Re: Low cost housing
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 12:05:50 -0700 (PDT)

On May 18, 2008, at 1:52 PM, John Faust wrote:

 I will also pursue the issue of
pooled resources among cohousing communities. I'm sure it won't be easy to
create such a financial institution.

Another option might be to negotiate with a national bank to create a "preferred lender" agreement. There is a lot of construction money and mortgages involved in cohousing that a bank would benefit from. One project can cost upwards of $10,000,000 to build and then there are all mortgages. With such an arrangement you could probably negotiate the lowest rates available. And it would make getting construction loans easier.

I don't know if anyone has had difficulty getting a mortgage once the houses are built. Another way to reduce costs is working with one mortgage broker to do all your pre-qualifications and then mortgages. The broker can take all the mortgages to one bank and negotiate or reduce their own commission, which I think is half the points charged. Everyone might not want to go to the same bank, but if the broker makes it easy they probably will, unless they have special circumstances elsewhere.

This might be faster than starting a whole new institution. Meeting the regulations alone must be daunting and then you have to find a bundle of money for reserves before you can lend anything.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines in Washington DC
Where all roads lead to Casablanca




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