His advice (not official)

1. this is a complex deal. buying the property is only the beginning. the rubber hits the road when you develop an operational plan – roles, responsibilities, what work compensated and how, what work is simply community chores, who keeps the books. All of this, it seems, can be expressed in our llc.
2. Cleanest way to do the deal is for VR to buy the property as a sole owner and then lease it to the LLC with a long term (10 years for eg). this is how they did it at Chinook. Fritz and Vivienne bought the land and then over time sold it to the institute.
3. THEN we form the LLC and work out all the details of how we will run our for profit and non profit businesses. He suggested three areas of operating agreements: certificat of formation (starting llc), writing by-laws which governs how we will manage property, and a joint use agreement which governs daily life on the ranch – duties, chores, roles, responsibilities. He said the hardest part isn;t buying the land – it’s how you operate it after it is purchased.
4. decisional power in LLC is equal
5. Decisions re major changes to land or buildings need to clear me as the landowner, tho if it has passed the LLC with me as a member it’s unlikely I as landowner would block it.
6. Landowner determines how much needs from the land each month to cover all expenses (tax, ins, loan payoff)
7. Doug is now our lawyer. He is $250 an hour (yikes) but he said at the end of the deal he’ll reduce the bill. the eg of reduction he gave was ~ 40% less than total. And he said this is a complex deal with a lot of money changing hands and to not risk doing it ourselves.
8. suggested we talk also to a CPA and suggested Steve Bass who does a lot of non profit work
9. Stop trying to take care of Linda! she has to deal with her financial problems – they are not ours. We have not committed to $630,000 and probably should offer less.
10. Should not offer her a loan to cover mortgage.
11. can add to closing contingencies that we have interviewed all the neighbors and verified that they will not block what we want to do with the land.
12. we can do an llc or a subS corp. the cpa could help us understand which.

Member: All LLCs must have at least one member. LLC members are the owners of the LLC much as shareholders are the owners of a corporation or the partners of a partnership. Like shareholders, a member’s liability to repay the LLC’s obligations is limited to his or her capital contribution. Members may be natural persons, corporations, partnerships, or other LLCs.

Membership Interest: A member’s ownership interest in the LLC is called a membership interest. Membership interests are often divided into standardized units which, in turn, are often called shares. Unless otherwise provided for in the operating agreement, a member’s right to control or manage the LLC is proportionate to their membership interest.

Manager: LLCs are, by default, managed by their members in proportion to their membership interests. Many LLC operating agreements, however, provide for a manager or board of managers to run the day-to-day operations of the LLC. The managers are elected or appointed by members and may also be removed by members. A member may also be a manager, often called the managing member (similar to the managing partner of a partnership).

Articles of Organization: All LLCs must file evidence of their existence with the secretary of state (or some governmental office) of the state where they choose to be organized. The Articles of Organization serve this purpose and are the LLC version of a corporation’s articles of incorporation. Although the specific information that must be included in the Articles of Organization varies by state, all LLCs must disclose their company name (which must conform to rules set forth by the state of organization), appoint a statutory agent and disclose their valid business purpose. The fees associated with filing the Articles of Organization also vary by state.

Operating Agreement: The Operating Agreement of an LLC is the document most important to its success because it determines, defines, and apportions the rights of the members. Because the various LLC statutes offer so much flexibility (see discussion below), and the default statutory rules do not fit most LLC’s needs, Operating Agreements must be drafted carefully and with much discussion and agreement between the prospective members.

[edit] Flexibility and Default Rules

The phrase “unless otherwise provided for in the operating agreement” (or its equivalent) is found throughout all existing LLC statutes and is responsible for the flexibility of the LLC.

In contrast, the phrase “unless otherwise provided for in the bylaws” is also found in all corporation law statutes but usually only refers to relatively minor matters.

[edit] Management

LLCs may be either member-managed or manager-managed. A member-managed LLC may be governed by a single class of members (in which case it approximates a partnership) or multiple classes of members (in which case it approximates a limited partnership). Choosing manager management creates a two-tiered management structure that approximates corporate governance with the managers typically holding powers similar to corporate officers and directors. The LLC’s operating agreement (the LLC version of a partnership agreement or a corporation’s bylaws) determines how the LLC is managed. Corporations, S-Corporations, Limited Liability Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Limited Liability Limited Partnerships, and LLCs lie along a spectrum of flexibility with LLCs being the most flexible, and thus preferable, for many businesses.

