Category Archives: Miscellaneous

The Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”) is easily the most generous small business support grant/loan program in the history of the nation.  Essentially, it is a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of small businesses (under 500 employees) nationwide in the midst of the economic crisis borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It launched Friday, April 3, 2020, and on Sunday April 5, Wells Fargo & Company announced that it has “reached its capacity of $10 billion to lend under the PPP.” According to FastCompany.Com, “the bank has only been focusing on nonprofits or companies with 50 employees or less,” the statement read. From Fast Company and Wells:

“Given the exceptionally high volume of requests we have already received, we will not be able to accept any additional requests for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program. We will review all expressions of interest submitted by customers via our online form through April 5 and provide updates in the coming days.”

Many of our clients have wanted to apply quickly to be “first in line” for the grants, and successfully completed their on-line application with various banks.  We have helped them to quickly apply, but generally counseled patience inasmuch as the program claims to extend through the end of 2020.  Thus, we did not expect the grant/loan program would be cut off so quickly and callously by one of the nation’s biggest lenders.  48 hours of applications, which really was about eight business hours, and “poof” they are out of the game and leave their regular customers hanging.

To make matters worse, most banks with which we speak say they are limiting PPP applications to existing customers only. So, Wells Fargo customers may need to either wait or flail around for days, weeks or months to find another lender to process their perfectly compliant PPP application.

We continue to work with clients who are continuing to process PPP applications with PNC, US Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Huntington Bank and other major and smaller lenders.  If you are a Wells Fargo customer who is having difficulties applying for a PPP loan, contact us to help identify a cooperative and open lender.

Attorney Rebecca L. Simpson of the Finney Law Firm has carefully studied the PPP and the Emergency Income Disaster Loans (“EIDL”) to help our small business clients access these funds.  Feel free to call her at 513.797.2856 if you have questions about these programs or need help accessing PPP or EIDL funds.

Stay safe, America. We will get through this together.

Two updates this morning on the SBA’s important and potentially very helpful Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses:

1. The SBA’s Final Interim Rule issued Thursday night has this guidance on the difficult question of 1099 contractors:

Q: Do independent contractors count as employees for purposes of PPP loan calculations?

A. No, independent contractors have the ability to apply for a PPP loan on their own so they do not count for purposes of a borrower’s PPP loan calculation

2.  There have been a series of doom and gloom articles about the SBA’s rollout and large Banks’ reaction to that, such as this article from Politico, and this one from Forbes. We counsel patience. The government is rolling out an unprecedented amount of money for small businesses in the coming 30-60 days ad we suspect they will fully fund that generous program now that they have started it.

Finally, Rebecca L. Simpson (513.797.6227) from this office is devoting her practice for the coming weeks to serving clients on the PPP and EIDL programs. If she can be of assistance, please contact her directly.

• Employment attorney Stephen E. Imm of Finney Law Firm who can answer questions of employers and employees relating to workplace legal issues.
• Melissa Knies, Commercial Banking Relationship Manager in the Commercial Banking Department of US Bank, who can answer questions from the banker’s perspective on these programs.

Here is the Ohio Stay-at-Home order.

Read it carefully, as it is not as broad as the reports of today’s press conference might lead you to believe.

For example, as it relates to Finney Law Firm, and Ivy Pointe Title, law firms, title companies, Realtors, insurance companies and lenders are all deemed essential and thus the purchase and sale of real estate can continue unless the closing of auditor’s and Recorder’s office (in Ohio) and Clerk’s offices (in Kentucky) cause title to become uninsurable.

What the order says

The meat of the order is:

All businesses and operations in the State except Essential Businesses and Operations as defined below, are required to cease all business activities within the State except Minimum Basic Operations, as defined below.

Moreover, all Essential Businesses and Operations are encouraged to remain open. In other words, unless you are forced to be closed, they want you to continue operating and presumably at full strength.

But the exceptions are incredibly broad

Then the order goes on to except or define as Essential Businesses and Operations, which is virtually everyone:

• Working from home and home-based businesses
• Food service providers (production, distribution, fulfillment, and storage)
• The construction industry
• Building management and maintenance
• Airport operations
• The entire utility industry
• The oil and gas industry
• Distribution centers
• Garbage collectors
• Computer and internet-related companies
• All governmental functions
• Grocery stores and pharmacies
• Food, beverage and marijuana production (including farming, manufacturing, processing, and cultivating)
• Animal shelters, rescues and kennels
• Religious facilities
• Media and news companies
• Other first amendment speech activities, which would include activities relating to the primary and general elections, protests, and rallies.
• Hardware stores and stores selling HVAC, plumbing or electrical equipment and materials
• tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, janitors, exterminators, painters and HVAC repairmen
• Everyone involved in the postal or shipping industry
• Schools that already have not been ordered closed as long as 6-feet of distance is maintained
• Laundromats and dry cleaners
• Restaurants for carryout food only
• All means of transportation
• Home-based healthcare
• Professional services such as law, insurance, title and real estate
• Banks and other lending institutions
• Labor union functions
• Hotels and motels
• Funeral services

It also allows for travel:

• To visit healthcare providers;
• To obtain services from Human Service Operations, which include nursing homes, day cares, residential facilities for those with developmental disabilities and substance abuse issues, vocational services, rehabilitation services, adoption agencies, and those providing services to the indigent
• To shop
• To go to and from Essential Businesses and Operations

Enforcement

There is no enforcement mechanism for the Order, and indeed the Governor said as much in today’s press conference that they don’t intend to put anyone in jail for violating the Order. Thus, it is aspirational in nature, or perhaps just intended to get everyone’s attention to stop interacting with others as much as possible.

