Cohousing-L Mailing List: $425 room rental in shared household adjoining Songaia Cohousing (Seattle-area)

[Craig Ragland (craigragland]

In Feb-07, nine members from Songaia Cohousing (www.songaia.com, near
Seattle) formed an LLC and purchased a 3 bedroom home on a half acre of land
from our next-door neighbor. The half-acre property adjoins Songaia's
10.6acres (with its 15 homes), to the immediate west of our large
organic
gardens. The new property has become known as Alpaca Place (in honor of the
4-leggeds who used to live there). The top floor has been completely
refurbished with paint, woodwork, new carpet (made of recycled milk
bottles), etc. We have now begun operating the top floor as a shared
household, with private bedrooms and shared spaces for the exclusive use of
the renters. Shared space includes a living room with fireplace and
skylight, a connected dining area with a sliding glass door onto a porch
overlooking the backyard, and a large kitchen with deluxe appliances
including an awesome 6-burner stove and refrigerator, and dishwasher.

The renters are forming a shared household, with their own expectations and
norms. The two existing members have agreed, for example, that they would
prefer not to share the residential area with pets – so cats/dogs/birds are
not welcome. The two existing members would also prefer not having a TV in
the shared spaces of the top floor.

While our new renting neighbors have exclusive use of the top floor, they
also have shared access to portions of the bottom floor which will also be
used by some members of Songaia and their guests. In addition to some
storage area for both owners and renters, the bottom floor is partially
finished for group meetings - and we interesting planning for further
improvements are afoot! The 1/2 acre of grounds also has some nice features
– and, importantly, it connects to Songaia!

To date, we have rented two of the three bedrooms (the smallest, 10x10
w/shared bath for $375 to Chuck and the largest, 10x15 w/private bath for
$600 to Kate) – these fine folks are now moving into their new home. The
third bedroom (10x12 w/shared bath) is available immediately at a cost of
$425/month plus a To-Be-Determined share of utilities. We also require a
fully refundable security deposit equal to one month's rent (refunds happen
if there is no damage or rent owed when you leave).

The first two rooms were rented with no advertising – advanced notice was
sent to the people signed up on the "Songaia Announcements" list. Our next
step is posting this to the Cohousing ListServ and a couple other forums for
community-oriented folk. Our goal is to find a community-minded person who
wants to live with us. Accordingly, PLEASE DO NOT broadcast this note
elsewhere and PLEASE DO forward it to prospective renters who you know may
be seeking a community lifestyle in the Seattle area.

We have a well-defined process for exploring the possibility of living here
and becoming an Affiliate Member of the Songaia community. The first step is
to review Songaia's website (www.songaia.com) to learn more about life at
Songaia. If still interested, I'm happy to address any questions you have
individually and/or schedule time for you to come view the available spaces
and/or visit our community.

In Community,

Craig Ragland (Songaia member since 1992)
Email: craig [at] songaia.com
Phone: 425-487-3550

P.S. A Core Group is now forming to build more community on the 4.3 acres of
beautiful, forested land to Songaia's immediate north – it would be awesome
if someone interested in that venture was to rent in Alpaca Place!

P.S.S. At the bottom of Songaia's Homepage (www.songaia.com) you can add
yourself to the "Songaia Announcement" list. Members of that list are the
first to hear of new community developments, open events, or homes for sale
or rent (e.g., that list heard about the Alpaca Place rental opportunity
right after we bought the property).