. This is especially true if you don't live in the area of your investment property. If you needed property management NY, and you're in NJ, It would be an effort to check on your property or to fix things from a distance.

So what type of property Management Company do you need? It depends on the size of your property (how many apartment rentals you have). If you have less than 10 units, and you're not expanding your real estate holdings, you're probably better off hiring a handyman/manager. However, once you have more than that, you should be looking into a reputable full service property management company.

Real estate management involves checking out the prospective tenants before they move in. It also means making sure the apartments are kept in top shape before new renters move in, and maintained on a constant basis. Having paperwork such as tenant agreements in order and filled out correctly is imperative.

The key to finding a company that can run you property efficiently, and let you make a great profit without any headaches are REFERENCES. I put that in capitols because it's the key to hiring any service. Imagine hiring a company that guaranteed a certain percentage of rent-roll, only to find out later that they use strong arm tactics on tenants. The reputation of your apartments could take years to repair. Conversely, a company can have great rapport with the renters, but fail in collections. All that can be avoided by asking for references from the prospective property management company. Ask these questions:

1) What type of percentage do they average on rent roll?

2) Are they friendly and responsive to tenants needs?

3) Do they ever spend too much?

There are many other factors that one should consider before handing their building over to a real estate management company. They should be well versed in the legalities, and have an attorney who they work with on a constant basis. Although the management company officers do not have to be lawyers, they will be handling legal proceeding for you. Instances of evictions and public nuisance issues are very common, and must be handled with care. They also have to be current with local and state laws regulating your buildings.

Some states require property management companies that collect rent, or list properties for rent to be licensed real estate brokers. If you are managing your own property, you would not need a real estate license, but you would need a business license.

Jacob Eisenstein does property management NY for EK Realty, and lives in Manhattan, NY

Evaluating Small Cap Companies for Investment

Most of us have a small portion of our portfolio that we are aggressive with. Small cap companies can be a good component of an aggressive portfolio, especially when mid and large cap companies seem overvalued. The stock prices of these companies are generally more volatile and can offer the investor higher returns. Unfortunately, this potential for higher returns is coupled with greater risk. Taking the time to evaluate a company's business plan, financial statements, and management team can help you maximize your risk/reward ratio when investing in smaller companies.

Most investors assume that any publicly traded company is going to have a viable business plan. Making this "assumption" has led to the total loss of many investors' principal in small cap companies. In order to be successful, most small cap companies have to supply a product which fills a need in a niche market that they can thrive in. Trying to directly take on the established industry leader who has brand awareness, a large marketing budget, and a huge distribution network for its products is a recipe for disaster. Make sure that any small company you invest in has identified its potential customer, and can provide a cost-effective product which that customer either wants or needs at a price that will enable the company to profit.

Before buying any stock, it is imperative to review that company's financial statements. It is impossible to evaluate a company and determine a target price per share of its stock without examining a company's income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. When available, the most recent quarterly and annual conference call should also be listened to. Most companies will provide a link to these conference calls on the investor relations parts of their website. When dealing with small cap companies, one should pay close attention to the cash on hand that the company has. When dealing with companies that are not yet profitable, the amount of cash on the balance sheet becomes even more important. As a rule of thumb (with medical or mining companies being possible exceptions), you should never buy shares of an unprofitable company that has little or no cash, or a high amount of debt. These companies will be forced to raise money in the future, usually in the form of an equity private placement, and at a discount to the current market price. If you are still insistent on purchasing some shares, it may be a good idea to call the company and see if you can participate in any potential private placement where you can acquire stock at a discounted price to the market.

The most important component of any small cap company is their management team. The greatest of products can easily fail with a poor management team, while I have seen companies with mediocre products thrive with strong management. Spend some time and research the background and history of the CEO and CFO. You will find that their track record of success or failure is very likely to repeat itself. Any companies with management teams that have a history of litigation should be avoided, since legal proceedings can be death blows to small cap companies.

Most seasoned investors in small cap companies will have a track record of some extraordinary gains and losses. Those who have trouble stomaching the downside volatility should avoid them altogether. Investing in small caps requires good judgement and experience. Unfortunately, many investors gain the most experience from their bad judgements of the past. Spending time to evaluate companies before you invest in them is critical, especially when dealing with small caps.

