Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordability -- a new leaf

[Realhome (Realhome]

Martin Tracy posted:

>So is it cheaper or more expensive to buy into cohousing?  From <Places
Rated 
>Almanac: 1993>

>Boulder, Colorado: average housing cost: $122,900.
>Denver, Colorado: average housing cost: $101,400.
>Nyland cohousing unit for sale in nearby LaFayette: $200,000 approx.

In the Boulder/Denver area, currently experiencing significant immigration
and corresponding rapid increases in housing costs, it's a bit unrealistic to
compare a house on the market today to average prices (I assume "average
housing cost" means price for a home, or is it some amalgamated statistic?)
that were published in 1993 (who knows when the statistics were actually
generated?).

FYI, current average cost for a single family home in Boulder is,
unfortunately, much higher than what you have here. To avoid any further
misinformation, I won't quote the figure until I get a current figure from
MLS stats available thru my local Board of Realtorsxxxxxx--I believe it's
close to or over $200K.

The Nyland home is priced comparable to other two-year old homes in areas
around it, and has a lot more to offer in terms of community amenities. Much
more useful and accurate and precise statistics like the ones you used are
readily available from people and associations who are in the business of
facilitating the buying and selling of homes every day. If you want such
numbers, I would be happy to provide them for my locale and area of
expertise.

I don't think that your issue of affordability can fly in the face of market
dynamics, which currently dictate that any house, in cohousing or not,
located in the general Denver metro area will be more desirable (= more
expensive--at least in a market economy) than the same house in rural
Missouri or many other places. Is the way to make a home more affordable to
locate it in an inaccessible, unattractive place? Probably not an effective
solution for most. So subsidies and other "unnatural" means may be the only
way. And I think that's fine, because affordability is a critical issue no
matter where we live. But it's also a very relative concept, depending on the
locale and the local economic factors.

Chris Welch
Perry & Butler Realty, Inc.
303/444-5525
303/444-5315 Fax
Realhome [at] aol.com