You can’t be too careful when you negotiate a billboard location lease. I want to tell you about one of the worst billboard leases I’ve ever seen. It’s a lesson in what not to do and here’s why: The lease term is 9 years versus a 20 year norm in […]
Author: Dave Westburg
Sources for Billboard Loans
There are three sources for billboard loans: niche finance companies, sign vendors and banks. I will discuss the pros and cons of each source. Niche finance companies such as Billboard Loans or Stark Capital specialize in one or two industries including billboards. Pros: (1) Niche lenders know the industry […]
Welcome to the Billboard Loans Blog
Welcome to the billboard loans blog. I have been blogging on the billboard industry since August 2013 using a google blogger site. I am going to migrate my blog to this website in connection with the conversion of our website to wordpress. I will be transferring and updating my earlier […]
13 billboards key component of political campaign.
Here’s an interesting Reuters article about how 13 billboards were a key component of the successful campaign to defeat the United Auto workers attempt to represent workers at Volkswagen’s sole US factory. Volkswagen wouldn’t let the anti-union group campaign on company premises, so the anti-union group bought 13 billboards in town so […]
Five Questions for Scott Spector, Libsco Financial Group
As a billboard owner and lender I know the importance of insurance. I had a lending client who’s digital billboard was wrecked by a fire in the building next door. My client replaced the board quickly thanks to insurance. Scott Spector of the Libsco Financial Group has been meeting the […]
Five Questions for Emerson Schwartzkopf of Out of Home Magazine
As a niche business there are very few sources of information on the outdoor business. Most of us are too cheap to spend the thousands of dollars is costs to join the OAAA. This week I was delighted to discover a digital magazine dedicated to the out-of-home business. It’s called Out of Home […]
Why you need billboard insurance.
Sign insurance is important. Hurricanes and storms can wreck billboards. The digital billboard pictured below was destroyed by an electrical short. One of my lending clients had a digital board damaged by a fire on an adjacent property. Lenders will require you to carry three kinds of insurance. (1) An umbrella […]
Small business ad spending to increase 10% in 2014
Here’s a link to a Media Life Magazine Article which predicts that small and medium sized businesses will increase their advertising by 10% in 2014. Much of the increase is going to online/digital but I suspect that savvy billboard operators will be able to capture a share as well. The study’s author […]
Risks of Legal Non-Conforming Boards
Here’s an interesting newspaper story about the risks of owning legal non-conforming billboards. A legal non-conforming billboard does not comply with existing zoning rules but has been grandfathered because it was constructed before the rules were put in place. Most zoning rules forbid you from replacing or repairing non-conforming boards so you […]
Lending Standards Easing
The federal reserve surveys senior bank credit officers four times a year about whether their lending standards are tightening, stable or easing. Here’s a table summarizing the trend in bank lending standards for small businesses over the past 10 years. The table shows that after tightening during the three years […]
