Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Questions about Reserves Amounts

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 8, 2018, at 4:54 PM, Jude Foster <foster.jude [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> It should be noted that every lender / bank / prospective buyer asks to see 
> the Reserve Study and wants to know the funding plan and bank account 
> balances.

This is good to hear but we have a long way to go before cohousing people 
understand how to read a reserve study, and how important those saved funds 
are. We were lucky to have some fiscally knowledgable people, like Peter Kent 
who had worked at the FDIC, who insisted on doing a reserve study as soon as we 
could after move-in. And on keeping as close to the recommended deposits as 
possible.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that many people recommend starting the 
reserve study before move-in and building a deposit into the reserves as part 
of the total budget.

The information on materials and equipment, measurement, and costs for all the 
items in the construction are readily available then. Expected useful life can 
be researched. Then you will then hit the ground running.

Including the reserves in the total budget means those figures form the basis 
of house prices and can be included in mortgages.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org