Business Podcasting Blog

A commercial mortgage is similar to a residential mortgage in that funds can be borrowed over a long period of time, usually a maximum of 30 years, secured by a first charge on the property being bought.

In taking first charge, the lender is first in the queue to recover any debt if the property ever needs to be sold. This could happen because the mortgagee wishes to move on and sells, or perhaps has defaulted on the repayments causing the lender to foreclose.

If a first charge business mortgage already exists, it is common for different lenders to advance funds secured by way of a second charge which puts that lender as second in the ’security queue’.

Unlike residential mortgages, almost all commercial mortgages are variable rate loans which fluctuate in line with the Base Rate set by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. So, if a mortgage lender offers terms which include an interest rate of say ‘2% over base’ then a base rate of 4.5% would result in an interest rate of 6.5% being applied to the loan.

Some lenders will link their interest rates to LIBOR, which is the London Inter Bank Offered Rate. LIBOR is published daily in the Financial Times and can be found on a variety of other financial websites.

Commercial Mortgages can be secured against most types of freehold or long leasehold properties, such as retail stores, pubs, care homes, restaurants, office buildings, industrial factory units and more. Applying for a commercial mortgage is very much like that of a residential mortgage except that the maximum that can be borrowed is 60% of the assessed Market Value, although one or two lenders will advancelend up to 75% depending upon the proposal.

These percentages are known as the Loan-to-Value ratio, or LTV. A lower LTV means that the risk to the lender is reduced. The higher the LTV, the greater the risk to the lender and it is likely that a higher interest rate would be charged.

Lenders will not generally advance above 75% LTV to ensure that there would be enough security in the event of a forced sale, perhaps through auction when it is expected that property will sell at a discounted rate. When looking for a commercial mortgage it is advisable to shop around for the best deals and to use a specialist commercial finance broker who will possess the necessary expertise to advise you accordingly.

If you would like to learn to sing better, then this guide will show you how. Specifically, we’re going to talk about the importance of correct breathing control, and why you shouldn’t “force” yourself to sing louder. By the time you’ve finished reading this guide, you should have a good idea of how you can learn to sing well.

Most beginning singers never realize how important correct breathing technique is, and because of this, they seriously limit their singing potential.

So what is correct breath control? The key is to make sure you are breathing with your lower stomach, instead of your upper chest. In fact, your chest should hardly move at all when you breath in this way.  Learning diaphragmatic breathing will give your singing voice far more power and control.

The next thing to consider, is making sure your don’t force yourself to sing louder. If you want to learn how to sing well, then it’s a good idea to practice singing softly with control, instead of using added volume to give your singing voice power.

Bear in mind that a powerful singing voice is developed through practice and control – not straining to be louder. So focus on controlling your tone and accuracy, before working on how loud you can sing.

In conclusion, this guide has shown you two important things to keep in mind when learning how to sing. These things were correct breathing technique, and practicing with a “soft” singing voice. Now that you know these two things, you will  find your singing practice time to be far more productive.

It is not difficult to get a payday loan in Texas. If you are in a money crunch and are encountering a disaster, an advance of pay will come to your saving. The offerings of a cash advance business are so quick that you can get your texas cash advance within 1 day of filing your application.

So whether you or your father encounter an accident, or whether you have to pay for unexpected automobile repairs, an American cash advance will be your friend in need. Companies giving cash advance in The Lone Star State can provide swift services because they file electronically. From your application to the verification of your details, from the deposit of loan amount to the repayment, it is all done .

For the most part anyone can request for a cash advance in Texas. As long as you are an and are over 18 years of age, you can apply. Apart from this, you also need a stabil job and a savings or checking bank account to be eligible.

The monies are deposited directly in your account within 1 day of the loan agreement. Similarly, the loan amount will be removed from your account on the agreed payoff date. I love that there is no checks to deal with when you get a cash advance in Texas. If you wish to extend the loan period, you need to develop a better repayment strategy and you will have to notify your lender before the final loan date.