Arthur Kaplan invites you to visit http://kappatrade.com to learn more about the stock market and what the financial world is currently undergoing. Feel free to write us directly on our website for any help and/or suggestions.

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How to Make Event Sponsorships Work For Your Company

With the many different forms of media and advertisement getting saturated so quickly, it is time for new kinds of innovations in the world of advertising. For this reason, an increasing number of companies are turning to new kinds of marketing tools like organizing events and also sponsoring events. Event sponsorship has proved to be a very successful marketing tool with a larger number of organizations and brands embracing it nowadays. Sponsoring an event means funding an event that will benefit you on an economic level later on.

What happens when a brand sponsors an event?

When a brand sponsors an event, what happens is that the brand or the product is advertised widely, but in a way that is more subtle than a television ad or radio ad. This is because the extent of your advertising is usually a banner or an announcement of sponsors. However, this still reaches a rather large audience. They are going to see it.

In the meantime, you can try something such as do a display at that event of your brand. For example, you may be a beverage company, so you can allow those attending the event to sample your beverage. This will help you build up a positive reputation and individuals are going to associate your brand with the event. You've probably noticed this when you have attended a sporting event. You'll see that a certain beverage company is a sponsor and they may be selling that beverage out in the hallway. Now this isn't as subtle as simply having a banner splashed across somewhere at the event or a mere mention of who the sponsors are.

Why should the brand sponsor an event?

There are a number of benefits that a brand gets out of sponsoring an event. They are:

1. Recognition - When sponsoring an event, the brand usually puts up a lot of placards, posters, distributed pamphlets, etc at the event. This way, all the attendees get to know about the brand and its presence there. If they see it in a store or another vendor, they will recognize it because they saw your brand at the event.

2. Sampling - An event is a great place to launch your product. If you have introduced a new product, get associated with an event where the product's target audience may be present. This way, you can directly reach out to the customers and make an impact. And everyone likes a free sample. And if the product is good, the customers will begin making purchases and will become loyal customers.

3. Building Brand Awareness - A lot of times a brand may not be enjoying the amount of publicity that it deserves. This can be due to a number of reasons such as the media being saturated with so many ads, an excess of competition, and marketing campaigns that can use a little imagination. In such a scenario, it is very important that a marketing plan breaks away from the regular routines. This is so event sponsorship will work wonderfully towards building brand awareness.

Keeping these factors in mind, it can be seen that event sponsorships can really work for a company. However, the events should and planned properly, keeping the requirements in mind at all times; the requirements of both the brand and the event. Only then can event sponsorship work effectively for the company.

How to make the brand sponsorship work?

In order to make promoting your brand through event sponsorship a success, you need to meticulously plan your proceedings. First and foremost, you need to get associated with the right kind of event. It must be an event from which you can derive benefits. Remember that you are not running a charity and cannot possibly go around sponsoring every event that is taking place. Select the event from which your brand will benefit. Then, make sure the budget does not exceed your capabilities. Negotiate with the organizers of the event and see to it that your money is not being wasted on miscellaneous activities outside the event. Once that it done, work toward creating a lot of hype for the event through heavy promotion. This buzz generation is important, as it will attract the people towards the event. As the sponsor, it is your duty to generate the buzz needed to bring people your way. Also, it would benefit you as well if the event were attended by a large number of people, who can come in and get acquainted with the brand you are trying to promote through the sponsorship. After ensuring good attendance, work towards promoting your brand as much as possible at the event. However, this has to be done in a way that you do not annoy those attending. Do not go over the top and attract all the attention towards the brand! You should have qualified salespeople available so that they can talk about the brand, if required. Have demonstration corners, free sampling counters, and facilities for other such promotional attractions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that event sponsorship is a great tool in marketing. You need to make the event sponsorship work for your company in any way that you can. Generate the right kind of ideas and then see to it that they are executed. Rope in the best people and get associated with the biggest and most popular events. Even though event sponsorship can work wonders for your company, you must realize that sponsoring an event that is not well publicized will do little in helping your cause. Do a lot of research before releasing the funds to the company or the event that you are sponsoring.

Also keep in mind that, once associated with an event, your reputation will be at stake as well. So get associated with an event that will take your brand's name further ahead, not drag it into any controversy. If the event is a success, having sponsored the event, you will be in for many an accolade, both from the public and from the industry. Good luck!