[edit] Income Taxation

LLCs use IRS Form 1065 (if taxed as a partnership) and Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax). LLCs are organized with a document called the “articles of organization,’ or “the rules of organization” specified publicly by the state; additionally, it is common to have an “operating agreement” privately specified by the members. The operating agreement is a contract among the members of an LLC and the LLC governing the membership, management, operation and distribution of income of the company.

Under some circumstances, however, the members (the LLC version of shareholders or partners) may elect for the LLC to be taxed like a corporation (taxation of the entity’s income prior to any dividends or distributions to the members and then taxation of the dividends or distributions once received as income by the members).

Operating as an LLC form of partnership does not mean that appropriate US federal partnership tax forms are not necessary, or not complex. As a partnership, the entity’s income and deductions attributed to each member are reported on that owner’s tax return.

LLCs can lose their tax advantage without the partnership structure. The possible label “disregarded entity” for income tax purposes singles out the one-member owner of an LLC as actually earning income and deductions directly. It is the owner, then, who reports as a business proprietor, rather than as an LLC operating an active trade or business. An LLC passively investing in real estate and owned by a single member would have its income and deductions reported directly on the owner’s individual tax return on a Schedule E tax form. And an LLC owned by a corporation–in other words, an LLC with a single corporate member–would be treated as an incorporated branch and have its income and deductions reported on the corporate tax return, creating double taxation.

[edit] Advantages

• Check-the-box taxation. An LLC can elect to be taxed as a sole proprietor, partnership, S corporation or C corporation, providing much flexibility.
• Limited liability, meaning that the owners of the LLC, called “members,” are protected from some liability for acts and debts of the LLC, but are still responsible for any debts beyond the fiscal capacity of the entity^[vague].
• Much less administrative paperwork and record keeping than a corporation.
• Pass-through taxation (i.e., no double taxation), unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a C corporation.
• Using default tax classification, profits are taxed personally at the member level, not at the LLC level.
• LLCs in most states are treated as entities separate from their members, whereas in other jurisdictions case law has developed deciding LLCs are not considered to have separate juridical standing from their members (see recent D.C. decisions).
• LLCs in some states can be set up with just one natural person involved.
• Membership interests of LLCs can be assigned, and the economic benefits of those interests can be separated and assigned, providing the assignee with the economic benefits of distributions of profits/losses (like a partnership), without transferring the title to the membership interest (see, for example, the Virginia and Delaware LLC Acts).
• Unless the LLC has chosen to be taxed as a corporation, income of the LLC generally retains its character, for instance as capital gains or as foreign sourced income, in the hands of the members

[edit] Disadvantages

• Although there is no statutory requirement for an operating agreement in most states, members who operate without one may run into problems.
• It may be more difficult to raise financial capital for an LLC as investors may be more comfortable investing funds in the better-understood corporate form with a view toward an eventual IPO. One possible solution may be to form a new corporation and merge into it, dissolving the LLC and converting into a corporation.
• Many states, including Alabama, California, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, levy a franchise tax or capital values tax on LLCs. (Beginning in 2007, Texas has replaced its franchise tax with a “margin tax”.) In essence, this franchise or business privilege tax is the “fee” the LLC pays the state for the benefit of limited liability. The franchise tax can be an amount based on revenue, an amount based on profits, or an amount based on the number of owners or the amount of capital employed in the state, or some combination of those factors, or simply a flat fee, as in Delaware. Effective in Texas for 2007 the franchise tax is replaced with the Texas Business Margin Tax. This is paid as: tax payable = revenues minus some expenses with an apportionment factor. In most states, however, the fee is nominal and only a handful charge a tax comparable to the tax imposed on corporations.
• Some creditors will require owners of up-and-starting LLCs to cosign for the LLC’s loans, thus making the owners equally liable for the debt as the LLC is, and effectively removing the very purpose of forming an LLC: Limited Liability.
• Some people, such as new business people, may not be familiar with the governance of LLCs. Unlike corporations, they are not required to have a board of directors or officers.
• Taxing jurisdictions outside the US are likely to treat a US LLC as a corporation, regardless of its treatment for US tax purposes, for example if a US LLC does business outside the US or a resident of a foreign jurisdiction is a member of a US LLC.
• The LLC form of organization is relatively new, and as such, some states do not fully treat LLCs in the same manner as corporations for liability purposes, instead treating them more as a disregarded entity, meaning an individual operating a business as an LLC may in such a case be treated as operating it as a sole proprietorship, or a group operating as an LLC may be treated as a general partnership, which defeats the purpose of establishing an LLC in the first place, to have limited liability (a sole proprietor has unlimited liability for the business; in the case of a partnership, the partners have joint and several liability, meaning any and all of the partners can be held liable for the business’ debts no matter how small their investment or percentage of ownership is).^{[citation needed]}
• The principals of LLCs use many different titles — e.g., member, manager, managing member, managing director, chief executive officer, president, and partner. As such, it can be difficult to determine who actually has the authority to enter into a contract on the LLC’s behalf.

