yurt living

[jdirgo]

I personally have not lived in a yurt (although, as has been pointed out here, if it ain't made of yak, maybe neither have you). As I said in my very first post on this thread, however, I do know a number of people that have them for various purposes on their properties. And those people do love them for many of the reasons you've stated. I've spent a lot of time in their yurts and enjoyed them a lot. Those friends of mine chose to build yurts after being fully and impartially informed of all the factors that affect yurts, both the positives and the negatives.

My sole interest in not in "resale value". If anything, my sole interest is in people making informed decisions. Your claims (now clearly made with absolutely no first- or even second-hand knowledge) that they can be financed contradicted my direct experience. I asked (several times) if you could point me toward lenders that would work with yurt owners and you avoided the question. I didn't ask the question in order to do anything other than to find new information that would help me help people. Believe me, I wanted what I had found out through research and experience to be wrong. I wanted there to be lenders that would work with yurt owners so that more options to people were available. If you have no direct financial interest in selling yurts, I'm sorry for implying that. I sell real estate every day, but you sounded more a salesperson than me. Imagine if I had this conversation:

Person A: "This is really nice, what are the financing options?"
Person B: "These are architect designed and you need to emphasize that to people. They have excellent hurricane protection."
Person A: "But what about the financing."
Person B: "They are economical to build and often can be assembled in as little as several days, if the site is well prepared."
Person A: "Hello! I'm asking about financing."

I fully agree that yurts are a wonderful option for many people and in many situations. My friend's yurts are attractive, functional for their purposes and were quick and easy to build. They knew that if they went to sell, they probably would, at best, re-coup their cost and that the pool of potential buyers would be limited due to the lack of financing options. They made an informed decision based on full knowledge of both the positives and the negatives.

That's all I've ever been saying. I just don't want someone to sink a significant portion of their savings into buying land and building a yurt only to find out a few years later that no one told them about the lack of financing and that the only ways for them to sell it would probably be to cash buyers or by offering seller financing. That would be a rude awakening that no one deserves.

I enjoy learning more about different types of structures and hope that conversation continues. But let's be clear -- one-sided discussions of only the positives and avoiding questions about potential negatives serves no one well.

John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.alohacoastrealty.com