Cohousing-L Mailing List: How to start and try cohousing for a young Peruvian family?

[Alexis Bellido (alexis]

Hello everybody,

My name is Alexis and I live in Northern New Jersey. I am a Peruvian 41
years old guy and I moved with my wife and two daughters, 12 and 4 years
old, to the US on September 2012. I am a software programmer and a writer.
I work remotely with a web development company in New York, which sponsored
my work visa, so I have some flexibility in choosing how and where we live.

I currently rent an apartment in a nice supposedly family-friendly New
Jersey town called Montclair but I think we still experience the isolation
of the typical suburb and the town seems to be too expensive for what we
get. I have an average salary for the NJ/NY area and for some time I've
been thinking about buying a house but I'm not convinced about the "normal"
way of living, and paying $600K or so for a house, so I would really like
to try cohousing for all the benefits you already know.

My priorities are:

1. Living in a safe place where my family can enjoy a healthy way of living
and community. My wife loves cooking and I love eating and even if we're
not vegetarian we do like knowing that we are eating natural healthy food.
In Peru eating naturally is very cheap and you take it for granted but in
the US having access to real food seems to be the exception and is usually
more expensive.
2. Good public schools and plenty of friends for my girls.
3. Affordable. I know the definition of affordable changes for everybody
but I mean something that a middle class family.
4. Proximity to health related services and not so far from a city offering
"mundane" entertainment (shopping, cinema, etc) for when it's needed.
Ideally this city would be New York because I need to go to visit my office
from time to time but any other interesting city would be good.
5. Good Internet connection. I work online so this is a must.
6. Good and interesting friends. We are well educated and enjoy culture,
reading, learning and having interesting conversations with good people. It
seems lots of creative and smart people choose the cohousing lifestyle so
maybe this is already part of the package.

I'm reading all the literature I can find and I plan to visit some
cohousing projects nearby as soon as I can.

I've seen some houses are on sale but I'd really like to start renting to
be sure cohousing is for us. Will finding some good rentals be too
difficult for what I'm looking for?

Also, my 12-years-old daughter is in middle school and she's already
experienced a few moves between cities in Peru, Uruguay and the US, and as
you may have guessed this is a big change for a teenager so I'd like to do
my best to find a place where she will easily find friends and feel at
home. She's a smart and very social girl but I'd still like to minimize the
disruption for her.

I'd appreciate any suggestion on the best way to start with cohousing.

Thanks!

Alexis Bellido