Financing for Yurts? YES!

 

 

 

We get the question all the time: is there financing available on yurts? The answer, in most cases, is a regretful “no”. Some people have used non-traditional finance companies, others are able to finance with credit cards; but most traditional banks turn down loan requests for yurts. They just don’t know how to classify them.

All that just changed

There is a new option for yurt financing. It’s called peer-to-peer or social lending. In simple terms, social lending is a financial transaction between two people without the intercession of a bank. If you’ve ever loaned $5 to your little brother, you’ve participated in social lending.

These days, thanks to the internet, social lending is taking place on a larger and more complex scale. Websites have emerged that connect people that want to borrow money with people that want to lend it. The largest and most well-respected sites are www.prosper.com and www.lendingclub.com. There are some important things to know before you jump into social lending. So, keep on reading...

 

It works like this

1. Social lending sites vet potential borrowers for good credit and a favorable debt to income ratio.
2. Borrowers make a loan request (stating the amount of money they need and what they need it for)
3. Interested lenders get together to fund the loan at an agreed upon interest rate*
4. The site consolidates the loan and deposits it into your bank account.
5. Borrowers pay the site a small percentage of the loan
6. Borrowers send loan payments to the site, which then distributes the payments to lenders

It turns out that interest rates on these sites tend to be favorable compared with your average bank. Unlike credit cards, they don’t change your interest rate halfway through payment. But remember: every loan is different, so be sure you’re getting a good deal!


To get a peer-to-peer loan you need (at minimumm) to

• Live in the US or be in the US military
• Have a US bank account
• Be able to use the internet (if you're reading this, you're covered)
• Have good credit
  

Jump in:

Research the different sites. When you’re ready, put a loan request out and see what kind of interest rate comes back. Sites let you leave your loan request up for 7 to 14 days, so you’ll know if you’re going to get a favorable deal in a short amount of time (with some sites you’ll know immediately) and you can always reject the offer if you don’t like it. Be careful with this: Some sites lock you in as soon as your loan is 100% financed.

• Know the rules of your site

1. Check to see what (and when) the site charges you for their service 
2. How it determines your interest rate
3. At what point you are locked in to the loan and obligated to pay it.

• Monitor your loan carefully!

Don’t accept any loans you can’t pay off but see peer-to-peer lending as a positive and unique way to get your yurt financed.  With a bit of luck and a lot of good credit you won't have to shell out much interest!

 

 

I will stop short of recommending any one site in particular because every loan is different (I can’t emphasize that enough) but i do think peer-to-peer lending is a great idea. Who wants to give more money to the banks anyway?  Peer-to-peer also fits well with the philosophy of yurts and our company; it’s outside of the box and personable. Give peer-to-peer a try. Maybe it will make your yurt-dream a yurt-reality!                                                       

 

Sam Kigar

Colorado Yurt Company

 www.coloradoyurt.com

 

 

 

*Some sites allow the potential borrower to set his or her own interest rate while other sites set the interest rate on each loan based on the borrower’s credit score and current market trends.

 

Colorado Yurt Awarded Grant for Solar Energy - How Can You Apply?

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Renewable Energy Program for Small Rural Businesses is offering grant monies to offset up to 25% of your overall project cost. Last summer, the Colorado Yurt Company submitted a grant application and four months later we received a call from our local USDA office congratulating us on our nomination for the award! Our project: a 5kw Solar Photovoltaic System to be installed on the rooftop of our existing yurt and tipi manufacturing facilities. The $13,000 grant will help us shed 27% of our energy usage.

How to Write a Successful USDA Grant

1. Attend grant writing workshops offered - USDA holds workshops in many locations, making it easy for you to attend one that literally walks you through the process.

2. Get to know your local grant office and use their assistance - USDA Area Director Pattie Snidow and Area Rural Development Technician Dan Hays from the office in Delta proved to be a wealth of assistance, even meeting me to walk through our grant application package page-by-page.

3. Submit early - If the granting agency will allow your early submission for feedback and recommended changes, use it!

4. Be very, very organized - If your grant application requires a hardcopy submission, put it in a binder with tabs and be sure it's organized to the "n"th degree. Don't add anything that the application doesn't ask for.

5. Use photos, but don't overdo it - Photos should be of high quality, should carry lots of white space with a short description, and should be completely relevant and well-organized within your application

6. Don't miss crossing a single "T" or dotting a single "I" - With spell and grammar checks available within your Word Office software, and the ability to have multiple sets of eyes read through it (again and again - including your own), there's no excuse!

7. Ask questions, assume nothing - If you don't quite understand what's being asked of you in the application, call your local representative and ask. But be sure you've done your homework because asking questions that are easily answered without their assistance can send the wrong message

8. Use someone else's expertise when necessary - Don't expect to be the expert at everything. The local company that was ultimately selected as our solar provider for this project, Alternative Power Enterprises, Inc., was a key player in our grant application.

Granting agencies often make the application process easier than ever by offering application documents and instructions that can be filled out on-line and the capability to print your entire application when you're done to mail in. Some can even be submitted on-line. Even further, previous grant awardees are typically posted so you can see what's been successful.

 The photovoltaic system at Colorado Yurt Company will be installed by Alternative Power Enterprises

 

Haiti Tent Update:

     Since our first donation of five tents to volunteer aid doctors, we've built eight more and given them to organizations taking them to Haiti!  (Read more about tents below.)

So far, we've received donations covering the costs of five tents! 

We'd love to receive some more donations to cover our costs, and keep on making and sending tents.

Four of our new tents went to the Colorado Haiti Project and four went to Fireside International. Fireside's tents are going to educators made homeless by Haiti's earthquate, who are working to get schools up and running again. 

Partners in Health is also in desperate need of tents.  If we can build more we will be sending some to them. 

We've streamlined our donation process and opened up a new channel for donations:

You can now make checks out to Colorado Haiti Project.         

Send checks to: Colorado Yurt Company/ 28 W. South 4th St./ Montrose, CO 81401

• We'll forward your donations on to the Colorado Haiti Project
• They'll send you a receipt for tax-deduction (please include contact info so that they can do so.) 
  
• If you'd like to donate online with a credit card please see previous post, send me an email or call me (Sam) at (970) 240-2111.

As an added bonus, author Becky Kemery and Gibbs Smith, Publisher are giving the beautiful book Yurts: Living in the Round, $25 value, to our first 15 donors who give $100 or more. 

Check out some photos and a video of the tents: 

 

 

Out new tents include:

• Durable, waterproof roof.
• Light weight privacy walls. 
• Bug-proof screen walls. 
• Waterproof floor.
• A bag for easy carrying and shipping.

When in the bag the tent is acceptable as checked-luggage on commercial airlines.  The bag is 48 inches long, 15 inches in diameter, and, with the tent and accessories, weighs 47 pounds.

We appreciate your help in getting more tents to Haiti!