Cohousing-L Mailing List: Resales- are waiting lists worth it?

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

This is addressed to groups which have had resales, and which do not (as 
with coops) have a built-in connection with finding the new owners. 

As we approach selling the last of our 24 home sites, there is a debate 
about how much energy and money we should invest in continued outreach 
and advertising. 

Personally, I think it worth quite a bit to have a "groomed" list of 
people who already are informed about the project and have expressed 
interest in living here. 

We have already had one situation where an elderly member died, and her 
estranged family sold the place overnight through a real estate broker 
who had hardly any information about what it was. To a buyer who was 
looking for a cute house at a good price, and hadn't met any of us or 
come to any of our gatherings. Two years later, after some upsets, that 
owner has moved away (and nearly resold in the same fashion).

Over time, inevitably others of us will die and estates will sell. Or 
even when the sellers are alive and open to getting well-matched buyers, 
they may not have the luxury of the time it takes to reach such buyers 
and cultivate them. 

So, even though resales generate no money for the project, there could be 
a considerable difference, long term, in the value to the group of what 
kind of buyer joins us. 

Or should we just relax when the last lot is sold? What is your 
experience?