O.C. business sales drop 54% in October

November 2nd, 2009, 6:00 am · 10 Comments · posted by Jan Norman, small-business columnist

Less than half the number of small- to mid-sized businesses sold in Orange County during October compared to a year earlier, according to BizBen, a California businesses-for-sale web site.

Here are BizBen’s data for Orange and surrounding counties and for all of California (click on image for larger view):

Source: BizBen

This is the 14th straight month of year-over-year sales declines in Orange County.

Orange County’s October sales were also fewer than in September, an indication that the business market is still in a slump. Would-be buyers are still having difficulty getting bank loans for the purchase price. Fewer are able to tap home equity, another common source of capital to buy a business prior to the housing slump.

Southern California sales are down more than the state as a whole, especially Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties which were hardest hit by the housing and mortgage declines.

A recent survey indicated that 65% of business owners fear their businesses might fail by 2011, hardly a ringing endorsement for potential buyers. Also, Orange County taxable sales declined in the third quarter, sign that retail businesses are dicey purchases even if they are profitable.

Peter Siegel of BizBen has said not to expect a recovery in the market until next year.

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ocobserver says:

November 2, 2009 at 7:30 am

See, these stats are the TRUE indicator of where your economy stands. This and job growth (or decline). In this environment the stock market indices are worthless. Why? Because it has been inflated with infusions of $TRILLIONS$ of tax dollars into the greedy financial establishment responsible for the collapse in the economy in the first place. If you look at ALL the other economic indicators (other than stocks) the future appears very gloomy. None (or very little) of the bailout money has been directed toward small business or the little guy. Like the author of the article said, the big banks are not giving the ham ‘n egger loans or allowing them to dip into their home equity. Yet they have no problem raising your credit card interest rates to 30% even if you’ve never been late with payment! hah! The big crooks get rewarded while the little guy who played by the rules all his life gets hosed. So why play by the rules anymore? That’s my question!

Straight up! says:

November 2, 2009 at 7:52 am

Well said ocobserver!

What gets me is that we support the banks who are loosing jobs and not supporting those who actually do make jobs.

I also do not see why we allow banks to legally comitt Usary. Under current law us individuals can only charge 10% interest on ballances and these loan sharks(Banks) can charge 30% or more.

The new credit card laws are a joke and we need to level the playing field will promote free trade. If usary is 10% why not cap this figure for the Banks?

ocobserver says:

November 2, 2009 at 8:22 am

The new cc law is a farce. It’s closing the barn door after all the horses got out. It simply says that the banks can’t raise the interest rates higher. But they’ve already raised them to 30%. Realistically, how much higher could they go until people simply refuse to even make the minimum payment out of protest??? Bwarney Frank is a fraud, just like all the rest of them. He was one of Angelo’s friends who got a sweetheart deal on home mortgage loans while sitting on a congressional finance committee!!!! hah! And he’s been caught in numerous lies.

The banks are simply charging their good customers more to compensate for all the others who are defaulting on their cards. That is why it makes no difference if you have been an upstanding and model cardholder by religiously making your payments month in and month out. You get punished too with a 30% interest on outstanding balance and new charges! hah. The financial system in America is supposed to REWARD good behavior and PUNISH bad behavior. Yet for the last 18 months the OPPOSITE has held true! So how much longer can such an unfair system survive??? How much longer will the ones who play by the rules tolerate it without lashing back??? That is the question that remains to be answered!

WatcherLA says:

November 2, 2009 at 8:07 am

Watch your backs when you are in these counties. They are going to get their money one way or another.

bye CA says:

November 2, 2009 at 8:21 am

So long CA, after living in CA my entire life, I’m moving to a more stable and less taxed state. I’ll come back to visit.

OCNative says:

November 2, 2009 at 8:23 am

With CIT Groups, SBA and commercial lenders, recent filing for bankruptcy will make the business environment even worse. There is a tight credit crunch for those who are legitimate companies, small businesses who will hire workers, given a loan or some assistance. However, instead millions of dollars will be spent on subsidizing welfare and other government programs—-such that we can all become morons dependent on small infusions of government carrot sticks.

ocobserver says:

November 2, 2009 at 8:41 am

Yep. And once the majority of the population is dependent on a gobblement carrot stick to survive who in their right mind would bite the hands that feeds them? Total control over the masses. While the rich get richer and the middle class/poor get thrown to the curb.

Mr NoSpin says:

November 2, 2009 at 9:04 am

It used to be that Orange County was the business and economic indicator for the rest of California and the Nation. Im wondering if that will still hold true in the coming months. Is so then we are all in for a very Perfect Storm.

OCObserver hit in on the nose. Anyone who listens to Wall Street is a complete fool. The DOW is not a true indicator as to what is happening in this country.

I think the next big blow will be when the February Holiday sales indexes come out and it shows how badly this Xmas will end up being.

Just looking at the local stores it looks bad. Wal Mart for example had about 1/3 the rack space dedicated to Halloween this year. Home Depot put out nothing and Lowes had less then a quarter rack.

For Christmas our local Home Depots and Lowes have ½ of the rack space dedicated as opposed to last year. The Wal Mart near my house also has about ½ the shelving dedicated to xmas. It will be interesting to see what happens in the following weeks.

X-DEM says:

November 2, 2009 at 9:55 am

Orange County lost 10,000 highly (very highly) paid subprime loan officers when the mortgage bubble popped. These folks were the ones living “high on the hog” buying luxury homes, expensive luxury cars and who are now mostly unemployed. These folks and their spending boosted the economy after tens of thousands of highly paid engineers left Orange County following their companies to lower tax states like Nevada and Texas. What is left is retired folks who don’t spend very much and entitled beneficiaries of the generous California welfare state. They don’t pay taxes and spend all of what they receive, which isn’t really enough to keep Orange County solvent.

frombackeast says:

November 2, 2009 at 10:18 am

And we are supposed to believe the politicians that the recession is over? The administration says that over 700,000 jobs have been saved or created? Has anyone been to the internet job boards lately. Still dry as a bone. If Bernanke claimed the moon to be made of bleu cheese, would we believe him just because the “expert” says so.
I was angry enough when the Bush Administration claimed there was no recession when we all saw it coming a long time ago, but this is just another slap in the face by short sighted politicians. The decline in OC business proves it.

Orange County Register