Cohousing-L Mailing List: Forming group, Advice?

[nathan schomber (wanderlustbus]

Hi everyone!
   
  I have recently come across this group while researching cohousing, WOW. So 
far I'm learning more from reading these archives than any other source. What 
an incredible tool! My wife and I are really enjoying going through all the 
posts and reading them to each other! Thank you all for doing this.
   
  We have a committed group of 6 families (all with young children) and also 6 
or so individuals/couples who have been meeting for almost 3 months now, with 
others wanting in.  
   
   We have been focused on creating a rural, farming, sustainable Intentional 
community here outside of Asheville, in western NC. As it turns out, what we 
have collectively envisioned more closely resembles Cohousing than traditional 
"intentional community or ecovillage" (although there is some crossover and 
ours will probably be a "hybrid" of the 3). Its ironic but several of us have 
heard of cohousing and dismissed it out of the mistaken belief that cohousing 
meant "many people sharing one house" We're finding out that the community 
we're designing looks more like cohousing than any other model!
   
  As a group, we have finances (most of us own our current homes) as well as 
access to private lending. We are still working out the details of our 
collective visioning, but know the basic structure we're looking at creating. 
Instead of developing the community and selling finished homes, we would 
designing and build the common house/other shared facilities first and then 
each individual would buy a private parcel to build thier own home following 
general guidelines. Parcels may vary in size. Some may be clustered while 
others may have acrege and be further away from the common lands/community 
center.
   
   I am wondering about cohousing consultation groups/firms. Our group is at 
the stage where we need some professional guidance especially with regards to 
financial/legal structure options, choosing location (local zoning, etc.), 
prioritization and general planning. Unfortunately, among our groups collective 
skills and abilities, these are our week areas!
   
   A couple of questions:
   
  1) How important is to have such consultants close to our location as opposed 
to on the other side of the continent?
   
  2) How is cost of service generally determined? What could we realistically 
expect by way of agreements/ arrangements?
   
  3) What questions should we ask prospective consultants?
   
  4)  Do consultants ever work with groups in exchange for a private parcel (to 
build on, hold or sell) in the cohousing community they help develop?
   
   
  Thanks again for this resource and for sharing the joys & sorrows, the 
triumphs and the challenges of cohousing! It really is inspiring to us newbies! 
   
  Feel free to either email us directly or reply via the list.
   
  Peace to You Nathan & Sarah
   
   
   
   
   
   

 
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