Caution: the extension will cost you severely. So don’t delay unnecessarily. Try to avoid falling into the easy debt trap that a cash advance can become. Use a cash advance in Texas only if you face an emergency. Don’t use a cash advance to fund your daily living expenses.

Texas Cash advance loans are legal in Texas, which passed its first payday loan statutes in 2000. It’s a fact that creditors must be licensed to operate in the state. The law requires lenders to display a notice containing the fee schedule and the loan contractual obligations. In Texas, lenders are prohibited from loan-splitting, or the splitting one loan into two for the shady practice of charging interest on both. The law has no maximum set number of outstanding loans that a borrower can have established. But you must know that a customer may not have more than $500 in combined loans that are unpaid. In Texas, payday loan business cannot institute criminal legal proceeding against a delinquent or defaulting borrower.

http://www.besthomesecuritysystems.net/blog/

Lots of people would have us believe that conducting a reasonably comprehensive or especially free people search is a piece of cake. However, that would only be one of the three most dangerous myths about online public records floating around today. To begin with, (1) the availability of online public records is not as widespread as one might think. According to our research:

- Only 35% of public records can be found online;
- Nearly all/ every “free” government public record website contains no personal identifiers, i.e., for privacy purposes, they provide summarized information rather than information about specific individuals.

The federal, state, and local agencies that maintain public records systems make substantial efforts to limit the disclosure of Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and addresses. Some even go so far as to limit the use of the dates of birth. The Social Security number is no longer the “key search tool identifier” it was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Websites with open record searching available to the public generally require only a name, unless a specific case file or docket number or registration number, et cetera, can be substituted.

(2) Government agencies that offer online access on a fee or subscription basis generally disclose partial personal identifiers. Nowadays, very few give Social Security numbers, and those that do often cloak or mask the first five digits. Some cloak the month and date of birth, and only reveal the year of birth. For example, most U.S. District Court and bankruptcy court online systems reveal no personal identifiers on their search results, thus making a reliable “name search” nearly impossible (I’ve tried).

We point this out because the lack of identifiers presents a real problem for employers or financial institutions who, at the same time, are legally required to exert a certain amount of “due diligence” in the process of making certain decisions. The existence of any possible adverse information may have to be double-checked by a hands-on search to ensure the proper match of a given subject to a given adverse record.

Also, we noticed that many governmental websites offering online record access tend to include a warning or disclosure stating that their information could have mis-spellings and/ or should be used for “informational purposes only.” For this reason, such sites should be considered as supplemental or secondary sources only. Again, to protect individuals’ privacy, they may provide summarized information rather than information about specific individuals.

The upshot of which is simply that . . . (3) A criminal record search from such a source usually does not, in and of itself, comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act regulations involving preemployment screening . . . see video below:

In the meantime, you can find a dozen or so lists of public and private record information companies on this website:

- Address and Telephone Numbers; other lists (provided on that same page) include information on the following topics:

- Aviation
- Bankruptcy
- Corporate/ Trade Name Data
- Credit Information
- Convicted Criminal Information
- Driver and/ or Vehicle
- Education/ Employment
- Environmental
- Foreign Country Information
- Genealogical Information
- Licenses/ Registrations/ Permits
- Litigation/ Judgments/ Tax Liens
- Military Service
- Patents
- Real Estate/ Assessors

Sometimes, the only way to conduct a reasonably certain background check online is from a reputable private vendor. A reputable online vendor may provide access to many records that might not be otherwise found online via Government online sources.

Modern life demands a lot of our time and time saving devices are in great demand, especially in the kitchen. The food processor is probably the most important time saving device in the kitchen since the microwave oven, and it is so versatile that you will wonder how you ever got along without one. A good option to consider is a Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor.

