Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Resale & use of realtor(s)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Feb 26, 2024, at 11:20 AM, Chapel, Thomas (CDC/NCIPC/DOP) via Cohousing-L 
> <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> Our concern more recently has been ensuring that no one buys here with 
> intention solely of renting it out. Or rather that we limit the number of 
> such sales. We are in a hot neighborhood and constantly besieged with calls 
> from investors wanting to buy our individual houses.   Not sure how to deal 
> with this issue--we have been discussing a limit on number of non-resident 
> owned units.

Our bylaws have always stipulated no unit could be owned for “investment 
purposes.” And a policy that units can only be rented for 3 years by the 
resident owner. We are working now on a bylaws draft that clarifies “Investment 
purposes” to:

> Units will be used only as private, owner-occupied residences except for such 
> other uses as are specified in the Bylaws and the Community Rules that are 
> consistent with the residential character of the community. 

We are in an urban area so our street has restaurants in the same block, a 
church parking lot across the street, and the next block north is entirely 
commercial for about 2 blocks. For this reason, the two units on the edge of 
the property are zoned commercial by the city zoning laws. Our bylaws say that 
if they are used for commercial purposes, it must be for one that the community 
approves.

On the number of units rented out at one time, the understood-to-be-true rule 
was that lenders would refuse to grant a mortgage in a community with more than 
10% of the units rented out. I have in the last few years seen that number go 
up to 50% on federally backed mortgage programs.

We have had great experience with people renting units but it does complexify 
things. It means for each rented unit we have to consider both the owner and 
the renter in decision-making since both are members of the community. During 
the first year of the pandemic that was also complicated by people living 
elsewhere and having empty units, but sometimes friends stayed temporarily 
without formal rental agreements. For those who feel more comfortable going to 
sleep at night after they have done mental bed checks and door locking, the 
musical chairs can be disconcerting. Renters haven’t been a people problem, 
only a numbers problem.

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