Cohousing-L Mailing List: Finding a Lender For Co-housing Projects

[The Fertile Zone (fertilezone]

Someone might be able provide more choices to co-housing groups shopping 
for a financing institution.  

I suggest a specific inquiry to DataMerge about how this tool supports co-
housing / eco-villiage type financing, before deciding to maintain a single 
copy 
centrally to serve everyone who may have a need for it.  We are on the 
DataMerge list, and their original message has been abbreviated below.

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:                   spencer [at] datamerge.com (Spencer Kluesner)
Subject:                FYI: MortgageSource 2000 Released
Date sent:              Tue, 30 Jun 1998 13:58:53 -0600

DENVER (June 30, 1998)  --  DataMerge, Inc., a Denver-based developer of 
software and database information for companies seeking financing, today 
announced the release of  MortgageSource 2000, a CD-ROM-based directory 
that provides detailed information on lending and investment institutions for 
hard-
to-finance commercial properties throughout the United States. 

        *Out of favor or uncommon property types;
        *Short turnaround times required;
        *Special terms, rates and conditions sought;
        *Financial aspects outside of normal ranges
        (loan-   to-value, debt service coverage,       etc.);
        *Borrower credit difficulties;
        *Environmental concerns.

MortgageSource 2000's content was gathered by finance industry-trained 
researchers who personally interviewed loan officers, as opposed to the 
industry standard of data collection, which typically consists of a mail-in 
survey.  "Direct interview data collection provides an advantage in terms of 
accuracy and quality of information, as well as the ability to screen out 
listings 
by firms that although they claim to be lenders, are not really lenders," said 
Spencer Kluesner, founder and chief executive officer of DataMerge.

In addition to custom search software that targets a project's "optimal" lender 
or investor anywhere in the United States, MortgageSource 2000 contains an 
extensive commercial mortgage knowledgebase called the MortgageAdvisor.  
The MortgageAdvisor provides "how to" information that assists real estate 
professionals in determining a project's financing viability.  It then helps 
the 
user develop approach strategies and loan packaging that gives the project the 
best chance of being financed on the most favorable terms. 

"We felt that a directory of lenders would be much more valuable to our 
customers if we could show them how to place financing with those lenders -- 
especially for odd-ball property types and problem properties," Kluesner said.  
"As with all DataMerge electronic directories, we didn't want to just publish a 
lender list containing generic financing criteria.  

MortgageSource 2000 profiles the following types of financing sources:  
commercial and other banking institutions, conduits, pension funds, insurance 
companies, retirement funds, private lenders, and investment banks.  The 
program also includes an extensive section detailing the investment criteria 
and 
strategies of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Specific property types that are routinely financed by the lenders profiled in 
MortgageSource 2000 include:  apartments, manufactured homes, farms, 
ranches, office parks, warehouses, distribution centers, regional malls, outlet 
malls, strip malls, free-standing retail, day care facilities, hospitals, 
senior 
housing, medical/dental offices, hotels/motels, resort properties, parking 
structures, restaurants, golf courses, marinas, car dealerships, auto repair 
shops, mini-storage facilities, churches, and raw land.

Additional information on MortgageSource 2000 can be found at:
http://www.datamerge.com/commercial/mortgages/mortgagesource.html )
or call 800-580-1188

Editorial Contact:
Peter Masi
MasiPR [at] aol.com
(303) 399-6031

-- End of FWD ---


The Fertile Zone
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