In 1973, an engineer named Carl Sontheimer brought the first food processor to North America. It took some time for consumers to understand how useful this appliance could be, but once people realized all it could do the device became very popular. It transformed the way food is prepared in homes around the world. Another good option is the Cuisinart 11-Cup Food Processor.

These wonderful tools work on any type of food. These gadgets can be used to cut, to slice, to chop, to blend, to grate, to crush to mix to knead and to puree any food items. Quick help to cook anything from soups to curry. These quick helpers has faster food processor which produce exactly the same results every time. These food processors are built by different manufacturers either in full size or in compact size.

The Cuisinart range comes in various sizes of food processor and is suitable for many applications. The 14, 11, or 7 cup sizes provide flexibility in quantity while all can be used to prepare fresh juice, mix cake batter, knead dough, beat egg whites, or grind meats or vegetables. 14-Cup Cuisinart Food Processor.

http://www.4wdriver.com/

Time management is an area of business management often overlooked or ignored. We all know someone in small business who races around like a madman all day, never enough hours in a day, all they do is rush and get worked up - maybe this person is you!

At the end of the day, when the dust settles, what have you achieved? Do you review the day and wonder “what happened to the day, I didn’t get as much done as I thought I would”. If this sounds familiar, then you may have an organisational and time management problem.

Successful people never seem to rush, they remain composed and unflustered. The difference between them and everybody else is they have mastered time management.

What is time management? It is simply allocating time in your day in an organised and efficient way. Before we can really understand how to time manage our day, we must ask ourselves what are we trying to achieve today, this week, this year and possibly ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.

The best way in my opinion to achieve goals is to write them down. You should review these goals from time to time to ensure that they are relevant and achievable but not so achievable that you don’t have to try hard to achieve them otherwise what is the purpose of the goals in the first place?

At the start of each working year you should sit down and think about what you want to achieve this year, it could be that you want to increase your profits by 20%, you may want to move into larger premises, you may want to reduce your debt substantially. At the start of each working week you should write down on a note pad or in your diary the major jobs that need to be done this week, and review them each day to ensure you’re making progress and hopefully mark some of the tasks off the list.

You should keep the list on your desk or in a place where you will be constantly reminded what needs to be done this week. This list should be in order of priority so that the most important tasks at the top of the list get done first. Anything not achieved this week will be carried forward next week on a higher priority, this will ensure it gets done.

The next thing you should be doing is having a daily list of jobs to do. This will help keep you on track each day. Again, this list should be displayed where you can constantly refer to it and mark off the jobs completed. Marking off the jobs will give you a sense of achievement and let you know how you are progressing through the day. Always stick to the list where possible and keep working from high priority to low priority.

I know things can come up through the day that can throw the whole day out, but you must either deal with the crisis and return to your list or if the new task isn’t as important as some of the jobs on the list put it at the bottom of the list and continue doing what you were doing.

Every task you have to do should be written down for a couple of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t forget to do it and secondly, so you keep your day organised and you achieve your daily goals.

Beware starting jobs and not finishing them. This will turn tomorrow into a mess of half finished jobs and will cause “list blowout”. You will end up with a list a mile long and you will give up in despair and revert back to old habits of being in confusion all day and achieving nothing.

Remember each day you achieve your goals and tick off everything on your list, you get a little closer to achieving your weekly and ultimately your yearly and long term goals.
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When a state is blessed with a warm, sunny climate, an abundance of beautiful scenery, and a coastline that is the envy of the world, it is hardly surprising that thousands come each year to visit. Indeed, many locals will tell you that Queensland, with its relaxed lifestyle and friendly atmosphere, is the best place in which to live, work, and retire.

This is a State full of extremes. In the far west the Simpson Desert, with its dunes and inhospitable gibber plains gives way to the Channel Country, an area laced with an intricate web of often dry streams that after heavy rain may spill to cover the land like a vast brown sea.

