Recession Renders Eco-Friendly Homes Even Harder to Finance
By Dana Rubinstein March 18, 2010 4:14 pm
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So you used 50 tons of Coors beer boxes to insulate your home, or 17,000 old tires to build it? Bravo! You are an excellent environmentalist. Gold star for you! But no home loan, particularly not in this brave new recessionary world, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal.
The problem? Your home’s idiosyncracies make it nearly impossible for newly responsible lenders to determine its value. In other words, there are no comparables:
Brad Blackwell, Wells Fargo’s national sales manager for Western markets, said lenders are scrutinizing home values much more closely than in years past before they make a loan—making it harder for people in unusual properties to get mortgages. “It’s simply a fact of the mortgage lending environment in general that determining value on a property is more important than ever today,” Mr. Blackwell said.
Which is a bummer. Because, these homes, as evidenced in the Journal‘s slideshow, are low-impact, interesting, and a marked improvement over the typical suburban sprawl.
More from Dana Rubinstein:
Score! Neil Rubler Makes Voice‘s 10 Worst Landlords of ’10
