Show Me The Money!

December 9, 2015
Bringing you more of the weird, the bizarre and the edifying in cohousing.

Edifying: Show Me The Money!
Announcements: "Deep Aging"

Edi-bits: 301s/f; chocolate; gangnem style ... again
Huh? At Home with Rudolph ... SCROLL DOWN!

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Show Me The Money!

Fast, Flexible, Reliable Capital

That’s the Headline on the website G ROUNDFLOOR, a crowdsourcing realestate funding investment company. While the story of how it has achieved its breakthrough in allowing non-accreditedinvestors to get into the real estate investmentmarket is laudable and fascinating … what’s important to 99.9% of cohousers is:

There’s a new kid in town with money to lend.

If your cohousing group is looking for financing for

lot loans
acquisition
construction
renovation

GROUNDFLOOR may be a source for you.

And it couldn’t be simpler.

Apply on-line. If accepted, projects may take up to 30 days to fund but often fund more quickly. Use your own closing agents.

Rates start at 6%. Pay off the loan anytime. Junior and Senior loans are included in GROUNDFLOOR'S offerings.

And if you want to invest … oh my goodness … you could earn a smart return on your capital. At least according to the website!

GROUNDFLOOR is one of several real estate investment companies using crowdsourcing to fund real estate projects. Fundrise, which has been operating in the Washington, DC area for several years, has an extremely good track record in crowdsourcing capital to fund commercial real estate projects. According to a USAToday article, Realty Mogul raised $9 million in capital in 2014 for accredited investors. In the same article, USAToday says there are more than 20 “platforms” available for crowdsourcing capital for real estate projects in the U.S.

Currently, GROUNDFLOOR provides:

Financing for commercial residential real estate projects. They do NOT fund owner-occupied housing or provide consumer financing.
They do not do long term financings. Most of their loans are for 6-12 months.
They will consider loans with a LTV ratio up to 85% of the “after repair value.”
According to GROUNDFLOOR, their most successful borrowers are real estate professions (builders, developers et. al,) with a proven track record. (Another reason cohousers building their community should work with professionals from the start!)
They fund both “Senior” and “Junior” loans. That is, loans that are first in-line to be repaid (Senior) and those in a secondary (Junior) position to be repaid should the borrower default on the loan.
The typical loan is between $20K-$150K.
The more equity you have in your project, the lower the interest rate.
Speaking of interest rates, they run between 6%-26%. You or any partnership or business entity you are a part of may not have filed for bankruptcy within the last 12 months.

Have you used one of these crowdsourcing institutions to gain financing? What was your experience? Would you recommend this kind of financing for cohousing? Leave comments under this posting on our blog.

Thirty-five people attended the recent tour of Takoma Village Cohousing on Sunday, December 6, 2015. Special guest, Alice Alexander, Ex., Director of CohoUS spoke briefly at the tour. Takoma Village conducts these public tours four times a year to educate the public about cohousing and to maintain a healthy pool of prospective buyers for resales.

Speaking of the very dynamic Alice Alexander mentioned above ... after the tour she met with 23 members of Mid Atlantic Cohousing in a "white gloves off" session to discuss the challenges facing cohousing communities as members are aging. What became clear at the meeting is that little has been done either in intergenerational cohousing or even Senior cohousing to address the period of time between "healthy aging" and death. This is the life stage in which "activities of daily living" or ADLs become paramount. These may include feeding, dressing, toileting, bathing, etc. Nancy Francis, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, identifies this stage and the time approaching this stage "deep aging." Currently, in almost all cohousing communities when members approach this stage they must find other support including moving to assisted living or nursing care.

To address the issues surrounding "deep aging", Mid Atlantic Cohousing is organizing a working group of MAC members to study the issues and to begin formulating a cohousing response to keeping our elders in the community throughout the life span. MAC will work with gerontology expert, Janice Blanchard, to identify issues in late life aging as well as begin constructing the framework of a model that can be used by cohousers and others to tackle the issues. Janice has been at the forefront of gerontologists looking at aging and community. MAC is delighted to be working with this expert with a 30,000 ft view as well as the ground level experience. This working group will then attend the upcoming Aging Better in Community conference being co-sponsored by SageHill Cohousing and CohoUS. Together with others attending the conference MAC believes conference attendees can design and take away a process for initiating a program for their respective communities. For more information please contact Ann Zabaldo 202.546.4654 ann.zabaldo@gmail.com.

Mid Atlantic Cohousing is announcing another 2-year intensive Facilitator Training Program with Laird Schaub. The program will start in the Fall of 2016. MAC initiated this facilitation training series for Laird which, after a very successful completion in our region, he replicated in many other parts of the U.S. More than 10 MAC members participated in the original training program -- many of them are still facilitating and training others in their respective cohousing community. We'll post details as soon as they become available.

Still time to trim cut your own tree before Christmas! Hundredfold Farm (Orrtanna, Pennsylvania) is one of the few cohousing communities which has a community owned and operated business: a Christmas tree farm. And as it's the season ... at Seven Springs Tree Farm you can cut your own tree on Fridays (10a-6 p) and Saturdays and Sundays (8a-6p). Heads up: The Farm will be closed on Christmas Eve. After you've lassoed and tied down your tree atop your car stop by their neighbors at Halbrendt Vineyard and Winery.

Heathcote Community (Freehand, MD) has scheduled a Visitor Day for Saturday, February 20, 2016. Come have FUN and learn about this innovative community just outside Baltimore, Maryland.

Edi-bits

What can you do in 301 s/f? Hmmmm. Lots. See what StudioWok has done in Milan, Italy. Includes elevations and floor plans.

Just because it's the holidays ... any excuse for chocolate ... FLAT PACKED no less ...

Photography by Chris Cooper August 2010

Sometimes concrete IS just grey or brown or any neutral ... but look what happens when it goes "gangnem style." Another example of building in a tight urban space.

HUH?

What fun contests about "life in cohousing" would you like to see? Send your suggestions to: Ann Zabaldo. Or you can comment on our blog. Open to all clean & green, natural, organic, cage & steroid-free contests ...

You can leave comments on our blog at our Mid Atlantic Cohousing website. While there, cruise around earlier blog posts and other parts of the website. Look for FREE downloads! Subscribe!

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