Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Waiting List Maintenance - How is it done? (Richard P)

[Rodney Elin (hen3ry]

On Tue 19 Feb 13 19 Feb 13 10:0102, 111rmp [at] gmail.com wrote:
> We are at the stage where we need to maintain a fair and effective waiting
> list for the purchase of homes in our community. Yes we are one home short
> of fully occupied and there is also a lot of interest including the
> potential for people to be competing for homes.
>
> How does your community keep its waiting list?  Is it paper or online?
> Automated or do individuals keep track of it "manually"?  Is there a fee to
> be on the list?  Do you keep the list by particular unit or just a general
> list?

I expect that most communities have similar concerns around waiting 
lists when developing and selling units initially, but as Sharon 
intimates, things change drastically once move-in is complete. After our 
move-in, we had been maintaining our waiting list almost exactly the way 
we kept it during our development and building phases, by offering homes 
that came available for sale to the people on the waiting list, in the 
order they had joined the waiting list. About two years after move-in, 
one of our residents pointed out that maintaining a waiting list that 
has any priority or treats anyone preferentially might very easily run 
afoul of fair housing laws. Since we are structured as a condominium and 
not a cooperative, we really cannot offer any unit to anyone in 
particular or at a different price.

So instead of a "waiting list," EVC maintains a list of interested 
people. Whenever a homes comes available for sale, we announce it to 
everyone on our list at the same time.


~Rodney



> As background, here is what our by-laws say:
>
> The [Steering Team] shall maintain a list of persons who have expressed
> interest in joining the community by purchasing or leasing a Unit within the
> Condominium (the Waiting List).  Such Waiting List shall indicate the order
> in which such expressions of interest are received and what size Unit the
> person is interested in.  When an Owner plans to convey a Unit, he shall
> immediately notify the Board of Directors who shall notify or cause to be
> notified those on the Waiting List for the appropriate size Unit, or the
> first three such persons if there are more than three.  No Owner shall
> convey a Unit by sale, lease, gift or devise unless he shall have first
> offered the Unit on the same terms, in order, to the persons on the Waiting
> List who have indicated an interest in the same size Unit (or the first
> three if there are more than three such persons) and all such persons have
> declined the offer or thirty days have passed since the Owner notified the
> Board of Directors.  This section does not apply to the gift, sale, lease or
> devise of a Unit to an immediate family member (spouse, civil union partner,
> parent, sibling, child or grandchild) of the Owner, nor to the conveyance of
> a Unit subject to restrictive covenants held by a government body or
> charitable organization for the purpose of providing affordable housing.
>
>
> -Richard
> ----------------------------
> Richard Pendleton
> Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm
> http://www.peterboroughcohousing.org
> An old fashioned neighborhood in a new way.
>
>
>
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