This is a wonderful model for financing that gives structure to the idea of borrowing from friends. It arrived in my inbox last night right after a conversation with a friend who was a mortgage lender and escrow person years ago re the plan I’ve been hatching. AND, I know many people in the communities movement to ask for help.

Walnut Steet Coop Community Revolving Loan Fund

(original version by Tree Bressen,

See the 2008 Investor Packet we’re using in our current round of refinancing.

Community Revolving Loan Funds are an amazing tool. When we converted our house to cooperative ownership, no bank was willing to offer us a mortgage. Out of necessity we searched for alternatives, and succeeded in purchasing our 9-bedroom home in Eugene, Oregon thanks to approximately 20 friends who invested in our co-op with private loans. This is a fantastic model for alternative financing, a do-it-yourself empowerment that shifts power away from conventional institutions, toward creating a better world. This description is written to make the knowledge our co-op gained from creating this fund available for other groups to benefit.

We have a contract with each lender-investor (we prefer the name investor, since they are at least investing in our social experiment and change work, and most are earning interest, as well). This contract specifies how much money is being invested, for how long, at what interest rate, and any other terms. Our usual parameters are a $5,000 minimum investment, 5 year minimum time, and no more than 6% interest. We aim to be flexible, however, and every contract is a bit different; for example, one investment requires us to maintain an advisory team. Our investors have been very generous with us: some invested at 0% interest, others at 2–3%, and a few are using simple interest rather than compound interest; also some were able to commit for 10–15 years. We offer a way for people to invest in alignment with their values and our investors appreciate that.

Our investments have been in the range of $5,000–20,000, except for one $120,000 investment from a person who met us when we had already raised over half the money we needed and offered to cover the rest. Of course, your experience will differ.

Most of these investment loans are amortized at 30 years, which makes the payments affordable. If you are new to this scene, amortization means that the payments are stretched out over a really long time. That’s how people of limited means are able to buy something big like a house. Thirty years is a typical amortization for a standard home mortgage from a bank. However, unlike a bank, most individuals cannot predict the course of their lives 30 years ahead and therefore are not prepared to commit their assets for that long. So instead the way our investments work is that we make small payments during the 5 years, acting as if it were a 30-year loan. But then at the end of the 5 years, we have to pay the entire remaining balance due—this is called a balloon payment.

That means that every 5 years our community goes through a refinancing cycle. We ask each lender whether they’d like to turn the balance due on their investment back into the fund to invest in us again, or whether they want the money back. We then replace all the investments that people want repaid, either with money from new investors or with increased investments from existing lenders. This is somewhat risky, because if we were unable to find adequate new financing we’d have to sell our property to repay the investments. However, that risk seems very worth it to us, and after our experience so far we are reasonably confident in our ability to do the refinancing. After all, we were able to do it the first time around, and over time we are only going to become a more attractive investment because the community will have more equity in the property and a proven track record of repayment.

Our payments are quarterly rather than monthly, to reduce paperwork.

With the exception of our one large investment, the investments to our co-op are unsecured. That means they are not officially attached to our property in county records, in the event that the co-op dissolves and the house is sold. This is partly because we wanted all of our investors beyond the one large investment to share an “equal second” position: meaning that if the house was sold and the money wasn’t enough to pay back all the investors, everyone would get a proportion equal to the portion of their investment, to be fair. But when investments are secured with the property, they get priority in the sequence in which they were recorded with the county, so that all of A’s investment is paid off before B gets anything. In order to give everyone an equal position we would have had to form a whole separate legal entity, and even then the lawyer we talked to wasn’t sure it was doable. Also, having 20 separate investments attached to a property is very complicated, especially when the investors change over the years. So instead, our investments are unsecured, and the contract with each investor explains that they are in an equal second position with other investors. In the future we may, however, write individual contracts to give second or even third position to other specific major investors.

