Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: cooperatives and cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 24, 2009, at 1:57 PM, Raines Cohen wrote:

> - Legacy Farm (Rosendale, CA) is also pursuing a cooperative model;  
> New York
> law seems to favor cooperative ownership vs. condos, and has an  
> extensive
> process of filings and public disclosure requirements to protect  
> buyers
> (from us, the evil developers, who also happen to be the future  
> buyers, so
> it gets a little strange sometimes, to the point where, in theory,  
> we aren't
> allowed to tell ourselves about our own projects).

Real estate development in New York State, particularly in the city  
where prices are astronomical, is very lucrative. A major area of  
insider trading is in the conversion from rentals to condos,  
particularly for rent controlled apartments.

In order for a building to be converted from a rental to a condo, a  
certain percentage of the current residents have to agree. To ensure  
this vote, they receive incredibly reduced prices on their apartments.  
If people find out about the conversion before it happens, they snap  
up those apartments as quickly as possible. People make a living doing  
this. A very good one. Hence the restrictive laws.

Many residents do not have the funds to buy, even at the greatly  
reduced prices, so they flip their apartments -- selling them to  
another person for twice the price before they themselves can even buy  
them. There are real estate lawyers who handle the papers for this.

It seems on the surface that the laws that were designed to protect  
those who just want a place to live have gotten in the way of  
homeowners who want to build their own houses. But Legacy Farm is  
being developed by a small group of original members who form the  
developing entity. Thus they are subject to the same laws as Donald  
Trump and if they had the same desire and real estate savvy, could  
make the same amount of profit.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org