Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: 1st Year's Budget and Waiting List

[ann zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi all!

Thanks for posting replies to this query.  PLEASE REPLY TO THE NAME AND
EMAIL ADDRESS LISTED IN THE BODY OF THE TEXT:  RACHEL KING AT 

Rking7263 [at] aol.com

Please don't cc me.  I did this as a favor to the Finance/Legal team.

I will forward this response to them but would appreciate not being in
the loop on this one.  

Thanks!

Ann Z.

Ann Z.

Berrins [at] aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 11/1/99 8:59:13 PM, zabaldo [at] earthlink.net writes:
> 
> << 1. What was your process for creating your original budget; what was the
> decision making process?
> 2. What is your "wait list" policy? >>
> 
>     1) At Pathways we are also under construction and are also dealing with
> setting things up for after move-in.  The process for setting up the after
> move-in budget was remarkably handled by our finance committe.  They came up
> with a budget that wowed everyone with its attention to detail and they
> offerred several different scenarios, complete with spreadsheets.  The
> committee includes a former superintendent of schools from a town near
> Hartford, who has a lot of experience setting up budgets and forecasting
> expenses.  It will probably be rearranged after we set up our after-move-in
> committee structure, but it does anticipate many long term needs, such as
> road and roof repair.
>     We haven't considered hiring a management company, although we know they
> exist and may talk to a couple, just to get an idea of what our condo
> association needs to do tax-wise and legally.  For example, I just found out
> this week that our sewer rate is tied directly to our water use rate; this
> will impact how we get water to public places, in that we probably won't just
> run hoses from people houses unless we have to.
> 
>     2) Regarding the waiting list, we are lucky and had committments for all
> of the units well over a year ago.  Those on the present waiting list had to
> go through the same requirements unit owners (aka "core" members) had to, but
> we are now discussing how to change the requirements so future waiting list
> folks won't have to do so much just to get on a list.
> 
>     Regarding "membership", our attorney advised us not to use that term in
> our by -laws for anyone except core members, because "membership" may infer
> some kind of rights regarding the legal association of unit owners (in our
> case, a condo association).  We don't have a better term yet.  Waiting list
> folks don't have any benefits or "rights", except the right to attend
> meetings (but not vote on consensus items).  However, some kind of benefit(s)
> could help keep waiting lists folks in touch and ready to buy when the time
> comes;  hmmmm.......
>     Some neighboring lots are being sold by our builder and are being bought
> by waiting list folks who want to be associated with the community.  We used
> to call them associate members, but now have to come up with another new
> term.  Any ideas?  We are also discussing just what kind of relationship we
> will have with these neighbors.
> 
>     Since the waiting list is for resales, you will want to have a resale
> policy in place also.  For example, if you allow sellers to get the most they
> can, you needn't bother keeping a prioritized list, because several list
> members may be bidding on the house anyway.  However, if you set a price
> ceiling, then you can go through the list one by one until you get someone
> ready to want that house and meet that price.  Also, if you allow some folks
> to get bumped up on the list, like famly members or to increase your
> diversity, make sure the kind of prioritizing you do is legal.  Lastly, if
> you make a deal with local housing authorities to help lower income folks,
> you may have to make some compromises on how you set up your lists.  Good
> luck!
> 
> If you like, I will ask the group if I can send you a copy of our final
> initial budget ("final initial"- does that make sense?), probably minus the
> numbers, and our waiting list and resale policies.
> 
>     -Roger