Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Prospective Buyers trying out Cohousing first.

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

My experience is that cohousing communities, like people, have distinct and 
different personalities.  Some operate with formality (adherence to rules and 
procedures), and some with informality (seeking what makes sense and feels 
right in the immediate context); neither approach is inherently right or wrong. 
 Some cohos are largely harmonious, with just a couple of no-show participants. 
Other cohos are divided into camps that see things very differently — and then 
also acquire a camp of drop-outs having low tolerance for controversy.  Some 
cohos have lots of kids, some do not; the adult experience varies accordingly.  
And so on.

Since cohousing is not just a place to sleep, but also a place to engage, it 
makes perfect sense for candidate members and the established community to 
scope each other out.  At Cornerstone, we try to encourage interested buyers 
(or renters) to come to some meetings; attend a community dinner; join us on 
workdays; and chat with random members.  Fair housing law prohibits us from 
discriminating among buyers, but we find that with a little mutual exposure, 
buyers who would not be a good fit typically discover this, and self-de-select.

Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

mobile: 617.460.4549
email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net <mailto:rpdowds [at] comcast.net>

PS:  Coho personalities can and do morph over time, partly due to ordinary 
move-out-move-in dynamics that shift the demographics, and sometimes because 
individual members evolve in their understanding of how to live in community.  
Cohousing is (or should be) an active lifestyle of continuous re-invention, not 
a anthropological museum.

> On Jun 26, 2015, at 3:48 AM, Susana Michaelis <susana [at] pacificgardens.ca> 
> wrote:
> 
> I am an owner at Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community in Nanaimo. One thing I 
> am curious about, is the number of people who say they want to rent for 
> awhile before deciding to buy a unit. They want to "try it out" and "see if 
> it is a fit". As people can't commonly do this with houses and condos, or 
> cohousing communities that don't have rentals, why do you think people assume 
> they could or should try out cohousing before buying?
> What is the experience at your community? Do people get to live there before 
> deciding if they want to buy? We find that people get very comfortable being 
> renters and that doesn't help us sell a unit.
> Any feedback would be most welcome!
> Susana Michaelis
> Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community
> Nanaimo, BC
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