John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... Colorado made the front page of the Wall Street Journal today.
In an article under the headline, Two of the three Little Pigs Would Have Trouble Getting a Loan, the newspaper led with a couple who build a house in rural Colorado with 17,000 old tires, and now no lender wants to touch them. They also talked to the builder of another unconventional house – this one near Granby, used 50 tons of Coors beer packaging as insulation, who can’t get a conventional loan. Another person who build an underground home in the San Juan Mountains feared losing his home, until Wells Fargo & Co. in Durango came to the rescue and agreed to provide a loan.
Appraiser rules part of problem
One problem is the new code for appraisers adopted last spring by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which no longer lets banks and mortgage bankers pick appraisers. In the past, some appraisers had developed a niche in tracking these odd, but extremely sustainable homes. The authors talked to a Pagosa Springs mortgage broker who made $295,000 a year finding loans for earth-friendly homes during the boom times, but last year saw her income drop to $16,000. Now, she is exiting the business and turning her office into an art gallery.
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.
Thanks for pointing me to this article. Good use of social networking. It's a shame that the goal of sustainability runs into the brick wall of risk aversement.
Bankers are scared to death of getting cross with regulators. Not to mention what to expect from the DC Bozos. This nonsense has gone on longer than any thing like it in history.