Re: follow on question to "interested people" discussion | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharon![]() |
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Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2017 12:25:28 -0700 (PDT) |
> On Oct 3, 2017, at 10:37 AM, Michelle Keiserman <msmakman1 [at] gmail.com> > wrote: > > We at Southern Nevada Cohousing a I have another point to raise that is related to being in or near Los Vegas. After working hard and long on cohousing in South Florida, I think two factors make cohousing possible, at least more possible: The amount of inexpensive housing available and the presence of a university or professional population. Since Las Vegas is not the capital it may not have government professionals who are interested in cohousing. I know it has service industry and gambling casino people, but I don’t know if they area viable cohort of potential cohousers. I don’t know about university people. My anecdotal observations are that you need a core of these people to make the project go. It may be my bias. We had perfectly wealthy people and perfectly hard workers but the values weren’t there. and the housing industry was building complexes of beautiful stucco homes very cheaply. They will blow away with the next hurricane but no one cared about that. We were in Trump country. The appearance of Big Beautiful and Exclusive was the norm. I’m exaggerating but it was impossible. Other efforts have come to the same end. If you estimate an average of 80 residents for 110 cohousing communities, that is under a thousand people in a population of 157,833,000 in the civilian workforce. > The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates the number of citizens in the > Civilian Labor Force (persons classified as Employed or Unemployed) at > 157,833,000 (49% of the U.S. population) and in the Not-in-Labor-Force > citizens at 94,610,000 (29% of the population).Jan 12, 2016 I’m not being negative, but the project has to fit the population. Or you have to attract people from other places. Or build a smaller community. The professionals on the list may see other possibilities. And I may be totally off about the population of Los Vegas. > But we worry that our current fee structure is too big a hurdle > for some who want involvement and may eventually buy-in as we move closer > to actualization of the project. According to Sperling’s “Best Places to Live," Los Vegas’s cost of living is a little higher than the national average and housing accounts for much of that. http://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/state/nevada I’m not sure what that means for your group but competition may not be a problem. Lots of people don’t have walking around money in the range of $2,000-$3,000. Everything is probably invested in their home. They have to sell to purchase the next one. They can’t afford to take out a home equity loan unless they have a realistic anticipated date for move-in. Or their funds are tied up in retirement funds and are not available for 2 years or whatever. On the other hand you need people who will be capable of buying a unit at the price you have to pay to get it built. It’s a balancing act. Risk taking either way. But one balancing advantage is to have people do a mortgage worthy review to see if they will ever be able to buy a unit. Have you talked to bankers and developers? On a theater renovation (failed) project, we found a bank who had a VP in charge of financing for non-profits. Cohousing isn’t technically a non-profit but it shares many of the same values. This bank had at least on officer who was friendly to community projects with more ideals than money. If you can find one they can give you information — you don’t need a loan right now which makes it easier to get answers. Have informational interviews. One thing I’ve learned from workshare in cohousing is that after having a long romance with measuring hours worked in someway, I now believe that isn’t the most important thing. What is important is how devoted and responsible people are to do tasks, and to do them well. To do them without reminders. To research better ways to do the job. To look for better materials. To show up in emergencies. To answer a phone call at 3 am. Invested money is different because money comes from outside sources and is subject to the market, not values. But in many ways there may be an analogy to what is important in charging fees. The project is ultimately dependent on money. The money has to be there in amounts sufficient to purchase the number of SF you want, the materials you want to use, and the cost of land. Location is important to viability. I think the analogy may be making individual decisions. You need money but money alone can’t build cohousing.You need reliable and hardworking people whether they can afford the financing schedule or not. People who have skills and are knowledgable. If 5 people have invested the $2,500, do you need the sixth to do that up front. If they are mortgage “certified” so you know they are viable AND ultimately everyone pays the same in the end, can you work out another way for some people. Even allowing some people to invest more. Chris ScottHanson does upfront work, not building or designing, but the how do we get this done. You might hire him or other cohousing professionals who do similar work. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org
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follow on question to "interested people" discussion Michelle Keiserman, October 3 2017
- Re: follow on question to "interested people" discussion Elizabeth Magill, October 3 2017
- Re: follow on question to "interested people" discussion Sharon Villines, October 3 2017
- Re: follow on question to "interested people" discussion Sharon Villines, October 3 2017
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