Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

OMG. Rocky Corner! This is heart breaking.

No judgement -- I have yet to encounter a CH project that didn't get really
screwed up at some point in the process. We (Mosaic Commons) had a lot of
similar problems, and evaded a similar fate only through luck of the draw.
It was a little touch and go there for a while -- there but for the grace
of god... And even so, a lot of our people and investors lost a lot of
money.

I feel so bad for them (or y'all, if you are reading).



On Sat, Feb 12, 2022 at 8:53 AM Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

> This is, indeed, a very sad story.
>
> Sharon is surely right about the overarching constructs of money, debt,
> financing.  It’s just a shame.
>
> I knew about this foreclosure some weeks ago.  When I first heard about
> it, the inclination for me was to jump in to analyze what went wrong to
> develop a strategy to prevent the from happening to other communities.
> Like I really knew something about what went awry having read one email
> about it and having talked to a total of no one from the community.
>
> What was I thinking?
>
> What I would like to do is not Monday-morning quarter back this event.
> It’s waaaay too complex.  Instead, I stand quietly w/ the members of this
> great community of people.  They were … and are ... warriors.  They took on
> a big vision. And they didn’t falter. In the face of mounting pressure to
> complete their vision … in the vulnerability of acceptance of their fading
> dream … talking to a reporter about their loss … they didn’t falter.
>
> Warriors.
>
> Sometime when the pain has lessened a little and the circumstances
> surrounding the disposition of the property and the circumstances of the
> community have played out a little more … then maybe we can have a
> conversation that might give us insights and might prove restorative to
> these Rocky Corner heroes.
>
> And, if they want to talk now?  I’m here.
>
> My thoughts only.
>
> Best —
>
> Ann Zabaldo
> Takoma Village Cohousing
> Washington, DC
> Ex. Dir. & Mbr. Board of Directors
> Mid Atlantic Cohousing
> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
> Falls Church, VA
> 202.546.4654
> zabaldo [at] earthlink.net
>
> When life shuts a door,
> Open it again.
> It’s a DOOR.
> That’s how they work.
> Lilicloth catalog T-shirt Humor.
>
> NOTE:  Please use zabaldo [at] earthlink.net for email.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Feb 11, 2022, at 5:04 PM, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Feb 11, 2022, at 3:59 PM, Steve Welzer <stevenwelzer [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> This article will appear in the print edition of the New York Times on
> >> Sunday (Real Estate section):
> >>
> >>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/realestate/connecticut-cohousing-foreclosure.html
> >
> > This is a very sad story about a failure that was more common in the
> 1980s than now. This community had been under development for 11 years and
> had a wide array of investors. The article is a good one in that it gives a
> clear description of all the things that can go wrong in real estate
> development. It has taken the movement a long time to realize that
> cohousing is a real estate development. It involves land and bricks and
> mortar and that is hugely complicated. And it takes professionals involved
> from the beginning to avoid pitfalls. The work has to happen before any
> money changes hands.
> >
> > My condolences to all the Rocky Corner people.
> >
> > Sharon
> > ----
> > Sharon Villines
> > Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> > http://www.takomavillage.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
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