Brooke Mirenda President & CEO Sunshine State Economic Development Corporation
Will demand for SBA loans increase going forward? Yes, I believe companies will look at SBA as a source of funding their business ventures due to the allowances our borrowers have received during the pandemic. There is certainly an awareness of SBA that didn’t exist in years past due to the pandemic. With the legislation that passed at the end of the year, there are even more advantages for small-business owners, including more robust refinancing options and temporary fee relief. Certified Development Companies (CDCs) around the country and our industry as a whole are seeing record numbers of new applications. To obtain an SBA 504 loan, you must have a CDC partner. It is a two-part loan with a lender and a CDC/ SBA where we finance fixed assets (commercial real estate, machinery, and equipment). There are many advantages of SBA 504 financing. For a 504 loan, the standard down payment is 10%. CDC’s like SEDCO have an economic goal, with one of them being job creation. When you only have to put 10% down, you can utilize that additional capital to create jobs. For conventional financing, the standard down payment is 20% to 25% and many of them balloon after so many years. With the SBA 504 loan, the rates are lower, fixed for the life of the loan and the terms are longer than conventional financing. There are very few disadvantages of going SBA. What are your main near-term priorities? We’re really watching our portfolio and it’s performance. In the 504 loan program, we need to be cognizant of the fact that we are lending SBA money, not ours. While we do have other lending programs, our primary focus is the SBA 504 loan. Additionally, with all the legislative changes, we envision our portfolio will continue to grow with additional program offerings like debt refinance. We are certainly geared up and prepared for growth. Growth is good, but we also want to ensure we are setting up our small businesses for success as they continue to be the driving economic force in the US economy. 120
| Invest: Tampa Bay 2021 | BANKING & FINANCE
For the banking sector, the pandemic highlighted the importance of having strong client relationships.
startup is ready for launch and has made a commitment to be carbon-neutral from the day it opens its doors. Not only that, it will ensure its vendors are strictly evaluated based on their ESG goals and will provide its customers with climate-focused services, such as “solar loans” in its capacity as a full-service community bank. Mortgages Tampa Bay’s mortgage market is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, historically-low interest rates have driven demand for the already limited housing supply after an initial pause stemming from the arrival of COVID-19 to the United States and the resulting market uncertainty. By July 2020, however, the home purchase pace had accelerated by a record-breaking 24.7% compared to the month before. On the other hand, at the end of May 2020, the percentage of Tampa Bay’s
