Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Equity Co-op

[Raines Cohen (rc2-coho-L]

On 12/28/02 11:06 AM, Maggie < mdutton [at] shaw.ca> wrote:

>I understand that Prairie Sky Cohousing in Calgary (formerly Whole Life
>Housing Society) in Calgary, Canada, decided to be an equity co-op.  Could
>someone from Prairie Sky tell us what that decision entailed and the reasons
>why the group chose this model?  How is it different from other housing
>co-ops?

I can't speak for Calgary, but I recently had a discussion with Hank 
Obermayer of Mariposa Grove Cohousing here in Oakland, CA, an artists' 
community/physical retrofit project.

He mentioned that they had been planning on a transition from his sole 
ownership to a limited equity condo, but were lately moving towards co-op 
rather than condo, because:

- One of the members had recently declared bankruptcy, and so would be 
unable to qualify for a mortgage, negating the "finance it through 
standard purchase mechanisms" benefit that a condo structure would offer

- Another one had never sought or obtained credit... with the same result.

[there may have been other reasons, but they were lost in the chaos of 
the delightful holiday party there where I learned these things]

A co-op ownership structure can provide for investment in shares of the 
organization, with the mortgage held on the entire structure collectively 
by the organization. Downsides include higher interest rates; possible 
benefits include use of a Land Trust or similar mechanism to detach the 
land value from the unit prices.

Raines

Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>

  Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA] <http://www.swansway.com/>
Where a neighbor cooked a birthday common dinner tonight.

  Facilitator, East Bay Cohousing [on hiatus] <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
Plotting a transition to regional group / umbrella form.

  Boardmember, The Cohousing Network <http://www.cohousing.org/>
Preparing an update to its communities list.


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