Swati is a freelancer, a work from home mom, who loves to write. She is a postgraduate in English and an MBA. She has written on practically every niche on the web. She writes articles, blogs, web pages, reports, press releases, product descriptions, eBooks, sales letters and newsletters. Visit Swati's blog at http://swatibanerjee.wordpress.com now if you need content for your business or personal needs.

Take Your Company Public - Here is a List of Cons to Watch Out For

Many entrepreneurs dream of taking their company public and expanding their venture into an international enterprise that begins to hemorrhage investment capital and profits from the get-go but then reality sets in as one begins to navigate the dingy, shark infested waters of the 'go public' market place. There are consultants and boiler room penny stock misfits just waiting for you to stumble onto their site and in only a few minutes on the phone you're reeled in and signing contracts and making wire transfers and equity disbursements and at the end of the grueling 3 to 6 month process, you're broke, your company is in shambles and you just stand their staring off into space feeling like the boogeyman just slapped you around.

Welcome to an industry where the weak are preyed upon like wolves on an injured lamb tangled in a fence.

If you are serious about going public there are some structures to stay away from because 99.9% of the time they fail. Pink Sheets and Reverse Mergers into a public shell are two formations to be very weary of. Pink Sheets are almost a completely unregulated trading platform and known by any savvy investor as the 'red light district' of the public trading industry. Pump 'em and dump 'em is the name of the game with Pink Sheets. Stock Price manipulation is as common with pink sheets as gross stench is to 5 day old road kill on a desert highway. If you are going to get involved with Pink Sheets find an attorney or consultant that can guide you around the scammers, it's difficult to make in on the Pinks but I have heard of a few companies making it.

The next cesspool in the trading industry is ultra popular (for newbie's) and the number one 'big mistake' made by countless 'go public' rookies, the reverse merger into a public shell...ouch! It even hurts to say it. I get calls on a daily basis from business owners who thought they were getting droppings of manna from heaven when a consultant suggested that they save $100,000's and months of work by simply buying a public shell and merging their entity with it and abracadabra you're big time and public and making millions. Sadly the reality is that this poor sap just spent $200k on an entity with liens and 15% equity distributed to a group of investors who pumped up the stock and dumped it before the ink on the contracts was dry. Now his dreams are shattered, he's broke; his company will get stripped down and sold off in pieces like an unlocked car in the ghetto.

It's sad when I see the same scams perpetrated on the uninformed over and over again. If you are trying to raise capital, find a consultant, objective broker dealer or attorney who will listen to your needs and before doing anything will give you the good and bad news about the various options. Taking your company public can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your career. You can purchase other companies with stock. You can use stock as collateral for quick loans to support growth. You can reward employees with shares in the company for meeting certain objectives. Go public, fulfill your dreams just use caution as you proceed.

Article by James Scott, CEO of Princeton Corporate Solutions

Do you want to take your company public? Call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183 for a no nonsense, straight forward and honest consultation. We offer several extremely affordable ways to take your company public and succeed long term.

Taking Your Company Public - OTCBB - The Decision and How to Prepare

When companies contact us about going public they will typically start out by saying something like, "I've been watching your videos and have been following your company in the media for a while now" or "I've been reading your articles about globalization and going public over the past few months and...". My point in stating the above is this, I've never had a company that calls and says, "We were going to get a corporate line of credit but figured we'd go public instead".

Companies that are going about this the right way will have spent time preparing their company to go public and they've taken the appropriate initiatives to set up post public finance options, investor relations and other efforts that are conducive to their company performing in the aftermarket.

As an IPO consultant it's not my job to sell the company on why they should go public. It's my job to question their motivations and play devil's advocate to try to test their theories and inject factual information that will either make them more confident with their decision or talk them out of taking this path. Proceed with caution. If you get an IPO facilitation firm on the phone and they are absolutely in love with your company, idea and plans from the onset of the conversation, chances are you're going to regret it in the end as this consultant has too much time on their hands and sees an easy 'fee oriented' target.

Going public is a mutual effort and can only work if both sides are going to make out financially in the end, not upfront. Consultants that charge front heavy fees are typically not going to be around in a stabilization or advisory capacity once you are public which means you'll almost certainly fail to raise the public capital you're seeking. Instead, find a consultant that levels out their fee structure with a general retainer fee and most of the compensation on the back end.

