Cohousing-L Mailing List: House purchase wait list (fwd)

[Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob (dmmj]

Please excuse us if this message already came through. We didn't get it
back from the list (usually they come back pretty quickly) and so we're
resending it. 

Michael Jacob
___________________________________________________________

We are close to applying for our construction financing and having a
narrative appraisal done for the lender. I believe that a strategy of
showing that Cohousing projects pull from a "new" market segment (for the
many reasons that we know and which is difficult to quantify for an
appraiser) is crucial to gaining higher appraisals than the standard
townhouse and condo comps available in our or any other market area. We
are experiencing sales prices set 10 + percent higher than comparable
homes found by our appraiser in setting value for our project. So we need
to provide the reasoning for him to give us added value for our common
house and the "community" value that is Cohousing. 
 
It could also be argued that Cohousing projects have national pull as
evidenced by those of us who have already attracted members from other
cities willing to relocate to live in Cohousing, as well as the use of the
Journal as an advertising medium for resales and new home sales. 

Do any of the established Cohousing communities have waiting lists for
folks who have expressed interest in purchasing a home in your Cohousing
community? Would you have data of numbers of folks on these lists and
number of successful sales that you could share? 

I also could use comparable data showing that indeed Cohousing homes do
sell at higher market prices even though they do not appraise at their
sale prices. (ie maybe the appraisal is incorrect due to lack of adaquate
comps, as in other Coho projects in the same market area)

Have any communities who are working with a lender/appraiser used this
scenario to show marketability of your developments? How well did it work?
Do you have other strategies that you could share?

I plan to send final architectural plans to our appraiser for his
narrative appraisal report in three weeks. Any help by then is much
appreciated. We are also willing to share this collection with other
groups if it is helpful. 

Thanks very much,

Michael Jacob
Two Acre Wood   (formerly Jewell Hill)
Sebastopol CA
707/824-0832