Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What a cohousing home costs around Puget Sound.

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

Susan Johnston asked:
>Then perhaps you (John) or someone else in this group, could enlighten me
>a bit.  How much does a home in a cohousing development cost?  Can you
>give me some idea of the range?  Obviously it depends on many things, but
>if you could cite some examples, that would be very instructive.  In your
>mind, what is "affordable"?

Of the four built cohousing communities in the Puget Sound Region (78 
units) the average cohousing unit price is $156,000.  The range is 
$82,000 to $260,000.  (note: these numbers are based on incomplete data 
and represent the best guess from the data I have on final price and 
resale price of units in Winslow, Puget Ridge, Sharingwood and Talking Circle).

Affordable is a very relative term obviously depending on your income.  
In our area -low income- is defined by govt. agencies for housing 
purposes based on percentages of the median income of the area under 
juristician of the agency doing the defining.  In King County you can 
qualify for "low-income" mortagage assistance if you are a family of 
four with $26,500 a year income or less.  There are state programs 
which offer mortgage assistance as well which have different (and 
random) criteria.  As best as I can understand, mortgage assistance 
from the state is available, under some circumstances, for families 
with incomes up to $50,000 per year.  There are also federal block 
grant gigs, which are administered by various non-profits which offer 
other deals as well which can be combined with other programs.

In our area the typical maximum mortgage amount you can qualify to 
borrow is 2.5 times your gross annual income, so in order to get 
approved for the lowest income cohousing unit, assuming a 5% down 
minimum, you would need an income of  $31,000.  To qualify for the 
average cohousing unit, again assuming 5% down ($7800) you would need 
an income of $59,200 to qualify for a mortgage.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood