Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: LLC vs co-op (i.e., "ownership structures")

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

Again, the issue is finding a lender that would give mortgages to such a
scheme. Theory is nice but bank loan Vice Presidents are a practical sort.
Run this idea past some mortgage brokers and see if they can recommend or
find any lenders. 


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: gary [at] thewoodlandcommunity.com [mailto:gary [at] 
thewoodlandcommunity.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 1:11 AM
To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_ LLC vs co-op (i.e., "ownership structures")

I recently joined the list-serv and have been following with interest
discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of various legal
structures for organizing cohousing communities.  I am currently developing
a "green" residential community at Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri to
be called The Woodland Community (see
"www.thewoodlandcommunity.com") and am thinking about facilitating
development of a cohousing community on a portion of the 72 acre property.

While the web site mentioned above describes the residential portions of The
Woodland Community being developed by a for profit corporation on a private
ownership model where individiuals would purchases their own lots on which
to build homes, I have recently been introduced to "community land trusts"
(CLTs) as democratically and environmentally repsonsible ways to organize
communities and am thinking about using this organizational vehicle. In a
CLT, the land is owned by a nonprofit organization (the CLT) and lots are
leased on a permanent basis to individuals, typically for 99 years after
which they can be renewed. 
Because leases are permanent and can be passed on through inheritance or
sold to others, the lots acquire security/equity that allows leaseholders to
borrow money to build on them, that is, to obtain pesonal mortgages for home
construction.  Although homes are owned privately, the land as a whole is
governed/managed by its leaseholding members through a set of by-laws they
adopt and a Board of Trustees they elect.  In a real sense, the land is
owned and stewarded collectively.  Is anyone aware of cohousing communities
that have been organized as CLTs?  If so, how have they fared?

I am also interested in exploring whether there may be a market for a
cohousing community targeting individuals or families interested in building
second homes (i.e., vacation and/or retirement homes) located within weekend
communing distance of where they live.  In the case of The Woodland
Community, this would include people living in the St.
Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas and many others living even closer
to the lake, for example, in Jefferson City and Columbia.  What do readers
think about the prospects for a cohousing community aimed at this audience,
perhaps in conjunction with permanent local residents working in the area?

I look forward to responses to both sets of questions.




Gary A. Storm
Founder
The Woodland Community
Sunrise Beach, MO
Gary [at] thewoodlandcommunity.com
+ 1 (217) 367-0879

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