Cohousing-L Mailing List: Internal home loan assistance

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

At Doyle Street we have had at least one case where one household loaned
money to another whose house appraisal came in significantly higher than
expected. Therefore, 20% down payment was required instead of 10%. The
lending household made the loan at the time of original purchase so this it
was not at all a risky loan. It was a formal second mortgage with the
papers drawn up by the title company, and a second deed of trust was issued
to the lender. The terms of repayment and the interest arrangements were
agreed upon by the two parties.

I really like the idea of a community loan fund within a cohousing
community, but I think the paperwork it would require and the questionable
legality of it in some states  make it a pretty iffy proposition. Also,
someone has to "manage" any money that is in the fund but not loaned out at
any moment. A potential disadvantage of the individual lending scheme might
be awkwardness if it were known that the X family had loaned to the Y
family, but chose not to lend the Z family. Keeing secrets isn't a swell
idea either, so maybe there could be some kind of anonymous middle man or
woman (someone neutral and not a community member) to protect the anonymity
of both (or all) the parties. 

Joani Blank
Doyle St., and Old Oakland CoHousings (both in N. California, of course)