Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rental policies?

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

I don't like it.  Who gets to decide WHICH of the households gets to rent?
If you have two available for rent at the same time, does whoever latches
on to a renter first get the spot?  If a renter moves out, do you let the
same owner rent again, or allow an owner who is "in the queue"?

Also consider the impact on the community of a home in foreclosure, if the
owner needed to move and isn't allowed to rent.  It's true that rentals
decrease property values; it's also true that foreclosures do as well.  I
can only imagine this would also be demoralizing to the community.

Finally, consider the impact on community if an absentee owner chooses to
rent despite the rule.  Then what?  How will you enforce this?  Will you
call a state marshal to come evict the renter (who might well have become a
part of the community, and even if not, is kind of an innocent bystander to
all this)?  Will you put a lien on the home?  (Ineffective unless the owner
plans to sell.  At which point, you WANT them to sell because you don't
want renters, eh?)

I don't see any good coming of such a rule.

We talked about this a lot here at Mosaic Commons, and we decided not to
limit rentals, although we do have some rules ABOUT renting.  (Lease
length, assimilating the renter into the community, etc.)

For what it's worth, I'm also opposed to rules limiting length of time for
rentals.  It seems antithetical to the whole idea of community to force
someone to move out because they've hit their time limit on being allowed
to live there.  "Hey, you renter.  I love you! You're like family to
me...but, um, time's up, move on, sorry bud."

So far, we have but a single renter, and she is a long term valued member
of our community.  She may stay for years, and if so, I think that's a
benefit, not a detriment, to our community.

Bottom line: I am definitely concerned about my property value (ie: what
someone else would pay for my house) but I am even more concerned about the
value of my home to ME.  I moved here because I value living in community,
and rules that maintain home values at the expense of making the community
weaker don't seem like a win to me.

- Diana


On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 8:20 AM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> Hi!
>
> Good morning!
>
> RPD -- I intuit that your last two posts have some very important
> information in them which I would like to know.  This seems an important
> topic.  I'm wondering if you could explain in simpler language?  Or perhaps
> someone else could?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Best --
>
> Ann Zabaldo
> Takoma Village Cohousing
> Washington, DC
> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
> Falls Church VA
> 703 663 3911
>
> On Nov 8, 2011, at 8:40 PM, Marty Roberts wrote:
>
> >
> > We here at Two Acre Wood in Sebastopol are in the thick of a
> > discussion about home rental policies and amending our CC&R's.  Many
> > of you probably know about the law going into effect Jan. 1 that will
> > not allow CC&R's to limit rentals if the don't already have this in
> > their CC&R's.
> >
> > We are looking at a proposal that no more than 3 of our 14 houses can
> > be rented out at any one time.  We have heard that with 50% rentals,
> > homes would have a very hard time selling or getting financing.
> >
> > Do others have policies like this and how are they working?  Pros and
> > cons?
> > Thanks,
> > Marty
> >
> > P.S.  Having a roommate in an owner occupied home is not a concern -
> > it is only when the whole house is rented out by an absent owner.
> >
> >
> >
> > Marty Roberts Productions
> > Web, video, and event production
> > Social media marketing
> > Project design and management
> >
> > www.martyrobertsproductions.com
> > www.facebook.com/MartyRobertsProductions
> > www.linkedin.com/in/martyrobertsproductions
> > 707.829.9191
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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