Eastern Queensland’s spine is the Great Dividing Range, a mighty barrier that separates the fertile coastal plain from the vast outback tracts extending to the State’s western border. Stretching from Cape York to the southern border and beyond, the Great Divide comprises a series of high mountains, tablelands, and low rolling hills. Here, rainforest gives way to eucalypt woodland, waterfalls fed by tropical rains tumble over rock faces and escarpments, and boulder-studded streams flow through deep gorges.

The coastline is another world. Washed by the brilliant blue waters of the Coral Sea, long sandy beaches fringed with tropical vegetation edge the shores, broken only by rocky headlands and mangrove forests. Lying off-shore is a multitude of islands and one of the world’s great natural wonders: the Great Barrier Reef.

The second largest State in Australia, Queensland covers an area of more than 1.7 million square kilometres in the north-east corner of the continent. The northern marine boundary, passing within a few kilometres of Papua New Guinea’s coastline, includes the 200-odd islands lying off Cape York Peninsula in the Torres Strait; to the east, it includes all the islands within the Great Barrier Reef.

Until 1859, Queensland was part of New South Wales. The first European settlement, a penal colony, was established at Moreton Bay in 1824 and soon afterwards was moved to the present site of Brisbane — the State’s capital city. By 1839 nearly all the convicts had been returned to Sydney and the district was opened to free settlers.

The Brisbane settlement grew slowly at first; when the area was proclaimed the Colony of Queensland in 1859 the population was 23,520. Today, the State has a population exceeding 4 million — of which nearly half live in the Brisbane-Ipswich urban area.

For the Aborigines — the original inhabitants of the land — many parts of Queensland are ritual grounds of sacred Dreamtime legends, and there are important traditional rock-art sites, particularly on Cape York Peninsula in the north. It was in this area that a race of hunters and gatherers came to the Australian continent some 40,000 years ago, coming in across the Torres Strait when it was dry land during the last ice age.

Just over half of the State lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and 10 degrees south of the Equator. Inland, the summers are hot, but on the coastal plain the temperatures are milder — with far higher humidity. Winters are much drier and delightfully warm, though in the far south, nights can be quite cold with frost appearing on higher ground. Snow falls occasionally in the highlands near the border around Stanthorpe and Wallangarra.

The rainy season falls between December and March-April, and it is during this time that the coast may be lashed by tropical cyclones. Rainfall varies enormously throughout the State, with the heaviest falls on the north-eastern slopes and coast-lands - Tully averages 4550 mm annually and has the reputation of being the wettest town in Australia. Whereas Birdsville in the far west only averages an annual 150 mm - and in drought it might not rain for years.

Agriculture is a major industry. Cattle and sheep graze on the grassy western plains, their drinking water supplied by a myriad bores that tap the vast store of underground water in the Great Artesian Basin. On the fertile tablelands of the Great Divide and the lush coastal plains farms grow a wide variety of produce from cotton to sugar cane, to peanuts, pineapples
and a host of other tropical fruit and vegetables. The State is also rich in mineral deposits including bauxite, coal, oil, copper, silver, and gold. Indeed, the discovery of gold in the last century and the subsequent mining in the 1870s-80s did much to establish many of the coastal and inland centres throughout Queensland.

One of Queensland’s most important growth industries is tourism. Not only have overseas visitors discovered this favourable holiday destination, but Australians from other States now come in huge numbers. In winter, thousands flock to coastal caravan parks and holiday flats to exchange chilly southern days for delectably warm, sunny weather.

Apart from the lure of a warm climate, people return many times over to Queensland because there is just so much to do and see. Self-drive holidays are probably the most popular, but for those who do not wish to drive, there is a vast number of conducted tours to choose from. Accommodation ranges from remote bush camps to five-star luxury hotels with every type imaginable in between.
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You have found a business for sale, you have bought it, so what now? With all the pieces of your new business just about in place, there is a crucial Issue to discuss, You. The most important ingredient in small business is the owner, and the most important ingredient in the owner is their attitude to both the business, and their customers.

