Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Sale/Resale and Continued Success of Community

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

 Sandy Bodzin wrote:
>I think that this topic has not been given enough thought.  Since it has
>been generally accepted that there is no legal way to influence who a
>house is sold to (is this absolutely the case?) are there any kind of
>incentives that can be established to encourage the kind of people
>you're interested in attracting to move in while discouraging those that
>you would not want.  Is there any kind of neighberhood incorporation
>that is legally binding?

I remember reading somewhere (cohousing magazine perhaps?) about the 
Grell Cohousing groups ownership.  They were able to control membership 
by mixing ownership between condominium and cooperative.  As I recall 
you had to be approved by the cooperative to own a condominium - that 
is in order to buy into the condo you had to buy a share in the coop 
first, and they were able to write up bylaws which filtered who could 
buy a share in the coop.  The rub is, I don't believe they have 
actually got a site so I am not sure if their legal work would actually 
pass muster, that is get approval from a bank.

As for incentives to encourage and discourage I think a one page, 
clearly written handout explaining the cohousing concept and how it is 
applied in the particular case, along with the expections and 
responsibilities would be sufficient.