Cohousing-L Mailing List: Mortgage referrals for construction lender due diligence

[Clifford May (clifford]

As always - things are tougher living in a state where
the local real estate professionals have never heard of cohousing.

We are exploring the possibility of using Wells Fargo as our
development/construction lender.  Part of their due diligence
is for them to determine whether cohousing units will appraise
and receive mortgages easily, thus providing "takedown" funding
to pay off the development/construction loan.

If you live in cohousing and used Wells Fargo as your mortgage
lender - we would like contact information to your mortgage banker
(or possibly just your branch) and your property address - so
that we can get your mortgage banker on the phone with someone in
the Wells Fargo mortgage banking department here - so they
can assure her/him that (adequately well built/affordable) cohousing
units should appraise and qualify for mortgages without undue
difficulty and without lender concern that there is a significant risk of
the property values depreciating due to cohousing resulting in
the complex being poorly maintained and becoming unattractive as 
the years go by. The particular Wells Fargo banker we are talking with 
acknowledges that some of his concern is a general concern about 
condominiums whether or not there is a cohousing structure to the POA 
[Property Owners Association].

Clifford May
Central Austin Cohousing
Austin, Texas