Author: Dave Westburg

Billboard Business

A bad billboard lease

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 […]

Billboard Lending

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 […]

Miscellaneous

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 […]

Billboard Business

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 […]

Billboard Business

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 […]

Billboard Business

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 […]

Billboard Lending

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 […]