Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Multi Family Strawbale Housing

[Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob (dmmj]

On Wed, 23 Oct 1996 Mmariner [at] aol.com wrote:

> Rob S sagely advises checking with banks before getting too committed to a
> technology such as straw bale.
> 
> We all have the perception that banks tend to be very conservative and to shy
> away from anything that is unfamiliar, especially things that are "unproven."
> 

When we were first talking to a bank about financing our construction, we
asked rather tentatively about straw bale and other alternative building
methods. The banker's reply was "Hmmm, straw bale, well, I don't know who
would be financing something like that around here...."  The next week I
was driving by the new Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland (straw
bale construction, among other innovative techniques used) and guess which
bank was providing the construction financing!

The moral of this story is, don't necessarily take no for an answer - your
loan officer may just be giving you a careful, conservative answer rather
than knowing what the bank's policy actually is.... 

Denise Meier