Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rocky Corner and the risk of development

[Barbara Bailey (blbailey52]

There is a reason that real estate developers get paid well, it's
because real estate development is inherently a risky business.  A
successful
project is the result of a great deal of hard work, skill, connections, a
lot of money and so much more. Serendipity and a big dose of luck are also
essential ingredients. Sometimes luck runs short. There is no shame in
that. At the 2010 Cohousing conference in Boulder, I heard that 9 of 10
communities in the planning stage don't survive to completion. If that's
true, those are terrible odds.

My heart goes out to Dick, David and all of the members of Rocky
Corner.  I'm hopeful that your dream will find another pathway to fruition.

Being part of this cohousing movement with it's vision, creativity and all,
requires a willingness to take the big risks that are necessary to create
communities. I am grateful to Rocky Corner for having the courage to step
into this.

I understand the need to try to figure out what went wrong, there are
certainly lessons to be learned.
I also think it's important to look at what went right.
One of the things that is unique and powerful about cohousing is the
willingness to share and learn from the experience of other groups.
If we can identify elements of success and explore how to create those
elements for new groups, it just may increase the odds of survival.



Barb Bailey
Prairie Hill Cohousing
Iowa City, Iowa


>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Sharon Villines)
>    2. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Sharon Villines)
>    3. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Abe Ross)
>    4. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Diana Carroll)
>    5. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Muriel Kranowski)
>    6. Re: New York Times article on the Rocky Corner foreclosure
>       (Sharon Villines)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 19:34:12 -0500
> From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID: <C5B8ED1E-A988-432B-BE1C-FA9A66969A77 [at] sharonvillines.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> > On Feb 11, 2022, at 6:05 PM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> What happened to Rocky Corner could happen to any project and the list of
> reminders that Tom gave are all the things Rocky Corner most likely did,
> some of them twice since they first tried to build in New Haven. I tried to
> find the industry failure rate in real estate development but the figures
> get mixed up with sales ? 95% of new agents fail.
>
> Major developers go broke all the time from failed projects even with
> experience?for some, like Donald Trump, its a business model. The fact that
> he gets away with it has to say something about how frequent it is.
>
> I visited this project a few years ago and walked the land before they had
> started building, though they knew where things would go. I thought they
> had done some very creative things to ensure subsidized housing units and
> in working with a professional real estate financial advisor, who then
> himself invested in the project.
>
> It?s hard when it's your own project to be realistic about this. It seems
> absurd that a cohousing project, in particular, should be foreclosed. One
> of  our first members truly believed that we were a qualified 501c3 charity
> organization. So noble and righteous we were. "Contributions should be
> deductible and we should solicit grants.?
>
> It still hurts hundreds of miles away.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 19:36:42 -0500
> From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID: <8FD20AB2-AECF-4885-9AF0-FFC76978535A [at] sharonvillines.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> > On Feb 11, 2022, at 5:29 PM, Stefani Danes <sl47 [at] andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks, Steve.  I look forward to reading it, but I don?t have access to
> it.  Sounds like it?s about Rocky Corner.  I hope there?s a way for them to
> work something out.
> >
> > If you have a chance, could you send me a copy of the text?
>
> You probably have a copy of this by now but just a reminder to everyone
> that the modern public library has an incredible amount of stuff online. it
> can be hard to find but there is usually a button to ask a librarian. In DC
> they are very good about tracking things down quickly. It?s impossible to
> subscribe to everything out there.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines, Washington DC
>
> "Give someone a book, they'll read for a day. Teach someone to write a
> book and they will spend a life-time mired in paralyzing self doubt."
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 20:50:42 -0400 (AST)
> From: Abe Ross  <cohoyote [at] gmail.com>
> To: Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID: <1ca8524d-65b0-43e4-82b4-853fc808362e [at] gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Sharon
>
> I really like your signature line.
>
> Abe Ross
> Treehouse Village
> Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
> Canada
> --
> One problem with becoming an adult is that you have to decide what's for
> supper every night for the rest of your life.
>
> Feb 12, 2022 8:36:49 PM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>:
>
> >> On Feb 11, 2022, at 5:29 PM, Stefani Danes <sl47 [at] andrew.cmu.edu> 
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> Thanks, Steve.? I look forward to reading it, but I don?t have access
> to it.? Sounds like it?s about Rocky Corner.? I hope there?s a way for them
> to work something out.
> >>
> >> If you have a chance, could you send me a copy of the text?
> >
> > You probably have a copy of this by now but just a reminder to everyone
> that the modern public library has an incredible amount of stuff online. it
> can be hard to find but there is usually a button to ask a librarian. In DC
> they are very good about tracking things down quickly. It?s impossible to
> subscribe to everything out there.
> >
> > Sharon
> > ----
> > Sharon Villines, Washington DC
> >
> > "Give someone a book, they'll read for a day. Teach someone to write a
> book and they will spend a life-time mired in paralyzing self doubt."
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 20:25:27 -0500
> From: Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID:
>         <CAAJBS=-
> haGPmQJ3h9j925qgX2pTGx+eubVCG2vS6Sg2KDszR3A [at] mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> 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
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 22:23:03 -0500
> From: Muriel Kranowski <murielk [at] vt.edu>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID:
>         <CALynfvgwZmSr7gDGn7tgjD+xdsUgfCh9fNMH-yWEv=
> 3Q-d1Z9w [at] mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> What a heartbreaking story that is. I feel so very grateful and fortunate
> that my coho group succeeded after some hard times for a few years. A
> successful coho community seems like a miraculous accomplishment, given how
> hard and how rare it is to make it happen.
>
>    Muriel at Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg VA
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 23:56:02 -0500
> From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New York Times article on the Rocky Corner
>         foreclosure
> Message-ID: <F9C5276D-0D3D-4C24-A59C-456482758A96 [at] sharonvillines.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> It shouldn?t be so difficult. Something is screwy with the system.
> Cohousing is only good for society ? there are no downsides. So why is it
> so hard?
>
> Sharon
>
> > On Feb 12, 2022, at 10:23 PM, Muriel Kranowski <murielk [at] vt.edu> wrote:
> >
> > What a heartbreaking story that is. I feel so very grateful and fortunate
> > that my coho group succeeded after some hard times for a few years. A
> > successful coho community seems like a miraculous accomplishment, given
> how
> > hard and how rare it is to make it happen.
> >
> >   Muriel at Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg VA
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 217, Issue 13
> ********************************************
>