Cohousing-L Mailing List: Informing potential buyers about cohousing

[Jean Konzal (jkonzal]

The Two Echo Co-Housing Community in Brunswick Maine celebrated its twentieth 
anniversary this year. Our community is comprised of twenty-one single family 
homes and three duplexes.  Each home was individually designed following 
community building guidelines and built by different builders chosen by the 
owner.

We are currently reviewing how we inform interested buyers about our community 
before they buy one of our properties. Our goal is to make sure that all buyers 
understand what living in a co-housing community is all about.

When we first formed, people who wanted to buy a building lot had to be 
approved by the community membership.  However, when they want to sell the 
house they built on the lot, the transaction is considered a private one 
between the seller and the buyer. The community does not have to approve the 
sale. Also, there are no community-wide agreements about how to inform each 
prospective buyer of what the community expectations are for members prior to 
the sale.  Our Membership Committee’s charge is to “assist the seller to 
provide all documents required for full disclosure under the law.”  It is the 
seller’s responsibility to make sure the buyer receives those documents.

Recently we have had some experiences that lead us to reconsider this.  We want 
to know from other co-housing communities with individually built and owned 
houses how they handle making sure prospective buyers are fully informed about 
living in co-housing without imposing upon the relationship between the seller 
and the buyer.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.