Your attitude will to a great degree govern your success in business. Some people when they leave their jobs to start up their own business, unravel and get lazy. This is probably due to the fact they are no longer intimidated by the boss into doing the right thing. Self discipline can be a real problem with some people, they just can’t motivate themselves without some degree of external pressure. This, I believe is the biggest problem you will face.

You should watch for the warning signs, opening late, closing early, having long lunches, never getting jobs finished on time or at all, not returning calls, letting accounting paperwork lag behind, taking days off because you couldn’t be bothered working and so on. It is so easy to slip into bad habits, so be aware.

Try and remain accustomed to at least working the same hours as you were in your employed job and set yourself targets. Targets and goals will impose pressure on you to perform.

The next attitude problem comes from lack of determination.

Some small business owners fall to pieces every time there is problem or a crisis. This style of attitude will also assist you to go out of business very quickly.

You must never give up, for your own sake you must push on because you will strike plenty of problems and go through several serious crisis’s before things settle down, this is common to all new businesses.

The best thing to do is work through the problem in a calm and systematic way. Whilst you may feel at the time “this is the end” and “I’ve had enough”, this is a normal reaction that will pass. It often helps to join business groups and talk to other business owners about common problems.

You then must solve the problem and keep going. I’m sure attitude and determination has a lot to do with the 90% of businesses that fail. It’s ridiculous to think that a business goes down the drain because the owner had a poor attitude or “had a wobbly”, but it does happen. Make sure you’re not one of them.

The last issue to discuss is your attitude to customers. Keep this in mind, regardless of whether you like the particular person, all customers contribute to your profitability and success so treat them with respect and courtesy. It’s amazing how quickly customers will desert you if they feel you are rude to them. No customers - no money — no business! Always remain courteous, helpful and above all friendly, never allow personal or business problems to raise their heads in front of customers.The future of your business is in your hands.

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Over 20 million Koreans live in and around Seoul, yet it is one of few a cities that has successfully preserved its buildings from the past and integrated them into the skyline of a growing global city.

Seoul is loud and bustling, as befits one of the most densely populated metropolises on Earth. Lines of cars and throngs of people press their way through the cavernous streets. Oversized illuminated advertising marks the way, selling products in a foreign script. The subway system is Seoul’s new and perfectly organized underworld. In the midst of all this chaos, visitors may suddenly come upon an oasis of stillness in one of the country’s numerous temples, parks and pavilions.

City on the river
Seoul was founded in 1394, following the demise of the Koryo Kingdom (1392). Its progress was long associated with the rise and success of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910). After searching for a suitable location for his city, King Taejo, better known as Yi Seonggye, decided on the north bank of the Han River. A small village named Hanyang was the only settlement in the area at that time. The name of the renowned Hanyang University, one of over 300 institutions of higher learning in Seoul, recalls that small village.

A modern sports city.
Contemporary Seoul came into existence during the first half of the twentieth century, and largely through the influence of the Japanese. The old city wall gave way to modern buildings, with only the ancient city gates preserved. After the catastrophic Korean War (1950-1953), nearly all of Seoul had to be rebuilt.

From that point onward, Seoul grew at a very rapid pace. The city underwent massive changes, at times with little planning and consideration of their long-term impact. Trams ran until 1968, only to disappear almost overnight. They were quickly replaced by an underground subway system. The economic upswing of 1988 that followed in the wake of the Seoul Summer Olympic Games was a boon to the cultural, financial and sporting life of the city, and the sports world again turned its eyes to Seoul in 2002, when the FIFA World Cup football championship was held here.

Kings’ palaces with curious names.
But Seoul is much more than a showcase for sporting events. it is the cultural heart of South Korea, where universities, theatres, museums and more abound.

When Seoul was founded in 1394, the Gyeongbokgung (Palace of Shining Happiness) was the first royal residence built. Happiness did not, unfortunately, shine on the palace and its inhabitants forever.