Some of the investments have co-op members signed as personal guarantors. That means that if the co-op fails to make payments, each of those guarantors can be held responsible for the entire remaining balance of the investment. But even with that, what it really comes down to is that this whole community revolving loan fund deal is based on trust. Our lenders understand that we are committed to being in integrity with them, and that while we don’t expect our co-op to fall apart, if it does we will do our utmost to fulfill our financial obligations. If the co-op dissolves, outside investors get paid in full before any co-op residents get paid anything. Because our house has been appraised at nearly $200,000 more than we paid for it and real estate values in our town are rising, it is extremely unlikely that we’d be unable to repay all the investments even if we did have to sell the property.

Our investors come from a variety of sources. Some are active folks in the intentional communities movement who believe in creating more intentional communities. Some are personal friends who felt moved to support a particular individual here. Some are supporters of a wonderful non-profit that lives here, the Co-Intelligence Institute. We also received support from several organizations in the communities movement.

We attend to our relationships with our investors; they are our friends and not just a source of financing. We strive to be honest with them, offering genuine appreciation and practical information without distortion or descent into puffery. We send them a quarterly newsletter along with their checks, explain to newer housemates who they are as people, and have occasionally visited them and some of them have visited us. Our investors are a valuable part of our wider community and we are very grateful for their continued support.

When we started this fund, we created a beautiful, well-written packet that explained our project to prospective lenders, and we revise it for each new reinvestment period. Click here to download a pdf of the current version. The packet includes:

1.       A vision of what we are doing and why it matters

2.       History of our project and community

3.       A description of who we are, how we live, and how we contribute to the world

4.       Biographies of the core group / board members

5.       An explanation of what a co-op is and what type of community we are, and our place in the larger co-op / intentional community movements

6.       Testimonial letter from a satisfied investor

7.       Photos of the house (interior and exterior, with co-op founders in some of the pictures)

8.       Financial information—financial report, budget, list of current investors, their quarterly interest rates and payments, and when they need to be repaid

9.       Form for enrolling support (investments, donations, and more)

10.   SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope)

If you are setting out to create a Community Revolving Loan Fund for your intentional community or other project, our core advice is as follows:

1.       Believe in what you are doing and share your passion.

2.       Have everyone in your project make a list of everyone they know that has $5,000 or more (or whatever your minimum investment is) that they might be able to invest. Hopefully you will be surprised by how many names are on the list. You won’t end up asking everyone on that list, but it gets you started seeing the possibilities.

3.       Keep firmly in mind that you are offering investors a service and an opportunity. You are helping them to live out their values in the world. At 3% interest you would be providing a higher profit than a savings account and a more reliable profit than many other investments, especially in today’s economy.

4.       It’s all based on trust. Some people invested in us based on one conversation without ever seeing the packet, simply because they believed in the person asking. At first we were surprised by this, but then came to understand that trust is the central element in a investor’s decision. Be honest, transparent, and above all always act with integrity.

Click here to see a sample contract.

Other possible financing sources for intentional community land acquisition include:

1.       Institute for Community Economics (ICE): Their bureaucratic wheels turn slowly and they require huge amounts of documentation, but they can lend over $100,000 if your project is structured as a land trust or limited equity cooperative.

2.       PEACH (Protected Equity Accessible for Community Health): The member communities of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC) operate their own health risk fund, a portion of which is available for investment in intentional communities. This is a great cooperative resource. Contact the PEACH administrator, Laird Schaub, for more information at laird@ic.org or 660-883-5545.

3.       Sunrise Credit Union is the only credit union in the U.S. based in an intentional community (Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, CO). Credit unions, especially young ones, are closely monitored by federal agencies so they are somewhat limited in their flexibility, however they offered us a substantial loan if we proffered a qualified co-signer.

4.       Permaculture Credit Union: This is an even newer credit union, and they are not set up to lend in very many states yet, but you can contact them to find out if they are a resource in your area.

5.       NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation) lends money to cooperatives that fit current lending parameters, through their CCDC development company.

6.       In theory the National Cooperative Bank should be a source of financing for projects like this, but we were told we were too small for them to even consider. However, if you are converting an apartment building in New York to a co-op, they’d probably be interested.

7.       You can try asking other intentional communities and intentional community organizations, particularly ones in your region.

Walnut Street’s Community Revolving Loan Fund was inspired and assisted by a similar entity at Los Angeles Eco-Village. Their fund is outlined at the LAEV website.

Walnut Street Cooperative
1680 Walnut St, Eugene, OR  97403
(541) 484-1156
LOAN AGREEMENT

WHO (lender) hereby agrees to loan $AMOUNT to Walnut Street Cooperative for use in the purchase of property.

Term of the loan is: # years

The interest rate shall be #%, compounded on a quarterly basis.

