Thursday, March 31, 2011

The SBA and ending the recession ONE LOAN at a time

We have funded another SBA 7(a) loan.

This time it was a $1,485,000 SBA 7(a) loan to refinance a mortgage and install solar panels on the warehouse roof of a company that specializes in providing items used in fund raisers for schools and charities.


Since 2000 we have closed over $760,535,899 in SBA 7(a) and 504 1sts.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

504 debt refinance

The Small Business Administration will allow more businesses to refinance their commercial real estate mortgages through its 504 loan program. The SBA initially restricted this new refinancing option to small businesses that faced balloon payments on their mortgages before Dec. 31, 2012. Beginning April 6, it will open the 504 refinancing option to businesses with balloon payments due after that date.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The SBA and obloquy

obloquy

(OB-luh-kwee)

1. Censure or abusive language towards someone, especially when expressed by many.

2. Disgrace resulting from public condemnation.

From Latin obloquium (talking against, contradiction), from ob- (against) + loqui (to speak).



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TIP OF THE WEEK

Obloquy for commercial real estate?

The Moody’s/REAL All Property Type Aggregate Index declined 1.2% in January. According to Moody's, CRE prices are down 4.3% from a year ago and down about 43% from the peak in 2007.

CoStar however said values were up 11 percent from January 2010. CoStar, unlike Moody’s, tracks transactions of less than $2.5 million. CoStar also limits its index to class A and B offices, the highest-quality buildings; retail and industrial properties built since 1990; and multifamily buildings of 30 units or more.

If you like a copy of either the Moody’s or CoStar report let me know.

SBA loans are exceptionally well suited to finance or refinance any owner user real estate.
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Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate March 2011 = 3.26%

SBA Fixed Base Rate March 2011 = 6.20%
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504 Debenture Rate for March

The debenture rate is 4.09% but note rate is 4.15% and effective yield is only 5.94%.
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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE

Obloquies will continue to fly with so many people still out of work.

Over 8 million jobs were lost in the great recession.

Last month, employers in the U.S. added 192,000 workers. This gain in payrolls for February follows a 63,000 increase in January.

Keep your eye on Friday’s payroll report from the Department of Labor.


What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

For all of 2010, about 1.1 million jobs were created, the most since 2006.

That’s a start, but we’ve got a long ways to go. There are still over 7 million fewer jobs in the U.S. compared to the peak of employment in 2007. If the U.S. economy adds 200,000 jobs per month, it will take 3 years to get back to the previous peak. And that doesn't include jobs needed to offset population growth (about 125,000 jobs per month).

As a result, when the Federal Open Market Committee met two weeks ago, they continued to say conditions "likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period".

Until we see continued and robust improvement in the labor market, interest rates will remain low.

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OFF BASE

Obloquies at baseball games are more often referred to as heckles.

Baseball heckling goes back to the 19th century. The term ‘heckle’ comes from the textile trade. If you heckled you combed out flax or hemp fibers. The current meaning today started as a name for the workers who combed the flax, as they were some of the most unruly people in the workforce.

Perhaps the most clichéd heckle of all time, “Kill the Ump!” was first recorded in Ernest L. Thayer’s 1888 poem “Casey at the Bat.”

Needling the umpire is a time-honored baseball tradition. It is also legal, a New York State appeals court ruled in 1987. In the unanimous decision, Justice Betty Weinberg Ellerin quoted, among others, General Douglas MacArthur. It was General MacArthur, the judge wrote, ''who is reported to have said on his return to American soil that he was proud to protect American freedoms, like the freedom to boo the umpire.''

If anyone had a perfect opportunity to heckle an umpire, it was pitcher Armando Galarraga last season. While playing for the Detroit Tigers, he lost a perfect game following a wrong call made by umpire Jim Joyce in the top of the ninth with two outs. Replays showed that Galarraga, covering at first for a grounder to the first baseman, got the throw and touched the base a stride ahead of the runner, but Joyce inexplicably called him safe. With the perfect game stolen from him, Galarraga simply smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and got the next batter out for a one-hitter that should have been perfect.

To his credit, Joyce apologized after the game and admitted he blew the call. Galarraga accepted the mistake gracefully, saying later, “Nobody’s perfect.”

Armando now pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He had his best outing of the spring Friday against the Dodgers, as he allowed three runs on five hits over six innings. He next pitches Wednesday in the last spring training game of the year.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Getting Money Into the Hands of Small Business

From today's Wall Street Journal...
Getting Money Into the Hands of Small Businesses - WSJ.com

The recession's grip on small-business owners has loosened, but unemployment remains stubbornly high and access to credit is still tight.

SBA 7(a) loans however are going strong...

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Is the SBA going to run out of money?

Another $228,164,000 in SBA 7(a) loans were approved last week by SBA.

That brings the year to date total to $11,397,964,000. Average loan size is now up to $417,390.

With over six months still left in the SBA's fiscal year, funding for SBA loans might get tight.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The SBA and ending the recession ONE LOAN at a time

We have funded another SBA 7(a) loan.

This time it was a $156,000 loan to a glass blower to refinance debt and provide additional working capital.

What happens when he inhales? He has glass panes!

We have now helped borrowers obtain $758,250,899 in both SBA 7(a) and 504 loans since 2000.

