Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: question about wait lists

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

Cornerstone Cohousing does indeed maintain a wait list of ³friends of
Cornerstone².  Our master deed and bylaws state that anyone seeking to sell
a unit must first notify the community and withhold public notice for thirty
additional days.  The idea is that opportunity will be known first among the
waitlisters ? although there is no obligation for an owner to sell to a
waiter, nor to bypass open listings after the thirty days.  (Unclear how we
would enforce a violation of this rule.)

But it¹s a pretty rare congruence of celestial bodies that puts the right
kind of unit at the right price onto the market at just the right time for
waiter.  In practice, our experience has been yours:  Open market
transactions bringing in wonderful new people we¹ve never before met.

Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Cohousing
Cambridge, MA


On 3/20/11 2:04 PM, "Dorothy" <driehm [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> 
>     I am Chair of the Membership Committee at Rocky Hill Cohousing in
> Florence, Massachusetts.  Our committee is questioning the usefulness of our
> current Wait List, and we are wondering if other extablished cohousing
> communities have a Wait List for potential members and, if so, how does it
> operate and is it effective.
>     Before our community was completed, and we had more people interested than
> we had homes, we developed a wait list application and policy.   But now that
> we have been a functioning community for five years, we find that when a house
> comes up for sale, our current wait list has not been helpful and in fact
> every house has ended up being sold on the open market (and always to people
> who have been a wonderful addition to our community).
>     Do other communities have this same experience, or do you find that a wait
> list procedure has helped you sell your homes.  If so, what is the criteria
> for placing someone on the wait list, and how has it worked.
>     Any thoughts on this question would be greatly appreciated.
>     With many thanks,
>     Dorothy Riehm
>     Rocky Hill Cohousing
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