Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: A Conversation on the Economic Crisis: How To Do It?

[Bob Morrison (RHmorrison]

  I think we need to have this teleconference or webinar within the next 2
1/2 weeks and that we shouldn't wait until after the elections. I agree that
we will need to have several sessions to properly discuss this. We can
schedule the second session for after the elections. 

  I am in a forming cohousing group that has land but has not yet begun
construction. The economic crisis has had a major effect on us, that is,
we're having a hard time getting a construction loan and we're having a real
hard time recruiting members. We have lots of hangers-on, but few are
willing to make a financial commitment. The two biggest issues that
prospective members cite is the fear that they will have a hard time getting
a mortgage and the fear that they will have a hard time selling their
existing homes and/or will have to sell them at a fire-sale price when the
project is finished. (The projected completion date is early next summer.)  

  I also sense that this crisis will discourage people from forming new
groups over the next year or so. Many people are counting on new groups
forming, because they would like to live in cohousing and none of the
existing or forming groups are in a location that is feasible for them. We
should discuss this at a future teleconference or webinar. 

  A lot of what we discussed at the national conference last summer is
already out of date, because of what has happened with the economic crisis
over the last two months. 

 

Bob Morrison

Dover, NH