Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cohousing fees / study participation urged [was: ... PBS ...

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

Neil Planchon wrote:

>... the link to the ~8 minute PBS Newshour Cohousing feature:
> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cohousing-communities-help-prevent-social-isolation/
>
> Includes interviews with Saettedammen (Denmark) and Rocky Hill (USA)
> Cohousing residents

I made a short URL to the segment:

http://s.coop/cohousingpbs21217   with my prefered shortener these days.

Cohousing fees came up from a non cohousing person here who saw the
PBS segment. I thought the segment was generally pretty good but
$3500/year fees without explanation or comparison to regular condo
fees can cause sticker shock for some folks accustomed to low cost
housing and defering maintenance (including me :) .

I put links to a Cohousing-L discussion about cohousing fees (2015) at:
http://l.cohousing.org/coho-fees-2015.htm

My reply to the non cohousing person included:

Comparing housing costs (and house prices) is tricky - they range
very widely depending on location, size, when and how purchased/rented etc.

Monthly fees in cohousing vary but they also vary in what they cover. Some
include utilities which would otherwise be paid elsewhere.
Most include (or should include) money for a reserve fund. The reserve fund
pays to replace the roof etc when it needs replacement. This is to avoid
assessments and spread expenses when things inevitably need replacement.

A study of cohousing finances across US communities is currently being done.
Hopefully that will shed some light on the issue.  But again location
will need to be taken into account when interpreting.

Has you community contributed finacial information to the study?  See:

Cost of Living in Cohousing? You Can Help ...
<http://www.cohousing.org/node/4476>

Fred

--
Bassett Creek Cohousing, Minneapolis  http://mn.cohousing.org/bcrk/
Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north Mpls)
     Email:        fholson at cohousing.org      612-588-9532
My Link Pg: http://fholson.cohousing.org