Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: membership process for long distance members

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Your process for becoming a member is quite long-and unusual for built
communities, I think. I think it's more usual for groups that have yet to
move in. 

Since we are a condo association, community members can sell to whomever
they please. This is less frightening than it sounds. I don't think it's
just luck that we've had good people come in from resales. Since we are
built, they can really get a feel for whether they want to live here in a
few meetings and meals. One of our greatest assets is a very active family
who moved here after one visit.

And a long process is no guarantee. More than one person in our community
was a member for months or years before move-in, and was miserable once
he/she lived here.

In my experience, the built community, even if not completed, is a real
enough experience that people will self select in a much shorter time than
two months.

Of course, your mileage may vary. There is no one-size-fits-all for
cohousing.
-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento California

http://members.home.net/southsideparkcohousing/
tamgoddess [at] home.com

> Hi couhousers
> From: Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing, Minneapolis, MN
> 
> We are discussing potential modifications of our membership process for a
> couple  from California who are moving here in the fall and have a purchase
> agreement to buy a home, contingent on going through the process and being
> approved as members.  (the home is a coop apartment, so approval is necessary
> to buy in, unlike our townhomes, where approval is needed to join the Board of
> the Master Association) (don't worry, we have a very complex structure you
> don't need to understand).
> 
> I vaguely remember a discussion of such issues (membership process for people
> living far away) but can't find it in the archives - I have searched for non
> resident members, and long distance, in Peter Scott's archive, to no result.
> Can anyone suggest search terms?
> 
> Or ideas?  
> 
> Our process requires two months of being an active member of the community,
> and 
> seems very important to me - as it allows people to self-select themselves in
> or out while working and playing with us, experiencing how we make decisions
> and resolve conflicts, etc.  And now that we've been out of the development
> phase for 2+ years (since we finished remodeling the community kitchen) the
> work, decisions, conflicts, are less intense, less frequent.


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