Reselling homes in CoHousing
From: Joani Blank (jeblankhooked.net)
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 23:55:33 -0600
Cindy,

Your waiting list, is just as you suggested, a list of poteintial buyers. As
such there is no "first in line" on any such list. When I came to Doyle
Street, I signed a particpation agreement (technically, it is voluntary to
do so, meaning it isn't in the CCand Rs, and in fact I doubt if we could
"make" anyone do it.) It says that I will not sell or rent my unit to anyone
who does not want to "particpate." So when I want to sell my unit, I expect
to let them potential buyers know what it like to live here. We always
invite them to dinner at least once, and to a meeting if the timing is
right, Then, we count on them selecting themselves out if this way of life
is not for them--the same way people selected themselves into and out of
your group, but now, since they get to visit the built community, they can
have a much better idea of what they are buying into. 

Although an individual household is selling its dwelling to a new person,
the group can (and should) help a lot. It is to everyone's benefit to have a
community full. The seller cannot discriminate in order to maintain or
increase diversity. That is surely illegal. However, sales within the
cohousing community are a different matter, since you are probably not
putting the house on the market by advertising it or by listing it with a
real estate agent We have had seven resales here at Doyle Street, but only
four new households. The other have been people moving within the project,
in all three cases, people were moving because they needed a bigger or
smaller unit when their family size changed. 

Joani Blank
Doyle St. CoHousing and OOCoHo (Old Oakland/Swan's Market), Bay Area, CA 

At 12:23 PM 2/2/97 -0600, you wrote:
>                           COHOUSING-L Digest 61
>
>Topics covered in this issue include:
>
>  1) questions about reselling homes in cohousing
>       by Ccarpent [at] aol.com
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 16:20:09 -0500 (EST)
>From: Ccarpent [at] aol.com
>To: cohousing-l [at] freedom.mtn.org
>Subject: questions about reselling homes in cohousing
>Message-ID: <970201162008_1346383341 [at] emout14.mail.aol.com>
>
>I'm writing from Cambridge Cohousing, where we are about to start building
>(yeah!).  Lately, we've been talking a lot about how to deal with a large
>group of people who want to be on our "waiting list."  These are people who
>can't or won't buy a unit now, but hope to at some point in the future.  We
>don't have a waiting list now, but they seem to assume that we will have one
>and that their number on it will mean something.  Do other cohousing groups
>have a waiting list for future buyers?  If so, how does it work?
>
>We will be structured legally as a condo association.  I think this means
>that units will be offered for sale by their owners pretty much the way that
>any other housing is, and that the highest offer will get the unit.  The only
>purpose of a "waiting list" that I can see is to make it easier for sellers
>to contact potential buyers.  Am I missing something here, or does this sound
>about right to others who've already been there and done that?
>
>Also, some of our members have suggested that we give priority to potential
>buyers who help us maintain our diverse community.  We would also like to
>offer priority to current members who want to change units within the group.
> I think that technically this would be discrimination and will be illegal
>once we change from an LLP to a condo association.   Anybody know anything
>about this?
>
>Thanks for any feedback you may be able to offer,
>Cindy Carpenter
>ccarpent [at] aol.com
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of COHOUSING-L Digest 61
>****************************
>
>

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