Re: waiting lists
From: Nancy Wight (wightwal.hp.com)
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 93 07:47 CST
> I'm curious about those waiting lists - how committed are the people? Any
>  financial commitment?  What does it mean to be on the waiting list? Are the
> people involved at all?
> 
> New View also has waiting lists - and I'm not sure how close they are to
> building.
> Judy

The pivotal point for us was finding a site.  Once we started the site
purchasing process, we suddenly had a waiting list (of course the
membership committee did a great job in recruiting people too!).  That was 
two years ago, and we have had a waiting list ever since.  Because of some
very complicated negotiations having to do with the type of permit we
have to get, our construction has been delayed (if things had gone our way, 
we would be building by now).  The way things look now, we won't
be beginning construction until this summer. :^(

In terms of how committed the waiting list members are, we don't ask
them to come up with any money.  We just ask people to get pre-approved
for a mortgage of their approximate house price, attend two whole-group
meetings, and attend two "potlucks" to get to know people in the group.
Once they do these things, they are placed on the waiting list. They are
not otherwise involved (don't attend committee meetings, don't vote, etc.)

We recently expanded our group from 22 households to 26, taking 5 families
off of the waiting list (one of the founders dropped out at the same time
:^(  ) .  I believe that all five have made the financial commitments required
to become a "provisional" member (correct me if I'm wrong, other nerdviewers).
The waiting list idea has worked well for us (alas, maybe not so well for 
those who have been on the list for over a year!).

I don't have any scientific evidence of this, but it seemed to me that
once our group started growing to be close to the final expected group size
of 25-29 (that's what the comoplicated negotiations are about so we don't
know exactly yet), people started getting on the proverbial bandwagon, 
realizing that there wouldn't be any room left soon.

- Nancy


-- 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy Wight                                               (508) 659-4974
New View Neighborhood Development, Acton, MA            wight [at] wal.hp.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.