Cohousing-L Mailing List: modular cohousing community

[John Shryock (jshryock]

     Hello - my first post.  I'm in Kalispell, Montana where the city
planner told me that he had never heard the word cohousing uttered in this
county- but that I would find support for the concept in his office. Let's hope!
     I,too,had never heard the word  2 years ago when I  developed a
20-dwelling rural community concept ( as yet unrealized) called "circle
village".   Living in my sterile neighborhood I realized the automobile
isolated me from my neighbors.  So I put the road to the outside of a 6 acre
circle with houses on the inside perimeter and common house and ground in
the center.
     Imagine my surprise when investigating strawbale construction I came
across the word cohousing.
      Recently I have focused on developing a low-cost cohousing tract using
modular homes.  I have many hardworking employees who cannot enter the local
housing market  as we are a "discovered" place where home prices have
doubled in the last few years.  
       Briefly my current plan is to get an option on a  4-6 acre tract with
city services and then try to develop it like a mobile court.   A road
around the outside with the lot hook-ups in place.   The  prospective
dweller would purchase their own home ( a nice 1300 sq.ft. goes for about
60K) and then buy into the  non-profit cohousing corporation for about 15K.
I believe buying stock to be important  for good motivation to contribute as
the corporation would have to build the common house and make other
improvements over time.  These , however could be good  galvanizing projects.
      If 20 dwellings bought in there would be the necessary capital for the
payback  of  the initial investment .  Improvements would have to be made
with assessments and sweat equity.   However the stock could be sold market
price if someone desired to leave and hopefully it could rise in value.
      I would welcome feedback especially if you have tried a similar project
  
                                                                            
 Thank you  - John Shryock