Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cozy cohousing home near downtown Sacramento

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

Of course no one is "required" to have a website...but it will definitely
effect your resales. Southside Park is on of the older communities
(completed in 1993) and built before we were so dependent on the web and
email (hard to imagine how we even did it back in the day without
email...remember phone trees?????)

But I do think this issue points out one of the weak spot for
cohousing...the community as a whole caring about resales. The cohousing
resale process tends to be quite haphazard and few real estate agents
understand how to sell cohousing. Communities talk a lot during the early
process about wanting to control who joins, but really that is all about
the effort and resources put toward that as a community, not just when you
personally are ready to sell.

One of the few communities that has done a great job on supporting the
resale process is Pleasant Hill Cohousing in CA. They have a resell
committee that works to serve both the Seller and the Buyer. I would urge
communities to consider organizing a resale committee to work with
Sellers, and in return asking sellers to give a percentage (1/2% or 1%)
back to the community at closing, especially if you are able to sell
without a paying a realtor (which would be 6%). That funding could go to
things like hiring someone to do a good website, working up a flyer
template that can be easily adapted for different homes, and keeping a
database of people that have expressed interest over the years (also good
when rentals come up).

Katie 

-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
CoHousing Partners, LLC
241 Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousingpartners.com





On 1/9/14 12:30 PM, "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> wrote:

>
>
>On Jan 9, 2014, at 1:40 PM, Don Benson <benson6451 [at] aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Maybe to start with, who expects each and every cohousing community to
>>have a website?
>
>Everyone needs a website. It's the new business card. It gives
>credibility. It allows people to know more about you and what you do than
>any conversation unless it is extended. It is also the new white pages
>and yellow pages. That's how people find you.
>
>Wordpress.com hosts free websites. So does Google. They have standard
>designs to choose from. It is neither necessarily expensive or difficult
>to put up a decent website.
>
>Or I can do one for you. I have special rates for cohousing.
>
>http://www.triplethreatwebsites.com
>
>Sharon
>----
>Sharon Villines
>Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
>http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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