{"id":9411,"date":"2017-09-24T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=9411"},"modified":"2017-09-22T17:09:49","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T23:09:49","slug":"landscape-business-puts-down-roots-with-help-from-accion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/obtaining-a-loan\/landscape-business-puts-down-roots-with-help-from-accion\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscape Business Puts Down Roots With Help From Accion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brinn Pfeiffer, Accion Communications Specialist, and Sandy Nelson, Finance New Mexico<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Oscar's<\/a>

Oscar’s Tree Service in Santa Fe<\/p><\/div>\n

Before Oscar Apodaca talked to Accion, his Santa Fe tree service business was like many growing entrepreneurial enterprises \u2014 operating on the edge of society and extremely vulnerable \u2014 a position that could be significantly improved by greater access to capital.<\/p>\n

Oscar\u00a0and his wife, Charito, started their full-service landscape business on Rufina Street in 2008 after\u00a0Oscar left his job at a local nursery. Their dream was to turn his landscaping gig into a full-time business with a permanent home \u2014 rather than running the venture from his trailer.<\/p>\n

A few years later they were in the swing of things, Oscar\u2019s Tree Service was renting a storefront and expanding its retail landscaping business. Then in 2016 when the same property was offered for sale, the Sinaloa, Mexico natives jumped at the chance to buy it, but their\u00a0taxpayer status made it difficult to secure a commercial loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely proud of the Apodaca\u2019s perseverance,\u201d said Accion\u2019s Vice President of Lending, Metta Smith. \u201cThey are fantastic clients that have boot-strapped their business from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Positioned to Borrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Apodacas are legal residents of the United States and\u00a0use an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) to pay taxes in lieu of a Social Security number.<\/p>\n

Most traditional banks require borrowers to have a Social Security number and won\u2019t lend to ITIN taxpayers because their status can sometimes be considered unpredictable. But community-based lender Accion can lend\u00a0up to $10,000 to ITIN taxpayers who are authorized to work in the United States \u2014 and even more if there\u2019s a co-guarantor with a Social Security number.<\/p>\n

A relative with Social Security status agreed to guarantee the Apodaca\u2019s 15-year commercial real estate loan so they could purchase the property that had housed their business since 2008. Today, the four family members and four other employees who comprise Oscar\u2019s Tree Service plan to improve the lot and perhaps open a second Santa Fe location before expanding to Los Alamos. \u201cWe are more stable for sure\u201d since the loan approval,\u00a0Oscar Apodaca\u00a0said. \u201cWe\u2019re close to Lowe\u2019s and Home Depot; it\u2019s a beautiful corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to open doors for our clients is one of the most rewarding aspects of working at Accion,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that today, Oscar\u2019s Tree Service is hearty, healthy and ready to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beating the Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n

Accion bases loan decisions on a business\u2019s cash flow, collateral, and conditions and its owners\u2019 personal credit and character. The Apodacas had it all, said Accion loan officer Gabriela Marques, and the commercial loan will help them become even more bankable as their credit strengthens.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar\u2019s Tree Service at one point\u00a0could have closed without Accion\u2019s support,\u201d Marques said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure working with the Apodacas \u2014 to see their joy, grit and passion for their business and how proud they are of what they have been able to accomplish in New Mexico over a decade, including having a source of income and security for their family and employing other Santa Feans.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help businesses like Oscar\u2019s Tree Service, Accion is pursuing a bold \u201cmoonshot\u201d to get $1 trillion into the hands of underserved entrepreneurs over the next decade. Its initiative follows a February 2017 Economic Innovation Group report\u00a0Dynamism in Retreat: Consequences for Regions, Markets and Workers<\/em>, which revealed that business deaths have outpaced births on average since 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that entrepreneurship is critical to economic dynamism and \u2026 to improving lives in underserved populations and geographies,\u201d Marques said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the difference that a business can make for an individual, family, and community \u2014 just like the Apocadas. As it stands, the amount of capital and other resources available to help these underserved entrepreneurs realize their dreams is not sufficient. Through Accion\u2019s work we\u2019re changing that story one business at time.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Accion visit us.accion.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Download 521_Landscape Business Puts Down Roots With Help From Accion<\/a> PDF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brinn Pfeiffer, Accion Communications Specialist, and Sandy Nelson, Finance New Mexico Before Oscar Apodaca talked to Accion, his Santa Fe tree service business was like many growing entrepreneurial enterprises \u2014 operating on the edge of society and extremely vulnerable … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9411"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9417,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions\/9417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}