Retainer fees of $40k to $50k are common among established and legitimate consulting firms. You'll also have the PCAOB audit which will range from $10k to $30k and the S1 filing and comments fees for legal should be tied into the back end with some general expense compensation during the process. Your market maker attachment and 15c211 filing should also be included in back end equity by the consultant.

As far as equity compensation keep in mind that if a consulting firm wants to take all upfront fees and makes no mention of the post public equity distribution then they are taking you on as a client for the wrong reasons. If they believe in your concept and truly want to get involved to assist you in a well rounded, strategic offering they will insist on an equity stake of 5% to 20% depending on how much pre public structuring and strategies as well as post public work must be done.

In going public your company can become a globalized, stable industry powerhouse but attaching yourself to the wrong facilitator upfront can damn your efforts before they begin. Find a well published, full service consulting firm that will take control of the situation so you can focus on your business and not have to worry about the intricacies that can destroy your offering potential.

Do you want a legitimate, quick and easy way of taking your company public? Do you want to talk to a consultant that will help you decide which path is best for your company? Call Princeton Corporate Solutions today at 267-233-0183 or visit our website at http://www.princetoncorporatesolutions.com there are many ways to take your company public in an affordable manner that will achieve your goals and begin raising capital quickly.

How to Build Good Impression For Your Biz Through Short-Run Prints

The digital age gives businesses many routes to take in terms of advertising and spreading the word out about their products and services. This includes having short-run prints for your marketing tools.

Do not get intimidated by the concept of advertising. It is not as costly as it seems to be. You do not really have to try the broadcast medium if you still aren't ready financially. That will take a lot of saving up on your part really. But there are other options that you may want to try, like for example, print.

The print medium, in terms of marketing, offers a lot of selection. You can start with a simple business card and then proceed with direct marketing pieces like postcards and catalogs. You can also try flyers, brochures and newsletters. But if you want your materials to be in a large format and you want them done fast, then the concept of short-run prints apply to you.

This kind of delivery was made possible by the digital age wherein you can order materials according to exactly how many you need. The right printing company will accept even a single order of a poster or a banner. And because this will be processed digitally, the turnaround time is fast. It can even be just a day depending on the printing company of your choice.

But more than your tools and how you get those done, you must master the science and art of how you encourage people to try you out and make them try your services often and over and over again. And this can be possible through the following tips.

1. To stay in business, you must spread the word out about you. But you have to make sure that the words that people hear are those that will help you develop a positive image. That will be possible if you do your business right and you think about every step that you take carefully.

2. If you are going to post reviews about your company on your web site or publish them on magazines or newspapers, make sure that you only publish what's true. Do not invent anything that you cannot deliver. You may just later fall victim of your own trap.

3. Your products should be part of people's lifestyle. This is a good goal that you should achieve. By doing so, people will go to you not because they want to but they have and need to.

4. Make your customers sign feedback forms. But you have to be careful as what you do to those. Read them all. Take all the necessary actions so that you can accomplish what your clients have been clamoring for you to do. This is also part of building up your reputation. So stay straight to the route of your goal to avoid pitfalls.

Advertising materials can help you spread the word about you. The problem now lies how the public are going to absorb those words. So you have to make sure that aside from availing short-run prints, you have backed yourself up with the necessary steps in order to build a good impression that will last for long.

Loves to read and talk anything under the sun. From current events, magazines, social life, metro lifestyles, traveling etc. Not a born writer but experience could make a difference. He also loves to eat especially travel in different places. Going to beaches and mountains really completes his life.

For more details you may check out Short Run Printing

How to Move Your Household Goods Overseas From the US

I have been a relocation consultant for 30 years. Over the years I've discovered that most people who are going to move overseas know very little about how to proceed, or how to go about shopping for a cost estimate. I'm going to explain some of the terms and how it works.

Let's say for example you are getting ready to move to Singapore and you need to get some prices for shipping your household goods. You can start out by calling some moving companies, or some freight forwarders and get really frustrated.

To begin with, you should know that "used household goods" is considered a "commodity", or a commodity description. It is "what" you are shipping. The rates you get from steamship lines or airlines are quoted according to commodity. I am assuming you are shipping "used" household goods. "New" household goods is considered merchandise, or for resale. It is priced differently. You should know that most countries consider your household goods "new" if they are less than 6 months old, even if you have used them.

