Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: [C-L] To Hire or Not to Hire a Cohousing Consultant?

[mmaskall (mmaskall]

We at Fair Oaks EcoHousing, located in the Sacramento Suburbs, hired Katie
McCamant as our Development Consultant in the beginning.  This was our third
try, and we wanted to make sure we had all the odds in our favor.  I
recommend hiring Katie first.  She can help your group get off the ground,
and she can also help you find the other consultants and developers you
need.  I give her my highest recommendation.

 

I'm happy to announce that we will be moving into our new homes this coming
August/September.  We still have one home available - a lovely 4 bedroom
townhome.  Learn more at www.FairOaksEcoHousing.org
<http://www.FairOaksEcoHousing.org>  .

 

Marty Maskall, Founder & Future Resident of Fair Oaks EcoHousing

 

Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2019 14:48:20 -0400

From: Lynne MARKELL <lmarkell [at] rogers.com <mailto:lmarkell [at] rogers.com> 
>

To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <mailto:cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> 

Subject: Re: [C-L]_ To HIre or Not to Hire a Cohousing Consultant?

 

You have been getting good answers and I will add. Your question shows that
you are floundering and in need a cohousing consultant. As others have said,
developing cohousing is complex and more than buying land and building a
building.

In order to buy land you have to be prepared with a legal organization, cash
raised from the members to pay for expenses, a budget, member commitments,
pre-approved financing, knowledge of local zoning, etc, basic policies,
decision-making system, 

Equity members will not put up substantial money unless they know what they
are getting into, essentially the plan for the cohousing, including what the
unit prices will be. We found that the closer we got to a specific site and
the more money we required, the more detail new members required. The
founders were willing to take more financial risk than later members.

To determine costs  and to build community, you need someone with cohousing
experience, even if a lot of consultation is done by phone or on-line. Some
cohousing consultants in Canada (from BC) travel to the group and spent a
weekend with the group and local experts.  We could not get these same
consultants to help us as they were too busy. We were in touch with
McCammant and Durrett, but held off. We did hire local non profit
developers, but they were new to cohousing and did help us with the people
side of the planning.

Everyone in our group has acknowledged that we should have hired a cohousing
consultant earlier in our process. We also acknowledge that we did not
charge enough for equity memberships so we would have had the money to do
so. 

I would say good luck, but you need knowledge and information more than
luck.

 

Lynne Markell, 

Lmarkell [at] rogers.com <mailto:Lmarkell [at] rogers.com> 

(613) 842-5222