Homes Built of Tires and Trash Lure Environmentalists But Turn Off Bankers

This is the funniest headline I’ve EVER read in the Wall Street Journal:

Two of the Three Little Pigs Would Have Trouble Getting a Loan

Like many Americans, Jon and Laura Hagar are searching for a lender to refinance their home loan. But banks are leery of the Hagars. Their rural Colorado house is made of 17,000 old tires.

A niche mortgage mess is brewing in homes made of earth, tires, concrete and trash. Environmentally minded people built them, hoping to conserve energy and to re-use what might otherwise wind up in a landfill.

Such sentiments in some cases have been no match for the new resolve of the banking industry in the wake of the housing bust. Banks have become much pickier about examining sales of comparable homes, in deciding whether and how much to lend. Owners of odd homes can be out of luck.

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