Cohousing-L Mailing List: Att: New York State Cohousers

[OtisWalker (OtisWalker]

I am with the Westchester Cohousing Community. Our Legal Committee is
wondering if other groups in New York State have had any dealings with the
state Attorney General's Office re. offering plans.  Our attorney, who
himself once worked for the Attorney General, has told us that before
actively seeking members for a particular site, we must either receive a No
Action Letter from the A.G. or some word from them that we are not violating
state security laws, or we could be fined big bucks.  We are not at this time
"marketing" a specific site, since we are still investigating several, but we
are trying to prepare for the happy moment when we do have one.The attorney
told us that if we are fully pre-sold before fixing on a site (unlikely) then
we apparently do not have to file an offering plan.
    
Do any of you have information to share on this?  Does the A.G.'s office know
anything about cohousing?  I'm sure they are in the process of changing the
guard now anyway.  Maybe if we make a united effort to educate them, it would
be to everyone's benefit.  Also, are any of you in the process of preparing
an offering plan?  How long does it take and how much are your legal fees?

We are also facing the coop vs condo issue and our attorney has given us many
more reasons to be a coop than to be a condo.  (Banks in this area are very
familiar with coops, so that is not a major issue.)  Which way are you going
and why?

Thank you in advance for any advice or information you can give us.  I would
also be happy to pass on what we have learned.

Meg Walker