The down side of open market for cohousing
From: Rob Sandelin (robsanmicrosoft.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 95 15:24 CST
One of the aspects of condominium as a legal form for cohousing is that 
often banks demand little or no resale restrictions on units.  We 
recently had a mortgage company foreclose on a home (What a long 
strange trip that was....) and now they are selling the home.

Unfortunately the mortgage company seems to have little interest in 
"cohousing" and has rebuffed our efforts to help them sell the home 
several times.  Last Sunday the mortgage company placed an extremely 
misleading ad in the real estate section of the paper (said it was 
waterfront property which is a bald lie).  I called them to inquire, 
not telling them that I lived in the neighborhood and almost all the 
info they gave me was inaccurate.  What is frustrating is that we have 
sent them a letter clearly detailing all the information and they are 
not passing that info along.  I guess J.R Ewing, of the TV show Dallas 
pegged these people when he said: "Once you let go of your intregity, 
the rest is easy."

We have had several people come out, all of which whom are entirely 
unaware that the property is a condominium and in a cohousing 
development. (where's the waterfront?) Coupled with the fact that the 
home is unfinished and has an odd  layout, and is very expensive 
($275K) , no one has made an offer yet.  What has ended up happening is 
that several community members then waste a lot of time answering 
questions and giving tours to people who are totally clueless and often 
disinterested in community.

So, I don't know how to remedy any of this but I did want to pass along 
our problems so maybe someone else could learn something from them.

Rob Sandelin
Watching em come, watching em go
Sharingwood.

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