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I have been getting that question a lot lately.

What people want to know is how we are getting funding to buy and develop all these properties, so I thought I would post a response here since it seems to be on everyone’s mind.

Eco-Urban funding:

LJ Urban purchases land “raw” which basically means its un-entitled or a blank slate. We then add value to these properties by designing and entitling an eco-urban community suited to that specific location.

We fund the purchase of the property with private funds. A totally ambiguous term, I know, let me explain…

Private funds are monies borrowed from lenders who are not banks or institutions (a.k.a. people). It is sort of a network of friends and believers in eco-urbanism that we have built-up over the last few years to make our dreams for better communities a reality.

This way, we pay these lenders interest every month, instead of allowing it to accrue until the end of the project, which we find, gets out of hand. Our typical rate is 12% interest, and we are always looking to work with more lenders as we constantly are finding more opportunities to advance eco-urbanism. (Really give me a call if you want to be a part of making this happen, I will let you know what we have in the pipeline)

After we get City approval of our design, we then go out to a conventional bank for a construction loan. That loan takes us all the way through the completion of the project (a.k.a. homes sold)

Now I know I am simplifying things here, there are a lot of stops along the way to reach these milestones, but fundamentally this is how we do it.

I am looking to start a dialogue about how developers can evolve, and how we can fund better and better ways of building community. I am not saying we have all the answers in any way, but rather, to be open and honest so that real solutions can be designed to overcome what blocks the way to eco-urbanism.

Levi