Financing Your Log Home

Barna Log Homes participates with nationwide lenders to help customers arrange permanent as well as construction financing – at very competitive rates. The financing consultants can pre-qualify a customer for financing before the purchase so that when they come to the actual financing stage, surprises can be avoided and delays minimized. A word of caution: many lenders hesitate to make construction loans to individuals building their own homes; they typically insist a general contractor be employed.

Some have found the following Fannie Mae announcement helpful when dealing with the subject of comparables:

Fannie Mae Announcement No. 91-28

Evaluating Special or Unique Housing Types

Mortgages secured by properties that represent special or unique housing types for the subject neighborhood – such as log houses, geodesic domes, earth houses, etc. – are eligible for delivery to Fannie Mae, provided the appraiser has adequate information to develop a reliable estimate of market value.

We have no requirement that one or more of the comparable sales must be of the same design and appeal as the property that is being appraised (although appraisal accuracy is enhanced by using comparable sales that are the most similar to the subject property). On a case-by-case basis, both the appraiser and the underwriter must independently determine whether there is sufficient information available to develop a reliable estimate of market value. This will depend on the extent of the difference between the special or unique property and the more traditional types of houses in the market and the number of such properties that have already been sold in the market area.

If recent comparable sales of the same design and appeal as the property that is being appraised are not available, but the appraiser is able to determine sound adjustments for the differences between the comparables that are available and the subject property and to demonstrate the marketability of the property – based on older comparable sales, comparable sales in the market area, and any other reliable market data – the mortgage is acceptance to Fannie Mae. On the other hand, if the appraiser is not able to find any evidence of market acceptance and the characteristics of the property are so significantly different that a reliable estimate of market value cannot be established, the property is not acceptable as security for a mortgage.

The Marketing Department may be contacted for further information.