This post may be inappropriate for business owners under the age of 18 😉

Have you ever gone to a good comedy club and not laughed your self silly?

I can semi-vividly remember a guy I saw about 15 years ago at the Punchline here in Atlanta. He had some great bits including one about how the British were doomed to lose the Revolutionary War, because (DUH) they were marching through the forest in bright red uniforms loudly playing musical instruments.

Kind of like if you were deer hunting and a deer came up, tapped you on the shoulder and with pointed hoof said:  “Shoot Here.”

He also had a recurring bit about the size of a certain something that seemed inspired by Clevon Little’s immortal line from Blazing Saddles:

“Excuse me while I whip this out”

He would slip it in during various moments in his routine and get the audience to shout “HOW BIG IS IT?” To which he would start to undo his belt and reply “BACK UP!”

It was actually a great hook and he would work it in at just the right time.

If you don’t know the scene from Blazing Saddles…here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmnKOkt7fI

So what does this have to do with SBA loans?  I am actually still trying to figure that out myself because I just started typing and this is where I ended up :).

Actually, it has to do with the new “Super Sized” maximum SBA loan limits.

So just how BIG are they?  Well…BACK UP! 🙂

Okay, on a more serious note, the new loan sizes are significantly larger than before.  I sorta/kinda covered this in an earlier post, so maybe this is just my way of injecting a little comedy into an otherwise dull subject.

Here’s the scoop:

SBA 7a Loans – previously maxed out at $2 million, now $5 million (yup, that’s bigger)

SBA 504 Loans – “regular” 504 loans were previously maxed at $1.5 million and are now also $5 million (that’s bigger too).

SBA Green 504 Loans – these loans previously maxed out at $4 million and are now $5.5 million.

SBA 504 Loans for “small manufacturers” – these also previously maxed out at $4 million and are now $5.5 million.

Keep in mind that 504 loans are second mortgages provided by CDC’s (Certified Development Companies) and account for just 30 to 40% of the total amount financed which means maximum SBA 504 (combined) loan amount between the first and second mortgage are significantly higher than the $5.5 million 504 limit.

In addition to these changes, the standards for determining how large a business can be and still qualify have also been “SUPER SIZED” to include businesses with significantly more in assets and net income ($15 million and $5 million respectively).

So what have we learned from all of these changes?  Size matters with the SBA these days.