the Lease Guy

Ok, the title is a little misleading, but I couldn’t come up with anything wittier in regards to what I’m writing about this week. You’ll see what I mean soon enough.

Anyway, the Fletcher clan went on vacation over the 4th of July weekend – my extended family rented one of those huge beach houses in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. There were 16 of us altogether, spread out over 5 individual families (of which my wife and I were one), so we needed a big place with lots of bedrooms.

And let me tell you, this place was HUGE – 10 bedrooms, 5 floors, a movie theater, game room, tiki bar, sports bar, about 10 TV’s, pool, and even an elevator (I’m not kidding – my nieces and nephews thought that was the coolest thing ever.)

Anyway, what does this have to do with equipment financing? Glad you asked. See, I happened to get there first on check-in day, and by luck, happened to catch the owner of the house during the “is everything ready” walkthrough. I guess I was just lucky that he personally did the walkthrough on ours, because, as it turns out, his company owns seventeen of these places (yea, that’s what I said too…)

So we talked for awhile, and he showed me the new pool table the house had (now you understand the “snookered”) – in fact, he bought new pool tables for each residence (that’s 17 pool tables, at about $6,000-$7,000 each.) He got a bank loan with a fairly hefty rate (like he usually does when he replaces items in the houses). He had no idea that an equipment finance company like mine even existed. Now, maybe that’s because an equipment finance company like mine doesn’t usually finance pool tables. And that’s true – we don’t finance single pool tables for individuals. But 17 for a company? Yes, that we handle (note for accuracy – not every equipment finance company will do this. Just don’t want to give the wrong impression here.) So he had no idea this option was even available to him.

Suffice to say, I gave him my business card, and will probably be hearing from him in the future, because we can definitely save him money when he wants to upgrade/replace other things. And it really resonated with me – there are so many situations out there that could call for equipment financing, yet oftentimes, the person needing it has no idea of the options available.

And yes, that’s all the work ol’ Fletch did for the week – the rest of the week was spent watching the waves roll in.

Recently, I told you how my wife and I were looking into spending our Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 checks. I want to give a short update in that regards (we’ll get back to equipment finance and the like next time – I know you’re all waiting with baited breath.)

Anyway, I went ahead and purchased my grill. And it’s a beauty. In fact, I like it so much I need to tell you about it. Now, before I get into this, let me tell you that this isn’t the norm for me. I’m usually pretty indifferent when it comes to products and brand names, and would never damage my integrity by falsely endorsing a product (and I invite companies of all sizes to just try and tempt me with a very large check to do such.)

Ok, back to my grill. I bought a Weber Spirit E-310. This is my first Weber grill, as the previous times I bought a grill I eschewed the higher price of the Weber in favor of “something cheaper” (which, I have learned, when it comes to grills, is another name for “piece of @#$%”)

Seriously, I must have been through five grills in the past ten years. Each time I bought a new one, I considered the Weber (as it has an extremely stellar reputation), but instead went with some $250 model that I convinced myself was “just as good” (which, again, is another code name for “piece of @#$%”)

Well, after yet another afternoon of trying to cook a steak at 375 degrees (the max my el-cheapo brand could hit), and suffering through more flare ups and hot spots than are on the Sun itself, I decided enough was enough, and since I had that economic stimulus check in hand, I decided to go for the gusto and get the grill everyone raves about.

Right away, I could tell the Weber was different, and well worth the money. To begin, it just “feels” better – very solidly built. In addition, the burners are very intelligently designed so no grease gets on them, the drippings catcher is very simple and actually works (something the other grills couldn’t do right), and the propane tank scale is very clever (and really works). But best of all, the thing heats up to 600 degrees in about 5 minutes, and really cooks food well – a nice, even heat, with no hotspots and minimal flare-ups (due to the intelligent burner design.)

I would recommend a Weber to anyone buying a new grill. Yes, they are a bit on the expensive side, but in this case, you truly do get what you pay for.

So there you go – my first gushing product endorsement, without any prodding (or, sadly, a check) from Weber.

There were definitely some high-level negotiations in the Fletcher household this week.

My wife and I were discussing the economic stimulus act of 2008, or, more specifically, what we were going to spend our checks on. We’re getting $600 each, but had very different viewpoints.

My wife wants to do something smart (yet boring), like pay bills, or prepay heating oil for next year, or (*gasp*), put them in the bank.
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