Conclusion

Certainly, the Governor intended something by the order, but given the incredibly broad exceptions, and the lack of any intent to enforce it, it appears to be an attempt to educate the public on the dangers of work and social interactions more than a heavy hand telling Ohio citizens what they can and cannot do in their work life.

Call our any of attorneys if we can advise you on COVID-19-related developments.

We wanted you to know that Finney Law Firm remains open for business and continues daily to fully serve our clients.  However, the COVID-19 crisis is deadly serious, and without everyone’s cooperation, has the potential to endanger the lives of thousands of those we serve in Ohio and Kentucky and those we love.  Thus, we are taking aggressive and careful steps to protect you and our team in interactions with our office:

• We have expanded our use of teleconferencing, e-signature, and other electronic communications to avoid person-to-person contact where it is not necessary.
• Many of our attorneys and staff are now working from home where possible to limit person-to-person interactions. We have equipped our Team with laptops and other technology to assure the volume and quality of work remains the same.
• We are carefully sanitizing each office daily, and conference rooms before and after each and every use.
• We are asking clients not to bring children and any “extra” parties to the office.  Bring yourselves only.
• If it is necessary to sign documents, we can come to your house or place of business to limit the number of persons with whom you are interacting. Let us know if you prefer this option.

Finney Law Firm wants to “Make a Difference” in your personal life and business for many years to come. In order to do that, we need to protect your health and that of our team.

Thank you for the trust you have placed in us for these many years.

Sincerely,

Christopher P.  Finney

There are a plethora of fantastic apps that help real estate professionals ply their trades from their cars, from the coffee shop, from a property you are viewing or from home on their phones.  Each of the apps listed here are available at the Apple Store and are free.  Many will also be available at Google Play.

We picked some we like at Finney Law Firm and polled some of our Realtor, lender and investor clients.  Here are the top ten:

1. Amortization calculators.

There are a host of apps for calculating mortgage payments and running amortization schedules.  The simplest one is “Mortgage Calculator for IPhone” and “Mortgage Calculator for

2. Zillow.

Zillow has revolutionized the real estate marketplace on the ,mobile platform.  It helps Realtors and mobile buyers find properties and their listing and sales information.

3. Gas buddy.

There is no longer a guessing game to find the cheapest fuel for the mobile professional. Gas Buddy instantly identifies the cheapest gas within range of your car or any zip code you select.

4. Social media.

Sorry, but it’s a scrum for the best social media platform to promote your business and communicate with your customers and potential customers.  Facebook clearly has the broadest reach, but YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram each have their audiences.  Today’s plugged-in (or wireless) real estate professional can’t live without these platforms.

5. Genius scan.

If you had house plans or a plat of a development or subdivision, the only options were to buy a large-scale scanner for the office or to drive to Kinkos. Now, the coolest, fast and free option is Genius scan. You download it onto your cell phone, and just take a picture from a desk, conference table or dining room table of a plat and viola you have a clear PDF of any drawing.  This image can later be placed on any computer screen or printed.  It is life-changing.

7. Dusty Rhodes County Auditor’s web site.

Dusty Rhodes has a nifty mobile app that has most of the property search information at your mobile fingertips as are available on his web site.  In fairness, it looks like it is an off-the-shelf app used by most Ohio Auditors.

8. Credit Karma.

Free credit app information at your fingertips. Many lenders and Realtors have their clients download the app to understand how they will fare with lenders.  Constantly updated and reliable, Credit Karma is a great app and we recommend it. There are of course many other apps that can help with your credit scores as well including Credit Sesame, Nerd Wallet and Wallet Hub, as well as scores available directly from two of the credit rating services themselves: Experian and TransUnion.

9. DocuSign.

Indispensable in today’s real estate marketplace are e-signatures and, of course, tehre are apps for that.  Each of Adobe Sign, DodLoop and DocuSign have mobile apps making e-signing even easier fro your phone.  We recommend DocuSign.

10. Around me.

OK, tihs nifty mole app is referred to as a “LifeStyle App. ” When showing or viewing a property, it tells you stores, restaurants, hospitals, movie theaters, and gas stations near the property. It helps buyers understand the neighborhood in which they are buying.

11. Magic Plan.

Magic Plan is another creative application that allows you to measure and draw any space.  In 3D.  For free.  Check it out!

Conclusion

These are our top 11.  What are your ideas?