Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Hard time finding members

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

 Susan Murphy (Cantine's Island), c/o johnj [at] pipeline.com said:
>
> ... It has been so hard for us to get and keep Full Members.  We need 12,
> currently have 7 (3 have resigned over the past several months).  Of our 9
> Participating Member households, I estimate that we ll be lucky if 1 or 2
> actually come through to become Full Members and residents in the
> community. .....
> I wonder all the time why we re having so much trouble getting members, and
> why other groups don t seem to have this problem.

One possible avenue to explore as a development strategy is phasing.  
Rather than building out all at once, it may be possible to phase 
development so that some percentage is built, and then an additional is 
done.  At Sharingwood we broke the development into two phases, the 
second of which we are now undertaking, having sold out the first.  
This way, if you have 20 of 36 members, you can build 20 units as a 
first phase and have 100% of the phase sold out, something banks think 
is wonderful.  Then later, when you have the remaining units pre-sold 
you move ahead.  This is easier to do if your buildings are laid out in 
a modular fashion, where the infrastructure can also be phased, and 
where you can wait for the commonhouse, or fund it some other way.

It has been the case for some of the developments in my area that once 
things got to the stage where the risk was low, there was a sudden 
influx of buyers.

Another thing to look at is to see if there are patterns in why people 
are leaving, or not attracted to your project.  Often prospective 
members might not tell you directly why they don't like your project, 
but it can be helpful to try and brainstorm issues which could be 
problems.  I have heard of one group which people have told me about 
where the impression was given that you had to be "politically correct" 
and raise your kids a certain way in order to join.  I related this 
back to the group in question and they were completely unaware that 
they had given that impression to prospects.  It was mostly a 
communication issue with one of the people in the group who did the 
tours and outreach.

Get a neutral person, like a relative, to give a critical evaluation of 
any handout materials you distribute.  Sometimes the message in the 
words is not the one you want to convey.  I remember reading a brochure 
from a group which left me with the impression they were very "New age 
spiritual". Again, when I pointed this out, they were horrified because 
they were not that way at all but the words they used in their handout  
implied such.

I remember one particular day when I had to give a tour and was not 
interested in giving the tour and was grumpy and annoyed.  I am sure 
those folks think Sharingwood is a horrible place after the tour I gave...

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood