Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Losses

[Jenny Guy (jenstermeister]

Thanks for the explanation, Raines; I'd just like to clarify a couple of
things:

When we first started out, Cohousing Partners declined to work with us only
because of capacity limitations, not because of feasibility (since they
didn't have the capacity, they didn't get as far as a feasibility study at
that point).  Recently they did decline to develop the site we had a
contract on, because of concerns about the site's feasibility.

We never wanted to self-develop to save money, and we worked with Cohousing
Resources which, while not a developer, is a Development Manager, or
High-end Project Manager.  So we weren't going it alone.

We have only run into some glitches in our decision-making process since we
had to walk away from our site-- we've been regrouping, and a little off
balance -- and we have pretty good group dynamics, so I don't think it's
accurate to say that our group dynamics prevented us from gathering
information.

On an encouraging note, we're a very cohesive, committed group, so I think
we're going to make it work.  Thanks for the encouraging comments from
Mosaic Commons and Cascadia Commons!

Jenny Guy
North Oakland Cohousing
510-843-3239


On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Raines Cohen <rc3-coho-L [at] raines.com>
wrote:

>
> The group wanted to "save money," so it pursued self-development; a
> cohousing professional firm was invited to become a development
> partner but declined, based on capacity limitations combined with the
> small size of the project limiting the potential return and making it
> riskier.
>
> The group walked away from the site, and was unable to get a refund on
> its option, after doing lots of work to secure entitlements, based on
> a feasibility study that said there would be no way to sell the units
> at market prices if it built a unit mix suitable to serve the needs of
> the group. The change in local/regional/national market conditions was
> a factor, as well as group dynamics that made it difficult to gather
> sufficient information to make effective decisions and to work
> effectively with its advisors to build on the strengths of each.
>
> Raines Cohen
>