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Pay My Mortgage

November 12, 2008 Home mortgages underwater--what's that got to do with printing? Something, I would suspect, for the small businesses that predominate in our industry. Houses are pledged, or at the very least, personal finances are assessed, when loans and leases are given. 
There are 7.2 million mortgage holders in the U.S. who owe more than their homes are worth; there are 2 million more on the verge of joining them. This is almost 25% of the total 42 million mortgages outstanding. Statistically printing firm owners would likely be found among this group. Suddenly, the line of credit gets frozen, or new credit is unavailable. That means no funding for work in progress, or the paper inventory that constitutes 40% of the typical printing job. 
Likewise, there is no capital available even for somewhat modest investments of $20,000 to $500,000 to add digital printing capacity--a relatively low-ticket area for expansion. Printers with cash on hand now have the advantage. And those with tight relationships with their local bank. Workflow integration, of course, and milking more productivity from the equipment on the floor already--well, that's the ticket for firms wanting to rapidly update manufacturing capacity with the lowest capital outlay. 
The need for mortgage relief on the homefront is intimately tied to advancing the interests of small businesses, including printers, and for the economy as a whole. Dumping money into the inboxes of banks has not loosened up lending. Mortgage relief direct to borrowers is goimg to be very important to helping the businesses of Main Street get rolling again.   

Posted by Bill Esler on November 12, 2008 | Comments (1)