Cohousing-L Mailing List: selling a unit w/o realtor

[Grace Kim (gracekimarch]

Something to share from my research/interviews this weekend re: this topic.

One cohousing resident noted that the trouble with typical realtors is that 
they don't know how to do much more than "show the unit".  She's told many 
sellers/realtors that if you compare the units in her community w/ others in 
the surrounding neighborhood, that for the money, you can probably do better 
(both quality and size).  But what you are really "buying" or "paying for" 
is the "million dollar lifestyle" or the community.  So it's really 
important that the realtor knows what they are selling to prospective 
buyers.

At another community, when units recently came available, the members 
approached the sellers, knowing that they would have a difficult time 
selling through conventional realtors, and suggested that they help the 
seller find a buyer.  And in return, since there was no legal mechanism for 
the cohousing group to retain a commission (reserved for those w/ a realtors 
license), the seller would "donate" a lesser amount to the community to go 
towards physical improvements...in their case the "donation" was about 
$7,000 CDN (significantly less than a realtors commision) and allowed the 
community to pay a number of improvments to their common house such as 
window coverings and finishing up the kitchen (new stove and hood, cabinet 
faces and drawer fronts.)

grace

> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:48:49 -0700
> From: "Kay Argyle" <argyle [at] mines.utah.edu>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ marketing question
> To: <zebulon269 [at] yahoo.com>,  "Developing cohousing - collaborative
>         housing communities"       <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Message-ID: <013001c3f0e0$73fce540$64e36e80 [at] mines.utah.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> "Community" is so over- and misused in real estate that, appearing in that
> context, it is just as likely to attract people who would be horrified to
> find themselves expected to know their neighbors.
>
> We never got any useful leads from real estate ads or agents -- a waste of
> decision time & money.
>
> Our successful recruiting has been
> (1) through personal contacts, especially in organizations that attract
> cohousingish people -- a progressive church, volunteer or political groups,
> an alternative school (especially for families);
> (2) fliers where cohousingish people congregate -- independent book stores,
> organic food stores, the university area, the art district, vegetarian
> cafes, coffee shops, the massage school (in Wasatch Commons' experience, at
> least: Our most common professions are teacher/professor, nurse, & massage
> therapist); and
> (3) an ad in a local alternative newspaper or magazine.  Ours is successful
> enough we pay for it by the year.  It's not a classified; it's about 2x2"
> with an interracial kid photo, in the community section (In five years
> postconstruction, I think there have been only a couple of months when we
> did _not_ have units for sale.)
>
> Think outside the box.  That's where cohousing people tend to be.
>
> However/wherever you recruit, focus on the community life and mention the
> house as an afterthought.
>
> Kay

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