Some countries use a "one year" rule. If you ship new household goods to most countries, you will be charged taxes and duty on what you ship by the destination country. Every country has different rates for taxes and duties. If you try to pass your new household goods off as being used, the foreign customs will determine the value and charge you fees and penalties as well as taxes and duties. Some countries, will just confiscate everything in your shipment that they determine is new. If you have just a few new items in your shipment, be sure to keep your receipts and tell your shipping company so they can check on any problems or ramifications.

There are many ways to go about planning your move. How much you want to ship, how much you want to pay, how much service you want, how fast you want it to get there, will all determine who you should call.

If you will only be shipping a few boxes and you plan to pack them up yourself, here are some suggestions:

1. Try to keep the sizes of your boxes all the same, it will be easier to get prices for shipping
2. Once they are packed, and secure, put them on your bathroom scale to get an idea of the total weight
3. Cube out the total size (length X width X length) of each box

For example: 18 inches x 18 inches x 18 inches = 5832 cubic inches

Divide 5832 by 1728 to get 3.375 cubic feet

If you have 5 boxes, multiply 5 times 3.375 = 16.875 cubic feet
4. When you have the total weight and size of your shipment, you can start shopping
5. Suggest you start with the U.S. Postal Service, this is usually the most cost effective for small amounts. Be sure to check their weight and size limits to make sure you can use them. They have both air freight and surface options.
6. If that won't work for you, check UPS. You can call them, or use their cost calculator at UPS.com. Most of their service is by air and you will have to drop off your shipment at a UPS approved site. Again, there are strict size and weight limits on your shipment
7. My next choice would be DHL or FedEx. Call or shop online for prices

If your shipment is bigger, say more than 10 boxes, but you don't need a full service moving company, you might want to call a freight forwarder or consolidator. Most freight forwarders don't handle used household goods and most consolidators don't deal with the general public, so this can be frustrating. There are some freight forwarders that will move household goods and you can start by looking in the yellow pages under freight forwarders. Most of them will be domestic forwarders. You need an international freight forwarder that handles used household goods or personal effects. Personal effects usually refer to smaller shipments or air shipments. Freight forwarders will generally let you do some of the service yourself, such as the packing, crating and the destination service of custom's clearance and delivery.

If you have a larger shipment and you can afford to spend more for service, you can call an international moving company. A moving company will have more service to offer than a freight forwarder, such as packing, pickup, custom's clearance at destination, and delivery. Of course these services cost a lot more too.

Air freight shipments move a lot faster than sea freight shipments. Generally an air freight shipment will move from door to door, or residence to residence in about 2 to 3 weeks, depending on the destination country. A sea freight shipment will take anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks or even more if you are moving to Africa or the Middle East.

Air freight shipping will generally cost at least twice as much as sea freight unless your shipment is very small. There are some rather large minimum charges on sea freight shipments which can make them more expensive for very small shipments.

Following are some terms you need to be aware of:

o If you are shipping by air freight, you will be charged by a calculated weight based on the space your shipment takes up, rather than on the actual weight. This is called the "chargeable" weight.
o A sea freight (or ocean freight) shipment usually will become one of the following:

A less than container load shipment (LCL), which will need to be put in lift vans or wooden crates for shipping

A 20 foot steamship container

A 40 foot steamship container
o The prices for the air freight or sea freight will be included in a door to door shipment. A door to door shipment usually consists of the following costs:

Origin services (packing, wrapping, pickup, delivery to the airport/port)

Air or sea freight

Destination service (custom's clearance, pickup at the airport/port and delivery to residence)
o A door to port shipment will ship to the destination airport/port, for you to arrange custom's clearance, pickup and delivery yourself

Even on a door to door move, there is the possibility of additional charges which are not included in your quote. Some of these are: custom's duty, taxes, appliance disconnect, appliance reconnect, custom crating for high value items, demurrage or storage at the airport/port, long carries, flight charges, elevator charges, hoisting, parking permits, warehouse unloading and warehouse storage, and insurance. If there are delays due to weather, laws, strikes, port congestion, or political uprisings, you will be required to pay. The owner of the goods normally pays for anything unusual or unforeseen.

One more thing, be sure to check out custom's requirements for the country you are moving to. Every country is different and you need to be prepared. If you are using a moving company, they will be able to check it for you, but I would suggest that you also check out the web site for the country you are moving to. It is most important that you can meet their requirements. Happy moving!

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