Friday, March 18, 2011

SBA 7(a) Weekly Lending Update

For the week ending March 11th, the SBA approved $254,170,000 in SBA 7(a) loans.

The new $5,000,000 loan size is having an impact on loan volume.

While January volume was off somewhat in January following the Jobs Act funding expiration in December, loan volume has since increased. February approvals were around $50 million per business day, and March numbers are closer to $75 million per day.

There is a distinct possibility that we will see loan demand in excess of the authorized level for this fiscal year.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

504 debenture rate

SBA 504 Debenture Rate for March
The debenture rate is 4.09% but note rate is 4.1538% and effective yield is only 5.941%.

Monday, March 14, 2011

The SBA and atrabilious

atrabilious
(at-ruh-BIL-yuhs)
Gloomy or Ill-tempered.
From Latin atra bilis (black bile), translation of Greek melankholia.
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TIP OF THE WEEK
You have NO reason to be atrabilious.

Spring is in the air.

SBA 7(a) loans can now go up to $5,000,000.

504 loans can actually refinance debt.
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Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate March 2011 = 3.26%
SBA Fixed Base Rate March 2011 = 6.20%
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504 Debenture Rate for February
The debenture rate is 4.22% but note rate is 4.285% and effective yield is only 6.071%.
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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE
Is this economy making you atrabilious?

Last month, employers in the U.S. added 192,000 workers. Maybe even more.

This gain in payrolls for February follows a 63,000 increase in January. Originally the Labor Department had said January jobs had increased by only 36,000. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was also revised up from +121,000 to +152,000.

So far so good, right?

Industrial production however decreased 0.1 percent in January 2011 after having risen 1.2 percent in December. The capacity utilization rate edged down to 76.1 percent. The capacity utilization rate measures the amount of a plant that is in use. This gauge averaged 80 percent over the past 20 years, signaling there’s enough spare plant equipment and space to prevent bottlenecks that would push prices higher.

Keep your eye on Thursday’s release from the Federal Reserve on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization.

Here is what capacity utilization rates have done:

1997- 83.6
1998- 83.0
1999- 82.4
2000- 82.6
2001- 77.4
2002- 75.6
2003- 74.6
2004- 79.2
2005- 80.7
2006- 82.4
2007- 81.5
2008- 79.9
2009- 69.9
2010- 74.8
2011- 76

What does all this mean?

I don't know.

One of the Federal Reserve’s favorite gauges of the economy is the capacity utilization rate. The Federal Reserve watches capacity utilization rates to see if production constraints are threatening to cause inflationary pressures. Bottlenecks or shortages often lead to inflationary pressures that would drive prices even higher. Several analysts have pointed to a rate between 81% and 82% as a tipping point over which inflation is spurred.

Capacity utilization at 76% is still far below normal - and well below the the pre-recession levels of 81.2% in November 2007.


That means we still have a long way to go before interest rates really start to go up. The Federal Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday.
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OFF BASE

Daylight Shifting Time meant that the sun did not rise this morning until 7:08. It will take 46 days for the sun to rise at 6:08 like it should. What a perfectly horrible way to ruin dawn surf patrols. Opps, I’m being atrabilious.


These late mornings mean people can sleep in after Evacuation Day this Thursday. Evacuation Day? Don’t I mean Saint Patrick’s Day? Saint Patrick’s Day is a holiday celebrating the patron saint of Ireland who banished snakes from the island, but post-glacial Ireland never actually had snakes.



In America, the fervor for Saint Patrick’s Day as a celebration did not really occur until March 17th, 1776 when the 11-month siege of Boston ended. The Continental Army placed captured cannon from Fort Ticonderoga onto Dorchester Heights in South Boston. To prevent what would have been an inevitable slaughter of his troops, British General Howe agreed to retreat to Nova Scotia via his ships without setting the city on fire as he left. That the Americans were able to drive off several thousand hardened troops and 1,100 loyalists with only a few warning shots fired and no loss of life or property was a major accomplishment and was Washington's first victory of the war. It was a huge morale boost for the new country, as the city where the rebellion against England started was the first to be liberated. Boston was never attacked again. The ensuing years recognized March 17th as Evacuation Day.



Irish American Catholics, perhaps confused by too much Guinness, mistook the revelry as a celebration of Saint Patrick instead of Evacuation Day.


Happy Evacuation Day!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The SBA and ending the recession ONE LOAN AT A TIME

We have closed another SBA 7(a) loan.

This time it was a $500,000 SBA 7(a) loan for the purchase of a powder coating company.

Since 2000, we have closed $758,094,899 in SBA 7(a) and 504 loans.

Monday, March 7, 2011

SBA 7(a) Rate Update

Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate March 2011 = 3.26%
SBA Fixed Base Rate March 2011 = 6.20%

Lenders can charge up to 2.75% over these indices

Thursday, March 3, 2011

The SBA and ending the recession ONE LOAN AT A TIME

We have funded another loan.

This time it was a SBA 7(a) loan for $350,000 to a software company developing on-line comic books.

So far we have funded $757,574,899 in SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 first trust deeds since 2000.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The SBA and ending the recession ONE LOAN AT A TIME

We have funded another loan.

This time it was a $430,000 SBA 7(a) loan for the purchase of a doctor's office.

We have funded $757,224,899 in SBA 7(a) and 504 1st trust deeds in the last ten years.