Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: So what does it cost?

[Becky Weaver (beckyweaver]

Hi Fillard,
   
  Your calculations sound pretty good. I don't think you're missing any of the 
big pieces. 
   
  A useful rule of thumb that has proved to be true for my community - though 
not for the reasons we thought - is that cohousing homes will end up costing 
about what non-cohousing homes cost in a particular location, plus 10 to 15% 
for the common facilities. 
   
  This does not make intuitive sense - after all, *we* don't want McMansions 
and granite countertops such as are being installed in our favorite 
neighborhoods.
   
  But the reason developers build the granite-countertopped McMansion is often 
to justify/recoup a high cost of development in a particular area.
   
  This high cost may be the result of many, many things that are not 
immediately obvious. It may be a environmental issue, it may be a powerful 
neighborhood association that will force you to make expensive concesssions in 
order to get their approval, it may be municipal restrictions. It may be 
something I have not run across yet. It is usually not one single thing with a 
big price tag. It is usually 1000 things with small price tags. But, if you see 
a fabulous piece of land and someone's putting in $400K condos across the 
street, you can assume that regardless of the land price, your final cohousing 
unit price will probably be $400 K plus or minus some smallish fraction of that 
- say $50 K. Smart choices and a good project manager may help you hit the 
lower end of that number, choices that seem like a good idea at the time may 
help you hit the higher end. 
   
  This is quicker and easier than undertanding cost factors. Having said that, 
I understand that people who are interested in developing cohousing from the 
ground up *want* to understand the cost factors. I certainly do. You might use 
this rule of thumb to reality-check your spreadsheet. If it's way off, the 
thing that's likely to be erroneous is your spreadsheet. 
   
  Becky Weaver
  Kaleidoscope Village/Central Austin Cohousing
  Austin, Texas
  

Fillard Rhyne <fillard [at] hevanet.com> wrote:
  Hey cohousers,

What are the classic "big costs" that a new cohousing group is likely to be 
unaware of, or to grossly miscalculate, when its members are still in the 
"dreaming about properties" stage?

___________________________________
A man becomes his attentions. His observations and curiosity, they make and 
remake him.
--William Least Heat Moon