The amortizing payment of $AMOUNT shall be made every three months starting at the end of the first full quarter after the loan has been deposited by Walnut Street Cooperative. The loan is amortized at 30 years; however, at the end of the initial loan period of # years, the remaining principal will be due along with the interest payment.

At the end of the initial loan period, the lender and Walnut St. Co-op may jointly elect to renew the loan at an interest rate and term to be determined at that time.

In the event of the dissolution of the Co-op, lenders will receive the remainder of funds owed after the property is sold. In the event of dissolution, disbursements will be made in the following order:

1. First, any debts that were secured in exchange for an interest in Walnut Street Cooperative property must be fully satisfied.
2. If any money remains, any debts that were not secured in exchange for an interest in Walnut Street Cooperative property must be fully satisfied.
3. Members will receive the amount of their financial investment in the Cooperative (according to specifications of the Bylaws with regard to equity and/or interest payments), or a proportional amount of the remaining assets, whichever is less.
4. All remaining money or assets will be distributed to a non-profit corporation which is organized to promote cooperative living, or another not-for-profit organization as determined by the members.

The loan from WHO is included in category (2) above. If the funds from sale are insufficient to repay all lenders in full, then all the lenders in category (2) will share a proportional amount of funds available.

In the event that Walnut Street Cooperative elects to pay back the loan in part or in full prior to the conclusion of the term of the loan, there will be no penalty.

Walnut Street Cooperative will issue an annual 1099-int form to the lender and to the IRS outlining the interest accrued during each one year period.

Agreed by Lender:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Signed……………………..Printed………………………Social Security #……………………Date

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone………………………………………………Email

Agreed by Walnut Street Cooperative:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Secretary/Treasurer………………………………….Date

In thinking about name – are we a farm, an institute, a ranch, an ecovillage – i looked up eco village in wikipendia. even though we are small, we may spawn and/or network with like communities, so perhaps we ARE an ecovillage. that positions us in a global network… in fact started by Robert Gilman.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ecovillages are intended to be socially, economically and ecologically sustainable intentional communities. Some aim for a population of 50-150 individuals because this size is considered to be the maximum social network according to findings from sociology and anthropology.^[1] Larger ecovillages of up to 2,000 individuals exist as networks of smaller subcommunities to create an ecovillage model that allows for social networks within a broader foundation of support. Certain ecovillages have grown by the nearby addition of others, not necessarily members, settling on the periphery of the ecovillage and effectively participating in the ecovillage community (see, for example, Findhorn).

Ecovillage members are united by shared ecological, social-economic and cultural-spiritual values (see Intentional community). An ecovillage is often composed of people who have chosen an alternative to centralized electrical, water, and sewage systems. Many see the breakdown of traditional forms of community, wasteful consumerist lifestyles, the destruction of natural habitat, urban sprawl, factory farming, and over-reliance on fossil fuels, as trends that must be changed to avert ecological disaster. They see small-scale communities with minimal ecological impact as an alternative. However, such communities often cooperate with peer villages in networks of their own (see Global Ecovillage Network for an example). This model of collective action is similar to that of Ten Thousand Villages, which supports the fair trade of goods worldwide.

[edit] Definition

In 1991, Robert Gilman set out a definition of an ecovillage that was to become a standard. Gilman defined an ecovillage as a:

• human-scale
• full-featured settlement
• in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world
• in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and
• can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.^[2]

Note: In recent years, Gilman has stated that he would also add the criterion that an ecovillage must have multiple centres of initiative.

[edit] Characteristics of ecovillages

The principles on which ecovillages rely can be applied to urban and rural settings, as well as to developing and developed countries. Advocates seek a sustainable lifestyle (for example, of voluntary simplicity) for inhabitants with a minimum of trade outside the local area, or ecoregion. Many advocates also seek independence from existing infrastructures, although others, particularly in more urban settings, pursue more integration with existing infrastructure. Rural ecovillages are usually based on organic farming, permaculture and other approaches which promote ecosystem function and biodiversity. Ecovillages, whether urban or rural, tend to integrate community and ecological values within a principle-based approach to sustainability, such as permaculture design.^[3]

An ecovillage usually relies on:

• “Green” infrastructural capital;
• autonomous building or clustered housing, to minimize ecological footprint;
• renewable energy;
• permaculture;

The goal of most ecovillages is to be a sustainable habitat providing for most of its needs on site. However self-sufficiency is not always a goal or desired outcome, specifically since self-sufficiency can conflict with goals to be a change agent for the wider culture and infrastructure. Its organization also usually depends upon some instructional capital or moral codes – a minimal civics sometimes characterized as eco-anarchism:

• local purchasing so as to support the local economy;
• local food production and distribution;
• moral purchasing to avoid objectionable consumption;
• consensus decision-making for governance;
• a choice to respect diversity.

