SBA and LED Financial Assistance for Small Businesses
LOUISIANA REALTORS • April 5, 2020
As the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to hit more Americans, federal and state governments have made programs available to assist small businesses with their payroll and business expenses. Louisiana REALTORS® has consolidated information about these programs for you to access in one convenient place.
Federal and State Resources Available for REALTORS® During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Federal and state governments have made programs available to assist small businesses with payroll and business expenses as the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues. If used for the intended purposes, this financial assistance may not be required to be repaid.
As always, we urge you to speak to your financial advisor, CPA, community bank, and/or attorney to determine what assistance is best for you. Also, Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offices throughout the state are available to provide remote assistance when applying for various programs. Further information is available here: https://www.lsbdc.org/
We also encourage you to speak to your current lenders about additional assistance available, including bridge loans and loan deferment or forbearance. If deferment or forbearance is available, be sure to ask how much will be due and when, credit reporting and interest and penalties.
Please note that unemployment assistance is different from the assistance available through these programs. See Unemployment Benefits for Self Employed and Independent Contractors.
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMS
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) created two new programs/grants to be administered through the Small Business Administration (SBA). The two programs are the following:
- SBA 7(a) “Paycheck Protection Program” (PPP)
- SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grant
The Act required the SBA and the Department of the Treasury to issue regulations and guidance necessary to administer the programs within a matter of days. This has led to a flurry of information being published about these two programs.
Louisiana REALTORS® believes the following to be trusted sources for information about the PPP and EIDL programs:
LOUISIANA LOAN PORTFOLIO GUARANTY PROGRAM
The Louisiana Loan Portfolio Guaranty Program offers loans of up to $100,000 to Louisiana small businesses of fewer than 100 employees that are impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The loans will require no payments for 180 days and carry below-market interest rates of no more than 3.5 percent.
The Loan Portfolio Guaranty Program is a partnership of Louisiana Economic Development, which will provide a loan guaranty fund; the Louisiana Bankers Association, whose membership will provide the loans; and the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority, which will administer the program. A total loan pool of $50 million will be disbursed to eligible small businesses across Louisiana.
More information about this program is available here: https://www.opportunitylouisiana.com/covid19/led-loan-guaranty-program?v=2
Open letter from Nykia Wright, CEO of the National Association of REALTORS®
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Eric B. Landry, JD and Kristin E. Oglesby, JD Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP 301 Main Street, Suite 2300 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70801 The following is a summary of the questions and answers from the 2024 Hotline. The Louisiana REALTORS® maintains a hotline for their Brokers to answer questions affecting the real estate industry as a whole. The hotline does not provide legal advice but provides general information. It is important to note that the laws and court decisions affecting these responses to these questions may change as new laws are passed and new court decisions are published. We cannot comment on or provide advice with respect to specific transactions. These responses are for general information only. Note that some of the responses provided herein were generated prior to the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) Settlement going into effect. That is, on August 17, 2024, several practice changes affecting compensation and communication in residential real estate transactions went into effect. Please click on the link below to access a fully-indexed summary of the questions and answers from the 2024 hotline.
