Question 1

Why invest in De Woonwolk?

Accepted Answer

We believe that housing cooperatives are the key to a new form of living. Because we are a non-profit cooperative, and residents cannot sell a share of the project, no one benefits from further increasing the market value. In this way, the 51 homes that we are going to build are not only a housing solution for ourselves, but also for future Amsterdammers.

This form of living also involves a new form of ownership : because we are all owners, there is not only more involvement and a sense of responsibility than with regular rent, but also a new freedom and autonomy among our members. Because decisions at De Woonwolk are made democratically, all residents have an equal say in the management of the building and the use of the common areas.

In addition, our members have an intrinsic motivation to share our building with our neighbors and to use it for social, sustainable and artistic initiatives in Amsterdam Noord. For example, we want to use our makerspace for workshops on sustainability, open repair afternoons where neighbors can repair their bikes or small equipment with us, or make it available to local artists to work on larger projects. In the event hall on the roof there is room for lectures, language cafes, radio and music sessions, neighborhood dinners, movie nights - the Woonwolkers are full of ideas to put Buiksloterham in the spotlight together!

It is precisely this energy that makes the housing cooperative a unique form of housing. In a time of polarization and with a growing problem of loneliness in the Netherlands, cooperatives encourage gathering and community building and offer space for citizen initiatives and the exchange of ideas and ideals. Of course, this does not only apply to De Woonwolk – this new form of ownership lies at the core of all housing cooperatives.

That is why we have the goal to help future cooperatives emerge from our collective in the long term. In this way, every euro that De Woonwolk now raises with the Cloudlending campaign will be reinvested several times in new housing projects in the future.

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Question 2

Crowdlending: how does it work?

Accepted Answer

What is crowdlending? The word says it all: we borrow money from the crowd, consisting of our supporters and investors who want to contribute to a positive change in the housing market in Amsterdam. This way, individual investors can give us a loan for a certain period, without the intervention of traditional financial institutions – and they get a nice return in return.
You lend us money by buying a bond. A bond is a negotiable debt certificate for a loan. It is therefore the fixed agreement between bondholder and De Woonwolk. As soon as the term of the bond has expired, we will repay the nominal amount of the loan in full. In addition, you will receive an additional compensation from us at the end of the term in the form of interest.
The Cloudlending campaign of De Woonwolk consists of 3 rounds in which we want to raise €220,000 each time. Each round there are 3 types of bonds available, where the interest rates are linked to the term of the loan:

Repayment after 1-5 years: interest 2.25% Repayment after 5-10 years: interest 2.5% Repayment after 11-15 years: interest 2.75%
To purchase your bond, we ask for a few contact details and your account number to ensure that we transfer the repayment and return to the correct address. This information will not be used for anything else and will be stored securely on a private database. After repayment of your bonds, and thus the end of the term of the loan, this information will be destroyed.

Question 3

Bonds

Accepted Answer

What are bonds? A bond is a negotiable debt certificate for a loan. When you buy a bond from us, you lend us money. Once the term of the bond has expired, we will repay the nominal amount of the loan in full. In addition, you will receive an annual interest that is paid at the end of the term.
How much does a bond cost? Each bond has a value of €250. It is of course possible to buy multiple bonds if you want to invest a larger amount in De Woonwolk.
What are the terms and interest rates of the bonds? You will get your money back after a term of 5, 10 or 15 years, depending on the type of bond you have chosen. The annual interest is paid out at the end of the term, together with the repayment of the bonds. As a bondholder, you can also choose to donate the interest to De Woonwolk.

When and how will the bond be redeemed? We will start redeeming the bonds during their term. A draw will be made from the bonds with the shortest remaining term. As a bondholder, you can indicate whether you want your bond to be included in the draw. So a bond with a term of 5 years will be redeemed no later than 5 years after purchase; for a bond with a term of 10 years, this is 5 to 10 years after purchase, and so on. If all bonds with a shorter term have already been redeemed, we can of course redeem them earlier than expected, but we are not assuming this yet. If you have bought a longer-term bond and still want to get your money back sooner, you can sell the bond to someone else.
Who issues the bonds? The bonds are issued by the association De Woonwolk.
Can I sell my bonds? Yes, the bonds are freely tradable. If you want to sell a bond, you first offer it to De Woonwolk. If we do not want to buy the bond from you, you can offer it to others. If you have found a buyer, you contact us to transfer the bond to the name of the new owner.

