At the last plenary, @Sarah had the brilliant idea to create an information package that Reeflings can use to explain to our banks what we are all about. I am going to call it a prospect, a term borrowed from banking and finance.
Information we have produced and curated so far is meant for consumption by people considering whether to join The Reef. It’s great, but not suitable for the task: banks won’t care whether we use sociocracy in meetings, or that pets are not allowed in the common areas. On the other hand, they probably want extra clarity on legal structure and financial flows, that are treated in an offhanded way in the presentation’s slide deck (which is also way too long for a bank appointment). For example, a glance at the total budget’s breakdown could look like this:
I talked to my broker today, and she had a colleague who had worked with an habitat groupé and got a loan for the whole group. This might not be workable for us, but as I mentioned on Saturday, I think it would give us much more leverage to go as a group (even if not the whole group) rather than as individuals, and also to approach different banks… It would also be good to pull ressources together (ing wants to hire an expert to assess the value of the apartment for instance, and you have to pay for that cost).
Still happy to go to vosberg with you if that’s still a good idea, and I can also make contact with that broker (or put you in contact with him) if that can help…
I think it’s a great idea. I’m just not sure whether this should be a priority in the avant-projet stage.There are so many things coming up (technical experts, meeting with the commune, meeting with the neighbours, …) which in my view are more urgent.
Good idea! This is what VDK asked for in a second stage: a ‘dossier’ that would give them an idea of how professional our group is and how feasible our project. I’ll contribute where possible (translation to NL?).
Update: I contacted Alain, and we’re gonna set up something to have a discussion soon.
He actually said it’s a very good timing because they are ironing out the last details of their mortgage and should have all their answers within the next 2-3 weeks…