Serfs burned the palace to the ground in 1592, and the death of Queen Min in 1895 led to the relocation of the royal family to Deoksugung (Palace of Virtuous Longevity). In 1997, the Changdeokgung (Palace of Prospering Virtue) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It was built as an addition to Gyeongbokgung, and was the only structure destroyed in the 1592 uprising that was immediately rebuilt. Until 1872 and again from 1907 to 1910, it served as the seat of government of the Korean kings. The Secret Garden of Biwon is also especially worth seeing. The impressive burial cairns of King Sejo and his wife Yun Chon-hi are located there, just 30 km north of the city.

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The use of tax havens in day to day business life has grown to be almost mainstream these days. To the small businessman and the private investor, the use of tax havens still probably seems a little shady.

This shouldn’t be the case any more as the use of tax havens to reduce tax or just defer it for a while is now accepted practice all over the world with many of the largest Australian accounting and audit firms having departments advising major corporations how to structure their operations offshore.

Tax havens have a strong appeal for many multi-national companies established in foreign countries because of the advantages they offer for the legitimate reduction or deferment of taxation on certain profits earned offshore. Profits harboured in a tax haven enable working capital to be used in the cheapest way possible.

Traditionally, the tax haven has been used as a central point for handling paperwork and preparing and processing international trade documents. Many companies utilise tax havens for the passage of title of goods, so these transfers can proceed without the need for mountains of regulations and fees.

Tax havens are also popular as places to administer patent, trademark and royalty agreements. Because of the intangible nature of patents, trademarks and royalty agreements, they are easily moved from one jurisdiction to the other and the cost of doing this is very low in tax haven jurisdictions.

For instance, if a company with branches and subsidiaries overseas is a resident of a country with strict foreign exchange regulations, it may not want to repatriate the profits simply because if it did, it may have problems being able to transfer the funds back out if it wanted to reinvest them offshore. To solve this problem, it establishes a foreign intermediate holding company in a tax haven, not for tax reasons, but to avoid the foreign exchange control problems that its own country has imposed.

By simply interposing a tax haven company in a corporate structure does not result in the reduction of onshore taxes in most cases, but it may allow tax deferral. Eventually, the parent company will receive the income and when it does it will be taxable and possibly without the benefit of foreign tax credits that may have been available had the profits been repatriated from a tax treaty country. Most tax havens don’t have tax treaties with major countries such as Australia, which prevents the favourable use of lower withholding taxes that would have been available had the country been a signatory to a tax treaty.

Offshore Licencing and Patent Holding Companies

Royalties or licence fees can be, in certain circumstances, can be feed of tax obligations by using an offshore licensing company. For instance, the owner of a patent can incorporate an offshore licensing company and assign the rights to that offshore company. In turn the offshore company then has the right to licence the patent to a foreign subsidiary. By having the royalties paid to the licensing company in a tax haven, profits are effectively shifted from the foreign subsidiary to the offshore patent owning company, which pays little or no tax on the royalties that it receives.

Income from other intangible rights, such as trade marks, copyrights, know how and franchising rights, can be earned without incurring withholding or income tax if a tax haven company is established to sublicence other companies in various countries. Tax savings can be made also on patent royalties by combining tax havens.

Australia only deducts 10% withholding tax on Dutch companies. Therefore, if a tax haven company was established in the Netherlands Antilles with a Dutch subsidiary, and licences its Dutch patents to the Dutch company, the Dutch company, in turn, can licence to the Australian manufacturer.

The Australian company can then pay the Dutch subsidiary patent royalties incurring only 10% tax. The Dutch company can then pay the royalty to the tax haven company (which is the patent owner), thereby avoiding Dutch withholding taxes on dividends. The Dutch company is not taxed in the Netherlands, and the tax haven company avoids any further taxation. Total tax is 10%.

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