What are the bonds being spent on? Only when the municipality has made a decision on the requested environmental permit, will we also start spending the money we have collected through bonds on the construction plan of our dream house. We will not do this if the bank has not yet issued a letter of intent for financing at that time. We will therefore only break the bondholders' loan if we first have the bank's confidence in writing. At the moment we are going to spend the money, we will inform all bondholders.
Where do I declare the bonds for income tax purposes?
In Box 3, under investments.

What is the maximum amount of bonds I can buy? The maximum amount is 100,000 euros (400 bonds). This is the ceiling for the exemption from the prospectus obligation in the Financial Supervision Act (Wft), article 5:3. Do you want to invest more or in a different way in De Woonwolk? Then contact us via contact@dewoonwolk.nl (contact@dewoonwolk.nl).

Can I also buy bonds from my company, association or foundation?
Bondholders can be both natural persons and legal entities (companies, foundations or associations). In the case of participation of a legal entity, this bondholder is not the contact person. Do you want to sell De Woonwolk bonds from your club or association, whereby you agree with buyers that part of the interest is a gift to the association? Then contact us via contact@dewoonwolk.nl (contact@dewoonwolk.nl).
Do you have a bond regulation with other information and conditions? Yes, this can be found on our website: cloudlending.dewoonwolk.nl (cloudlending.dewoonwolk.nl).

Question 4

Risks

Accepted Answer

What are the risks? The bond is subordinated to the loans provided by external financiers; the mortgage from the bank and the loan from the Stimulation Fund. The bond falls outside the prospectus obligation and the supervision of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, according to the Exemption Regulation Financial Supervision Act.
How much risk do I run? Our first investments are made with money obtained from various subsidies, the first released part of the loan from the Stimulation Fund, and from the own contribution of the future residents of the building. With this we finance the costs of the preliminary design and the final design.
The transfer of the land will only take place under the condition that the environmental permit has been granted by the municipality and the financing of the project has been promised by the bank. If these conditions cannot be met definitively, the project cannot go ahead. The bonds will then be repaid. The money from the bonds will therefore be released when the construction preparation of our building begins. During the construction phase, there is a risk of cost overruns due to rising construction prices or other unforeseen setbacks. We are taking measures to limit this risk as much as possible. We are assisted in drawing up the budget by an experienced architect and an external process manager. We will also record as many costs as possible in advance with the contractor. In addition, we assume unforeseen costs in the budget.

When the building is delivered, there is a risk that there will be insufficient rental income to repay the bonds. This risk is covered as much as possible by making the association fully liable for the repayment and interest. We also reserve money in our operating budget for possible loss of rent. Moreover, it is extremely unlikely that there would be insufficient demand for the affordable housing that we are going to realize in Amsterdam.
Another risk is the complex becoming uninhabitable due to fire or other disasters. In order to cover this risk as much as possible, the association will take out a building insurance – which we are also obliged to do for the mortgage agreement with the bank.

What if you go bankrupt? A bond is a subordinated loan. This means that if we go bankrupt, the mortgage will be paid off first, then the loan from the Stimulation Fund, and only then the bonds. Finally, our own contribution. So by buying the bond, you run more risk than the bank and external financiers, and less risk than the future residents of De Woonwolk themselves.

Question 5

I want to invest a larger amount in De Woonwolk. Who can I contact?

Accepted Answer

Please contact our chairman Nils Hollestelle via nils@dewoonwolk.nl or 06-19965959, or call Truus from the Crowdlending Committee on 06-22032869.

Question 6

Can I support the project in another way?

Accepted Answer

Sure, it is also possible to make a donation, send us an email via contact@dewoonwolk.nl and we will contact you.
 In addition, we like to use different forms of commitment and expertise. Send us an email via contact@dewoonwolk.nl and we will contact you.
You also help our project enormously by sharing our story. We want to make as many people as possible aware that living can be different. And together we can achieve more. Tell people about De Woonwolk and especially refer them to our website!

Question & Answer