Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: site location/size and children (was Households to Adults Ratios)

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Let me count...we have about 18 children right now, but more if you count 
those away at college and one family who is spending a year in Japan. We're
on 1.2 acres, more or less. We have only had one family go to the local
public school, and they moved out for other reasons. My kids go to a magnet
school(public), and several of our kids go or have gone to this school. The
others attend mostly parochial school, one goes to private, two are home
schooled. I think you'll find that many cohousers are already sending their
kids to alternative schooling of some sort, and school quality has less
effect on attracting buyers than in the general public.

It also matters if you have school choice in your district, which we have.
If there were no choice, I don't think I would have bought in. My children
are in a school that requires parent participation, and the quality is much
better. I don't think the demographic is much different from the local
school(since there are quotas), just the parent involvement. It makes a big
difference in a district with so little money like ours. So how the district
functions can be as important or more than what the local school is.

I would also add that urban areas are experiencing a move back from the
suburbs, and that now is an excellent time to locate in an urban area. Just
a few years ago, we had trouble selling a one bedroom unit, and now we have
a waiting list of over 20 potential buyers.

--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California

tamgoddess [at] home.com
http://members.home.net/southsideparkcohousing


> Location and good public schools are key.
>
> Takoma Village is located in Washington, DC.  The poor public schools in
> our district where our community is located are THE reason we have few
> households w/ children.  The children we do have either are too little for
> school, go to a magnet school or are schooled elsewhere.  Had we been 3
> blocks north and east in Maryland we would have sold out to families in a
> heartbeat.
>
> I know this because I'm the one who took all the marketing calls.
>
> I'm not sure site size has much to do w/ attracting families.  We're built
> on 1.43 acres and we have 7 kids.  Southside Park in Sacramento is built on
> 1.33 acres and they have 30+ kids I think.  Liz would know the exact number.
>
> Location (safety) and public schools (education) these are two essential
> elements to attracting families.
>
> Ann Zabaldo
>
> Takoma Village Cohousing
> Washington, DC.
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