Putting savings/investments to work supporting permie projects!

Sounds like a nice idea right about now, huh?!

I want to put some options forward and invite input (feedback, more ideas, solicitations, and actual monies) to explore and demonstrate the prospect for "financial mutual aid" that delivers a win-win-win to further permie projects and goals in different forms and contexts.

I think this is both doable and sensible, even for not super finance-literate people who want sound alternatives for e.g. conventional IRA tax sheltered savings - especially in light of increasingly insecure and unethical mainstream investment paths.

One that I'm immediately focused on is creating a lending pool to support regenerative development of suitable undervalued private properties. This looks similar to the conventional real estate "flip" model which often uses higher interest short term private loans, with the property as collateral, to allow owner-builders to spend a year or so making improvements and then selling or refinancing with a significantly more valuable/appealing product out of their sweat equity. Loans are paid back with premium, owner gets their due, property stays in good hands, and surrounding community/enviro benefits too. Not *always* perfect, but this model is widely utilized and proven, and could well be adapted to a permaculture lens or angle.

Can you imagine if just a small fraction of your surrounding community pulled their savings out of stocks and other extractive vehicles, and with the same tax benefits and comparable (6-10% annual) returns, applied it to community driven regenerative development projects and the capable motivated people willing to take the lead and be accountable for it?? And that, in turn, created attractive niches for more good neighbors to land?

I'd really like to see this and other strategies refined and replicated widely. Let's hear your thoughts, plus minus or neutral!

Ben,  I cannot offer much help with this idea, if something can be started I'd be willing to write a check to help fund it.

Peace

The old fashioned Building Societies or Home Building Clubs in Australia worked on such a principle.
- Low cost structured lending operations,
- no fancy office,
- no bonus payment s to CEO
- reasonable wages etc.
- Boards consisting of 'community minded' people.

I think a small local setup may suffer from personalty and expectation issues.

Appreciate the replies and welcome input!

Even/especially critical views and concerns, as this gets into some touchy subjects and areas like money, debt, property rights, "development" etc that are rather charged for many of us, for good reason.

My attitude, as with much in Permaculture, is generally to endorse thoughtful safeguarded experimentation while gathering quality evidence of what works and how. To that end, I think it's worth looking closely at the existing real estate "industry" to understand which parts are relatively sensible and functional, and what is more questionable, predatory, and degenerative. I won't go into that now, but have been on my own for some years to get to this point in pursuing alternatives.

I think there are some existing well established alternative models, like co-ops and co-housing, however these are typically slow to evolve and require lots of preparation and commitment. I'm particularly interested here in an 'agile' approach that empowers capable individuals to bring context- and systems-aware approach to site-specific [human] habitat creation as a service to others that value these outcomes and aren't in position to fulfill it on their own, or just want a helpful head start.

What I'm seeing is the potential for an organization with some parallels to a Land Trust that can apply, based on their own mission, vision and planning process, a set of guidelines or parameters to identify good candidate properties within their region which can be acquired, improved, and resold or repurposed in an economical manner, under explicit regenerative principles and objectives. This org manages a fund to loan to any qualified individuals that want to take on said project, under their own guidance but within some conditions and oversight similar to how a construction loan works from a bank, with performance controls and milestones.

That kind of funding is basically unavailable anywhere now, unless you know some trusting people with resources! I've been struggling myself to find lenders to complete very reasonable appealing rehab/development projects that just fall outside the bounds of conventional, prescriptive housing within populated areas. Yet it is very meaningful, rewarding, and transformative work to do, that I think a lot of people on all sides of the equation would benefit from going forward!!

So, I'll go into some more specifics in another post perhaps, but for the moment what I'll finish on is this could start very simply (per my 'experiment' mindset, above) through some privately negotiated 1-1 loans to enable a handful of projects in different areas and settings. There is a template called a "trust deed / deed of trust" loan which puts any legally owned parcel up as collateral for a private loan, similar to a mortgage, which allows people without a lot of up front capital to take on larger property development projects under their own steam, which is exactly what many property "flippers" use to get started. I'd like to look at specific cases where and how this could work with a permie mindset.