Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com) | |
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:42:15 -0800 (PST) |
On Dec 11, 2017, at 4:49 PM, Mike Librik <mlibrik [at] grandecom.net> wrote: > > I'm delighted to talk about this with anyone that will listen. The property > would be in Austin, Texas. The truth is that the final form is not > established, but the current idea is to add two dwellings to the back yard > and a second story apartment on the main house, converting the 2br/1ba house > into common space. Have you talked to a contractor or architect? They are often well-informed on the current regulations as well as probable changes. And can suggest ways to convert the property. > We are pretty sure we'll create an LLC that I'd deed my house to. I still owe > a little on the mortgage, like $45K, but once my associates started buying in > I'd get that paid off. I expect I'd be building the second floor apartment > since I'm more willing to deal with the street noise and the public, which > the others would keep to the back. Right off you need agreements on who owns what and pays for what. You didn’t mention whether some are singles or partners, children or not. Small shared facilities are sometimes harder to share than large because individual personalities are more — individual. Important to keep having sharing meetings informally if not formally. Stay in touch with where people are feeling and thinking. > A big variable is that Austin is in the middle of a major re-write to its > land development code. Currently my zoning would allow a maximum of 2 > kitchens on the lot. We may do fine even with that restriction, but stuff > like tiny houses are not allowed, which is a part of our thinking. The new > code should be more friendly to density, but nothing is decided yet. A variance is often possible if you have an attractive plan. One favorable feature our historic preservation board likes is that the house looks the same from the front. Remember the old mansions that were in effect multi household dwellings in one-related family. Each assortment had it’s own bedrooms, bathrooms, sitting rooms, etc. Privacy in a large house with many amenities. They were designed as wings and floors in opposite corners of the building. Even separate entrances would create privacy. And everyone could still have their own microwave and coffee maker. If you can only have two kitchens you might design two kitchens — one for dinners by a dining room, and a second on another floor that is smaller, more casual and good for hanging out. A larger house that is designed with privacy but not separateness would be easier to sell if you decide to sell out and move to a different kind of space. A large Victorian house on the Hudson in NY that had been divided up as a Zen Center, sold easily to a large family. It was easy to understand as one living unit, a home, with private spaces. > We're figuring that something like a condo association agreement is what we > need, but since we're a little more tight-knit than that I wanted to see how > that might affect our agreement. We don't want to rely on our friendship for > an investment this big, and on the other hand we're not off living in > separate apartments like your typical condo dweller. How we handle the event > of one person selling out is a big matter. What you are moving into is more like a partnership than a condo venture. Even if you do end up legitimizing your venture as a condo, you might read some articles on successful partnerships and what partnership contracts should include. On buying someone out. You might consider establishing (1) a reserve fund and (2) agreements on selling price. By creating a special fund, you can buy people out. You want unhappy people to leave and much as they might want to leave. And the two remaining partners are taking a risk that they will find a third and would be in financial difficulty without such a fund. The sales price might be limited to funds invested plus interest or real estate growth. It may be very hard for a new person to get a mortgage. And harder to fairly price the value of the space—a bank appraiser is often stumped by cohousing — and yours would be more unusual. No comparables, no appraisal, or a very low one. In Austin there is probably a huge housing demand so finding a replacement may not be difficult but you never know. This is a fun exercise. Thanks for posting it. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org
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joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Mike Librik, December 9 2017
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Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Mariana Almeida, December 11 2017
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Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group John Carver, December 11 2017
- Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Mike Librik, December 11 2017
- Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Sharon Villines, December 11 2017
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Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group John Carver, December 11 2017
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Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Mariana Almeida, December 11 2017
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joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group ML Burke, December 11 2017
- Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Sharon Villines, December 12 2017
- Re: joint ownership agreement for a small cohousing group Alan O'Hashi, December 11 2017
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