Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Marketing Survey

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

on 10/11/2002 9:41 AM, Catya Belfer-Shevett at catya [at] homeport.org wrote:

>> Everyone worked at getting the message out and posting the brochures,
>> distributing at community fairs, etc.  Word of mouth was very
>> effective, especially family-to-family.  We also believed "if you
>> build it, they will come" and they did!
> 
> Hey, maybe we could post flyers for JP and Mosaic in the commonhouses of the
> MA built communities?  That way folks who have friends visiting or
> interested in cohousing would know where to go?

Definitely advertise beyond your immediate area. I'm not sure how much time
you want to spend on this but do get the word out. I moved from New York to
Florida for cohousing and when that project didn't work out I moved to DC
for cohousing. 

In Florida we had people contact us from all over to see if we fit what they
were looking for -- one woman came from Hawaii to look at the possibilities
of moving her business there.

In Takoma Village in DC people moved to the area from all over including
Florida, South Carolina, Rochester NY, Baltimore, and the whole DC area,
just for cohousing. For the two years the project was being built everyone
gradually moved closer, selling houses and moving to temporary apartments,
relative's homes, etc. It was a gradual process but once they were assured
that the buildings were going to go up, they found new jobs and started
moving.

People are often considering moving "back home" or to a place they always
wanted to live and can transfer in their jobs or move their small
businesses. Having a community to move into, makes this not only possible
but very easy. Although I had two old friends in DC, what made moving here
so easy was cohousing.

I was moving into a community of people that I had gotten to know on email
for over a year before I actually moved in. I was assured of neighbors who
would welcome me and answer all my questions about a new home. It was a very
easy move (in people terms).

I used this list to look for cohousing communities that I wanted to move to.
I knew I did not want a lot-development, free-standing-houses community. I
like the closeness of flats and townhouses. This limited the possibilities
but I found two that were completely what I wanted.

Don't be quiet out there. Talk about your community and post here regularly.
Every two or three months post a description of what you are planning. And
please, please, please, tell people where the h*** you are. Location,
location, location. People on the waiting list for other communities need
homes and may decide yours fits them.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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