More small U.S. businesses face evictions

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- More small U.S. businesses are facing evictions as insolvencies soared by 44 percent last year, a number experts say will likely keep rising in 2008.

The quick rise is being fueled largely by the home mortgage crisis and is a little-discussed consequence of the real estate meltdown, The Washington Post reported Monday.

It's not known exactly how many of the nearly 10,000 eviction notices issued in Maryland's Prince George's County each month are aimed at small businesses, but scenes of abandoned office equipment being hauled out into streets for collection by the sheriff's department are getting more common, The Post said.

"It's depressing to see businesses going down like this," said Prince George's County Sheriff Sgt. Robert Bauer. "But you have to distance yourself from it, so it doesn't get to you."

Washington-area commercial real estate broker Gary Michael told The Post more small businesses will continue to struggle to cover overhead costs.

"It's a lot tougher for the smaller guys to borrow money if they need it to cover short-term cash flow hiccups," he said. "A lot of people used to rely on their homes as a source of borrowing and that has dried up."