Ranger Consulting Group

Steady Florida Growth

2012-05-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

The revenue growth in Florida seems to be holding steady, despite the apparent uncertainty over the economy.

The latest report from the Florida Department of Revenue showed that the collections of sales tax have been higher than what was predicted. Sales tax is actually running ahead of the estimates by some $162 million for the fiscal year.

Corporate tax collections in the state have been a little lower than estimated though. For the month of April they were $32 million under what was estimated, but for the year they are only $2 million below what was estimated.

Documentary-taxes, which usually show real estate activity, are also ahead of what estimates were. They were up above expectations by $25 million for the month of April and $60 million for the fiscal year.

The Department of Revenue also reported a raise in construction tax by 7 percent above what was estimated and a growth in auto related sales by 6 percent.

The money that the state has collected in sales taxes over the last ten months reflects the strongest 10 months since 2007-2008. Hopefully, these will continue through 2012 and strengthen the economy and markets of Florida.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar

A Change in Oil Prices

2012-05-21T07:33:00.001-07:00

There has been quite a bit of movement in the oil industry recently as it pertains to new drilling.

One area that some companies are starting to look into is the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. After the United States finally reached an agreement, smaller drilling companies have been starting to look into areas that have long been abandoned by larger oil companies.

They have recently relocated and put under contract 37 shallow water oil rigs. That is an increase of about 32% from the same time last year.

Hopefully this will have a positive affect on the gas prices at the pump for the American consumer.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar

The Short Sale Process Is Set to Speed Up

2012-05-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

New rules have been laid out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that could possibly speed up the usually lengthy "Short Sale" process to help families' homes from being foreclosed on.

Usually, a buyer would make an offer on a short sale home and the lender would have to agree to the sale of the home at the offered price or make a counter offer. This process used to be a very lengthy one, sometimes lasting anywhere from three months to even a year or more. The process would take so long on some occasions that the contracts would be canceled and/or the property would go into foreclosure.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency laid out new rules to help avoid the trend from continuing. Beginning June 1, 2012, the new rules require lenders to review and respond to short sale requests within 30 days and make a final decision within 60 days. The lender is also required to provide weekly status updates to the borrower if the offer is still under review for whatever reason after the 30 days.

The new rules are going to prove to be very beneficial for all parties involved. For the lenders, it will save them from losing thousands and thousands of dollars in lost value from the property going into foreclosure. For the sellers, they would take less of a hit on their credit as a result of their home not going into foreclosure. For the buyer, they would be getting a great home in hopefully a better condition than a foreclosure and at a great rate.

These new rules may not be the only thing needed to get the housing market back up, but will certainly start moving things in that general direction.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar

Good News for Home Owners?

2012-04-26T13:05:00.001-07:00

Recently a federal judge approved a $26 billion settlement with five of the nation's largest banks over foreclosure processing abuses.

This approval is going to force the banks to compensate the homeowners who might have been impacted by the "robo-signing" type scandals that affected so many.

A large portion of the settlement will go toward modifying mortgages to lower principles and another portion of the settlement will go toward refinancing mortgages for borrowers who are current on their payments.

The settlement is getting mixed reviews from borrowers throughout the country, because those held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not covered by the settlement.

Also, the principal reduction options in the settlement only apply to those who are behind on their mortgage payments, not those who are current.

Whether optimistic or not about the settlement, let's hope this helps Americans get back on their feet.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar

Experience Wins Every Time...

2012-03-02T12:13:00.001-08:00

Most doctors aren't familiar with the complexities and risks of a large scale construction project. Some find an expert to help them navigate through the process.

We recently got involved with a group of doctors who were about to make a rather large business decision to develop a medical facility, when they sought out our services.

The group of doctors had previously begun preliminary talks with a development/management company who was promising them the moon, but in actuality was going to fall very short.

Upon extensive research into all of the agreements between the group of doctors and the development company, we uncovered some interesting challenges. The development group was going to provide an entire group of services to the doctors, each through a different (but affiliated) entity and each with a separate contract and exorbitant fees.

For example, the development company would recommend a real estate company, that they were a part of, and charge the group of doctors a "finder's fee" for recommending the real estate company. This type of back and forth business fee model was all throughout the proposed contract and was obviously not in the best interest of the group of doctors. During the design and construction process, the development company was participating in cost-plus fees with no control on costs!

Come to find out, after further research into the development company, this was only the second time they had ever participated in "medical facility development" and were relatively new to development in general. It was pretty obvious that they were just trying to take advantage of the group of doctors and squeeze out every penny they could.

Due to lack of experience in development programs, the doctors were the ones who stood to lose the most in this development venture.

After identifying all of this for the doctors, they decided to not execute the contract with the company and enter into an agreement with Ranger (www.rangerconsultinggroup.com). They collectively realized that they had the most to gain if they went with a more experienced company that gave them control over their own project and had their best interests in mind.

So in the end... experience wins every time.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar

Quality Requires Control & Accountability

2012-02-23T10:50:00.002-08:00

I recently was contacted by a church that had found themselves in serious trouble...

They had their building project delayed for over a year and a half, had gone over budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and was nowhere near completion.

The senior pastor didn't know what to do.

He contacted me to assess the situation and get an outside opinion.

After pouring over reports, permits, cost summaries, plans, budgets, and etc. for days, I finally identified the problem...

The General Contractor for the project was in the leadership of the church.

In my thirty years plus of experience in construction and working with church organizations, and being involved with literally hundreds of church building projects, this is a very common problem.

A church is growing and expanding and has a new building project that they are wanting to take on. Well this church "just so happens" to have a member of its congregation that is in church leadership that "just so happens" to be a general contractor who is willing to do the work either "pro-bono" or at an extremely discounted rate.

Thus begins the downward spiral.

Great work in anything involves primarily two things... Control and Accountability.

How is a project going to be the best that it can be or "ahead of schedule and under budget" (which is what my team and I strive for with every client) if you have two people that are afraid to keep each other in check with the project?

No one wants to hurt other people's feelings and no one's egos can take any kind of rejection or criticism.

Who want to correct and potentially embarrass their own pastor and what pastor wants to correct and potentially embarrass a member who is doing work for next to nothing.

So you end up with both sides walking on eggshells.

Problems usually arise when you have two people who have a personal relationship, undertake a large building project that requires accountability for superior quality.

The problem in this project wasn't on the part of the church and its leadership, but on the part of the general contractor. He had spent way more than the senior pastor had budgeted for, was way behind schedule, wasn't making the project a priority, and the project was stopped dead in the water.

We reassessed the budget, reworked a schedule, hired people, fired people, re-submitted for permitting (the GC took so long it expired), and got the project back on track.

That church learned a valuable lesson:

Don't hire inside, hire an independent owner's representative to control the project. Let them hire the independent general contractor to construct the project.

Hiring a Construction Consulting firm like Ranger (www.rangerconsultinggroup.com) will make the project flow the way it's supposed to.

Thank you,
Charles Bonar