The recovery of commercial real estate in Pinellas and Hillsborough Commercial real estate is gated primarily by our ability to get loans. As loans have become more available (primarily through the SBA 504 program in conjunction with Regions, B of A, Florida bank and other local bankers) we have seen a steady increase in the number of Commercial Property transactions. This began to get some steam about the middle of 2010.

We are even starting to see some conventional commercial realty loans (non-SBA) for those with great credit putting down a substantial down-payment (Regions and Florida Bank).

These loans have all been limited to end user properties and it remains very difficult to get loans for investment properties. Though we are seeing some potential loosening of the purse strings for multi-family projects (again with good credit and a substantial down-payment).

This is but one piece of the economic puzzle for our local businesses.

In any given week, I talk to maybe 15 or 20 small businesses. Some are doing better than others, most look forward to putting 2010 behind them and they all have the same fundamental problem. In 2008 and 2009 as the economy tanked, their banks all curtailed and then canceled their business lines of credit. So the folks who remained solvent had to scrape together enough cash to float their payrolls and inventory. Anywhere between $20,000 and $200,000 depending on the size of the business to replace these lines of credit. This has had a crippling effect on them. Some went out of business. Now that the economy is turning slowly better, they are unable to respond to all of the orders and calls for their services because they do not have the cash to fund the growth, to hire employees, or buy more inventory.

If these guys could get their lines of credit back, it would alow them to slowly start growing to meet the new demand and invest their cash into new facilities to house that growth. Specifically, those that are renting can now buy (prices are low and interest rates are low), and those that own can trade up.

This means more jobs, increasing real estate values (in Pinellas and Hillsborough) and an improvement in our little piece of the world.

Today I had a client tell me that their bank had actually increased their line of credit. The increase was small...and they had to fight for it by threatening to take their banking relationship elsewhere, but they got an increase, enough to grow their business a little bit.

I am optimistic that this is the start of better times ahead for our small businesses.