The term ecovillage should not be confused with micronation, a strictly legal, not infrastructural, concept.

[edit] See also

Sustainable development portal

• List of ecovillages
• Intentional Community
• Communities Directory
• Bioneers
• EcoCommunalism
• Eco-feminism
• Green politics
• Sustainable habitat
• Green syndicalism
• Bioenergy Village
• Cohousing
• Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
• Eco municipalities

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Christian, D. 2003. Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities New Society Publishers. ISBN 0-86571-471-1
• Dawson, Jonathan (2006) Ecovillages: New Frontiers for Sustainability. Green Books. ISBN: 1903998778
• Hill, R. and Dunbar, R. 2002. “Social Network Size in Humans.” Human Nature, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 53-72.
• Jackson, H. and Svensson, K. 2002. Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People. Green Books. ISBN 1-903998-16-6

[edit] Articles

• Christian, Diana L. (ed.) The Ecovillage Movement Today. Ecovillage Newsletter.
• Gilman, Robert (ed.) Living Together: Sustainable Community Development. In Context

[edit] External links

• Global Ecovillage Network
• Ecovillage Network of the Americas
• Intentional Communities website
• Ecovillage Directory – List of Ecovillages in the Intentional Communities Directory
• Permaculture Magazine – incorporating Global Ecovillage Network News.
• Intentional Community and Ecovillage Database
• Eco Villages Article Article by João Silva in Accessible Travel Magazine, March 2007

what about asking dana linn and her group to perform. or Resonance. Or Rural Characters.

Have a once a month performance – $500 a month . Cost probably $50 for food each time.

Usually Purchase agreements have clauses for finance, home inspection, title, well inspection and septic being pumped and inspected.

The owner’s responsibility for closing costs is:

• title insurance
• 1.78 excise tax
• septic fee

Owner and buyer usually split escrow and recording fees (we can call any escrow company to get the normal charges)

We will deal with three entities:

• mortgage broker
• title company
• escrow company

None of these have to be linked – we can have three different if we want but often people use same escrow as title.

Mortgage broker (Ron Eaton) will probably find us a better home equity loan than if we shop ourselves because doing our own deal will probably have small print extra charges that Ron would show us but the bank would not.

The seller usually gives the buyer the right to select a title company they like, getting title insurance on behalf of the seller.

Next up: seeing how much I can borrow where.

we seem to disagree on the trailer idea, but haven’t really heard one another out and tested other possibilities. i’d like to say more about the thinking that led to my suggestion of trailers as a solution to many needs. i’m sure there are other solutions to these needs that you all can think of. i understand your concerns  – that they don’t reflect our vision of demonstrating a natural way of life and some of the newer ones outgas (rugs, mostly, tho some wood treatment) so might not be healthy. I agree on both points, but i see them as an important shorter term solutions to several needs I can’t at the moment see getting met with the structures wehave. Also, to the best of my knowledge (and i studied it when we built the UV) the outgassing is a shorter term phenomenon and once a trailer is a few years old that process is nominal – the FEMA trailers were new and shoddily built. I also understand that they are nowhere as nice to live in as all wood or other natural materials (at least when there isn’t mold). So here are the questions I ask myself that lead to “trailer” as a possible solution:

1. where will we put guests?

2. where will we put interns?

3. where will any of us (except me as I have a whole little cabin to myself) get away for an hour from the hurly burly without driving/biking to scenic?

4. where does the time come to build a natural structure to fill these needs in the first couple of years when time needs to go into gardens, creating our plan, fixing the straw bale for britt and eric, and building community?

and more thoughts

1. we can move trailers anywhere on the land rather than siting a building before creating a master plan and finding it’s in a poorly chosen location.

2. they can be over 200 sf and still not permitted.

3. seems like we can get one or two at far less cost in materials alone for a cabin.

4. they can produce some income to pay off our loans

5. they are self contained so people staying in there have kitchen, water, heat.

6. they don’t preclude building wonderful natural structures in time just how and where we want them.

7. most are stick built with aluminum siding. they could have wood siding added for aesthetics.

So that’s the unsent email. but here’s the deal. I just looked again on Craig’s List and I see just what they mean. From an aesthetic point of view. ugh.

onward!