Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995                   TAG: 9503040020
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: G-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF DEBELL
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HE HAD TO OVERCOME ROADBLOCKS SET BY BANKS, CITY BUREAUCRATS

The decision was easy. Getting the money he needed was much harder.

For his first bank loan of $20,000, Waddy had to put up $67,000 in collateral.

His business succeeded, and two years later was ready to grow.

That meant another round with bankers. It ended just a few weeks ago, and Waddy said it wasn't much more pleasant than the first.

He got more money - $68,000 of the $100,000 he wanted - but once again he had to put up everything - his house, his van, his tools - as collateral.

The loan means he'll be able to buy needed equipment and hire more help. But it also means lots of worry about meeting his payments.

"If I sneeze now, my family is out on the street," he said.

Waddy, 46, is married and has two children.

Difficulty getting capital is just one of the ways small business is discouraged in Roanoke, Waddy said. Another is the "roadblocks" he says are thrown up by the city government, burdensome taxes and an unresponsive bureaucracy among them.

Waddy said he had no such problems in Salem. He moved Greg's Auto Paint & Body Shop to 3414 Melrose Ave. N.W. in 1992.

"In my opinion the city doesn't want small business," he said. "If I wasn't on a long-term lease, I'd move."

Bank business loans require copious documentation on the part of applicants. Some need guidance with the paperwork. Waddy turned to the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center for help.

(One of his beefs with the municipal government is that no one there told him about the center, which is supported in part by the city. He found out about it by writing to Sen. Charles Robb and Gov. George Allen for help.)

Working from Waddy's cash disbursement records, center director John Jennings and staff member Douglas Murray determined business projections and capital requirements. They helped him put together a loan request, complete with a proposed financing structure. They told him what to expect from the banks, and served as a sounding board and intermediary between Waddy and lending institutions until the deal was closed. All for free.

Waddy credits the center for his success at the bank.

"If it weren't for them, I don't think I'd get any help at all," he said.

With the added employees, new equipment and working capital made possible by the loan, Waddy will be able to take on more work at his shop. But he said he'll still have to maintain a delicate balance.

"If you don't do enough business you starve. But if you get too much business and can't get it done, you get a mad customer."