Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Resale & Rental Pod at Takoma Village Cohousing was financing special projects

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

Thanks so much for sharing this Ann. I do hope you¹ll write more about
what TVC is doing to support the resale process as I feel this is a realm
that many (probably most) communities have fallen down on. I think it is
typical that the founders are so excited (and worn out) when they move in,
they tend to drop all their marketing work as soon as the last home is
sold, and expect it will take care of itself after that.

But I think to keep our communities over the long term, we really need to
keep an ongoing outreach and resale support team going. Here at Nevada
City Cohousing, 10 year after move-in, we are just launching this effort
ourselves, so appreciate any thoughts you can share Ann.

BTW, this is also why we want to make full use of the April 30th National
Cohousing Open House DayŠto invite friends, neighbors and everyone else to
come visit and see what its really like, and encourage people to get over
their fears about collaborating with their neighbors so they too can live
a more sustainably in community. I find it interesting that their are many
friends that visit, picking up kids, etcŠbut they don¹t really understand
what we have here. I encourage all other communities, including those just
forming, to take advantage of National Cohousing Open House Day to show
the world what great places cohousing neighborhoods are.


Katie 
‹ 
Nevada City Cohousing
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
241B Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousing-solutions.com







On 3/30/16, 6:37 PM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Ann Zabaldo"
<cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on
behalf of zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

>
>Hello all ‹
>
>I presented on Takoma Vilage¹s Resale & Rental Pod activities at the
>CohoUS conference in Durham, NC last May/June 2015.  Since then I¹ve had
>writing about the Pod¹s work to share with everyone on my ToDo List.
>Alas Š I¹ve been busy w/ more resales here at TVC.  Also a few other
>projects including the upcoming Mid Atlantic Aging in Community
>Collaboratory Apr 8-10 and the Aging Better Together conference in SLC
>May 20-21, writing the Mid Atlantic Cohousing weekly newsletter, etc.
>etc.  .So that¹s my excuse for not having something written for you all.
>
>R&R Pod¹s work is quite a complex work of art which requires a lot of
>care and feeding.  The results have been wonderful for TVC.  Not only
>because of the donations to the community but because we have helped
>smooth the way for owners to sell their homes and for buyers to become
>more easily integrated into the community.
>
>See below.
>
>> On Mar 30, 2016, at 6:08 PM, Martha Wagner <wordbizpdx [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Ann¹s comments (below) are especially interesting to us and lead us to
>>want to know more. Does Takoma Park¹s resale and rental pod serve as an
>>alternative to a realtor for members wanting to sell their unit
>>providing the same services as a realtor would, including all the
>>paperwork, etc.?
>
>We are very clear about this:  R&R does NOT serve as a realtor.  We are
>not realtors, lawyers or anything else other than neighbors. We do not
>get involved with the contract other than to suggest sellers purchase a
>legal packet to use.  Individual members of the Pod do answer questions
>as any neighbor would but not under the auspices of R&R.  We expect
>sellers to educate themselves about For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sales.
>
>> Does the group also manage an active wait list?
>
>This is our chief work:  the constant tending and propagating of a pool
>of buyers.  Marketing and Outreach all year long.
>
>> What percentage of people selling make a sizable voluntary donation
>>such as the $20,000 per sale that you mentioned?
>
>Sellers generally contribute between 1-3% of the sale of the home.  All
>voluntary.   On a $300K sale that $3,000.   We have had contributions of
>$10,000 and $5,000 and $2,000 that came before R&R was organized.  But
>those large size contributions were in the early years by three founders
>and many people did not contribute anything to the community upon selling.
>
>This whole thing of voluntary contributions is part of a very integrated
>system of resales.  It¹s not an island.
>
>The R&R POD believes there are 3 entities involved when an owner sells a
>home:  the seller, the buyer and the community.   All three entities have
>a vested interest in seeing that the process goes smoothly.  That¹s our
>task on the R&R pod.  Through our work the seller can save an average of
>$20K on the sale of their home.  Sellers contribute a portion of the sale
>in acknowledgement of this saving.  But also because through our
>marketing and outreach we have this pool of potential buyers that is
>educated about cohousing and TVC.  So the home seller has some confidence
>that they are selling to someone who really wants to live in cohousing.
>
>This is a very tiny slice of what the R&R process is about.  To the
>extent that it is helpful Š good.  However, if you are going to embark on
>this path ‹ which I hope you do! ‹ there is much more for us to share
>with you.  And that will be as soon as I grapple with this.  I¹m not
>trying to tease.   I¹m just behind.  :-(.
>
>
>Onward!
>
>Ann Z
>Takoma Village
>Washington DC