Category Archives: Business Reports

by Sarah Lewis Belcher, Esq.

So, you have a great new project you want to start building ASAP to enable you to get in the ground and/or have the shell(s) up before the weather turns and/or to meet your completion schedule?

If you need a construction loan to finance the project, knowing the financing process can help expedite closing and your ability to get started.

The earlier you involve your lender the better. In addition to the usual underwriting review, the lender and its construction consultant will need a number of items concerning the project. Having a package of these materials ready can help speed the review and, therefore, the closing.

The construction documents that often must be provided include: plans and specifications, detailed construction budget, construction schedule, fixed price/guaranteed maximum price contract with the general contractor (GC)/construction manager (CM), architect/engineer’s contracts, municipal approvals including building permits, payment and performance bonds, builder’s risk insurance and consents to contract assignments from the GC, CM, architect and/or engineer.

These items will be reviewed by the lender and its construction consultant to confirm the project described in the plans and specs may be completed for the amounts in the budget and within the time frame in the schedule.

The construction loan process in New York state requires the preparation and filing of a building loan contract/construction loan agreement. If a lender doesn’t file such a document with the clerk of the county in which the real estate is located, the lender’s security interest established by its mortgage will be subject to mechanics liens that may be subsequently filed.

By Jamie Wallace

Chimneys and dryer vents are a mystery to many homeowners and even experienced contractors. Both vent flammable or toxic gases to the exterior of your home, and both are horribly ignored.

This information is especially important when living in or managing apartments or condos.

Let’s start with dryer vents. There are codes and standards for how they are built. Many times, a heating element in the dryer will fail, causing the need for replacement. In some cases the dryer was never the problem, it was incorrect installation of the vent or heavy lint accumulation. This essentially overworks a dryer and shortens its life span significantly.

In 2010, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) stated that over 15,000 dryer vent fires occurred in the U.S. due to dirty dryer vents.

The good news is: it is 100 percent preventable.

The NFPA also recommends a dryer vent be inspected and cleaned as needed on an annual basis, which would drastically reduce risk. When an experienced professional comes out to service a dryer vent, they should also make sure it was installed properly. There should be no vinyl hose connections, no PVC venting, and certainly no screws holding it all together, which act like lint catchers.

These are only a few of the standards and codes that can be checked.

By David L. Cumming

During the day, the next generation of wealth is busy building startups or running projects for major corporations. If you are an individual coming into wealth for the first time from a low- to middle-income background, a unique set of challenges presents themselves as you attempt to both manage and enjoy your hard-earned wealth.

One of these challenges may be student loan debt. Besides navigating yourself out of debt, it can be tough to navigate relationship dynamics and commitments when you are new to wealth. You may feel an understandable pull to give back to your family and community, but have a hard time balancing these commitments with those of your own self-care and personal investment.

As your financial position improves, it is common to experience guilt and overwhelming feelings as you notice your improved position relative to your family and friends. These feelings can have an impact on how you relate to your family and community and how you understand your role and function in those relationships.

Couple these feelings with others’ new perception of you as a “wealthy” person, and it can be easy to fall prey to a perceived responsibility for others that exhausts your emotional and financial resources.

By Eric Snell

It’s graduation season again. If your child is graduating from high school or college, you have reason to celebrate. But what should you give to your newly minted diploma holder? You might want to consider offering a combination of financial gifts and tips, which, taken together, could set your graduate on a path toward a successful, independent life.

What sort of gifts and tips should you consider? Here are a few ideas:

• Give a few shares of stock.

Everyone should understand the financial markets and how they work. One great way to encourage this interest is to give your child a few shares of stock. Young people enjoy owning a piece of a company that makes the products and services they like – and the very act of ownership can inspire them to learn more about investing and to ask questions:

What causes the stock price to go up or down? How long should I hold this stock? Should I own several stocks like this one, or is it better to branch out to find new opportunities? Over time, in learning the answers to these and other questions, your child can become familiar with investing and how to make the best choices.

By Rose Miller

Congratulations. You’ve been promoted to a management role. It’s a big job with important responsibilities. But wait. Just how much do you know about being a good manager?

I remember what my wise dad told me. He was an amazing carpenter, who said he was only as good as his tools. Do you have the right tools to manage others? Here’s a little test. How many statements are true?

Your success as a supervisor depends more on your technical knowledge than on people skills. You should delegate only tasks you don’t have time to do yourself. To get the best results, promote competition rather than teamwork.

All those statements are false. Management by definition is the ability to get things done through the efforts of others. A good manager does this by empowering and motivating others. They lead teams to work together towards a common goal.

Here are seven basic tips that can help you make the successful transition from employee to manager:

1. Empower employees to feel they are responsible for their own performance.

2. Use an employee’s personal drivers to fuel their achievement.

3. Delegate to promote employee growth and responsibility.

By Scott Varley

Yes, we as Saratogians are as diverse in our opinions about the growth in Saratoga as there are places to eat and drink throughout our fair city. You’ll hear comments stating that every square inch of downtown is being built on, usually with some sort of mildly unpleasant undertone as if property owners have some nerve allowing the free market to express itself through the demand and popularity of prime Saratoga Springs real estate.

I’m in real estate and I’m extremely proud of what has been built here in the last 30 years. Having been born and raised here I remember the downtown of the 1970s. Shopping for clothes with my mom and sister, Boy Scout uniforms from Starbucs department store (later Lillian’s restaurant and not to be confused with Starbucks coffee), the Community Theatre for a movie (now Roohan Realty), the House of G Chinese restaurant (on the corner of Broadway and Spring Street), the old library (now the Arts building at Broadway and Spring Street), the lunch counter at Woolworths’ on Broadway (the site where the Gap is).

It was not a very fancy or upscale place and downtown was very quiet except for during the horseracing meet. Things looked kind of run down, but to me it was home and we loved growing up here as kids.

Today, it’s a different place. The high-rise condos (first appearing almost 20 years ago) on Division Street replaced the Saratoga Bowling and filled in the old abandoned railroad property. The first building was slow to sell and most locals felt there was not a market for this type of urban-style living.

It’s a different story today. While there are still a few new high-end condos at 38 High Rock and Park Place on Broadway left for sale from before the real estate crash, you can now see the demand for these downtown maintenance-free style housing units.

New projects underway on Division Street, Phila Street, Excelsior Avenue, Union Avenue and so on, are a sign that we are not over-built and that the market is demanding these types of products for housing. These are all selling and for some record-setting prices.

By Michael Billok

So you’ve invented the next “fidget cube,” found a way to home-deliver hot French fries without a hint of sogginess, or developed the cure for the common cold. The problem is, of course, you are now too successful.

You and your partners don’t have enough hands or time in the day to get done everything that needs to get done, and the few employees you may have are extremely overburdened. You need more workers, yesterday, but of course you have to limit your expense in order to make a profit.

So what are your options?

Option 1: The intern.

I have had this conversation with several entrepreneurial friends of mine. “We have so much work to do,” they have said, “I think I’ll need to bring on an intern.” Now, if this is an intern that will be paid at least the minimum wage (currently $9.70 in our area, or $10.75 for fast-food establishments). My response is to tell them to go for it.

But that is usually not the case—unfortunately, there is a common misconception that “intern” is a word that means “free grunt work”—and they were thinking about bringing on unpaid interns to handle the increased workload. And that is where I steer my friends away from the precipice.

In order for an internship to be unpaid, there are a number of factors that need to be met. But the key point is that for someone to be an unpaid intern, and not an employee, the primary beneficiary of the relationship must be the intern, not the organization.

By Todd Shimkus

Over the last decade, rising housing prices and rents have made it increasingly difficult for some residents and workers to afford to live in Saratoga Springs.

It is also the case that some businesses are finding it more difficult to attract and retain employees, especially entry-level and lower-wage workers that often live outside of the city in more affordable areas.

So how can our thriving city create workforce housing options to meet these two needs?

Our idea is simple.

We should immediately and collectively identify specific properties in the city that are appropriate for workforce housing. Let’s figure out what it will take to entice developers to be able to build workforce housing at these specific locations and make that happen.

Every property is different and every neighborhood’s uniqueness must be respected.

Each property will pose different challenges.

This site-specific approach to build workforce housing allows our city to be flexible and that is important.

By Robert Schermerhorn, CFP

With only 14 percent of small employers with fewer than 100 employees sponsoring a retirement plan according to the Government Accountability Office, finding the right retirement plan is more important than ever. Having a retirement plan in place not only helps the business owner work towards securing their financial future, but can also make your business more competitive in attracting, and maintaining, top employees.

There are also potential tax benefits to offering a plan that reduces your company’s tax burden, as plan contributions are deductible as a business expense, as well as tax credits for new start-up plans.

Although most business owners think of a 401(k) plan when deciding on a retirement plan, there are several different types of plans available that may be more appropriate for your business.

The following are retirement plans that small business owners might consider:

1. 401(k) plans

2. Solo 401(k) plans

3. SEP IRA (Simplified Employee Pension Plan)

4. SIMPLE IRA (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees)

By Jane-Marie Schaeffer

How can you best tax plan in 2017? Will the proposals of the Trump campaign impact your immediate plans? The answer is “depends.”

There are certain changes that were already scheduled to happen in 2017 irrespective of the election results. In addition, while there will be more changes if President-Elect Trump’s proposed tax plan gets passed, most would not take effect until 2018.

Individual income tax – brackets and rates

Currently, there are seven income tax brackets and they are expected to remain in place in 2017. Income tax rates range from a low of 10 percent to the maximum of 39.6 percent. For married couples, the maximum tax rate of 39.6 percent will apply only after adjusted gross income reaches $470,700. Capital gains will continue to be taxed at 0 percent, 15 percent or 20 percent, depending on your income level.

If the tax proposals Trump’s campaign presented were enacted, it would simplify the tax code by reducing the number of income tax brackets from seven to three (12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent), with the highest bracket starting when adjusted gross income reaches $225,000 for a married couple.

This would result in a significant reduction in taxes collected overall, however results at specific income levels would vary depending on the deductions and credits that would be available to each taxpayer. Capital gains tax rates would remain the same under Trump’s plan.

Individual income tax – deductions and misc.

The annual standard deduction gets a small increase in 2017, up to $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for married couples. The personal exemption amount did not change and remains at $4,050 per person. Taxpayers have the choice of using either the standard deduction or the itemized deduction (whichever is higher).