Cohousing-L Mailing List: EBCOHO update and last chance for unit at Swan's Market Cohousing (Oakland, CA)

[Raines Cohen (rc3-coho-L]

Greetings, Coho-L denizens. Just a quick update from your organizer,  
on a matter important to me, and an opportunity for you. Scroll down  
to the end for an events-related update if you're not seriously  
considering moving into cohousing in Oakland, CA this year.

I'm writing to let you know that if any of you were "on the fence" at  
all in considering the 1 bedroom loft I've got for sale at Swan's  
Market Cohousing in downtown/historic Old Oakland, the first  
voluntary resale in the entire six years since initial move-in, and  
the first smaller-than-two-bedroom unit to turn over, the first  
offered for sale in three years, the first on the open market...  
well, in 24 hours that opportunity may be gone. My agent, Lee, is  
entertaining a serious offer, and I thought that I'd make sure that  
anyone "lurking" here knew what they were passing up. It's one thing  
to envision living in cohousing a couple of years from now, but if  
you want the opportunity now, this may be it as far as openings for  
the next half decade or more.

Since some folks on this list visited Swan's long ago, you may not  
realize a couple of things about it: (1) There are now a whole bunch  
of kids living in the community! (2) The landscaping has really grown  
up and matured, both around the building and up on Swan's Walk, our  
courtyard, and (3) The community has deepened its connections,  
agreeing on core values -- it's not "just about living downtown"  
anymore. (4) My neighbor Phil does really good hot-air popcorn-popper  
coffee roasting in the workshop.

If you saw Unit M last year or earlier, do take a look at Lee's flyer  
(PDF on the website) -- it's amazing what professional staging can do  
to help people envision themselves in a space. If you were deterred  
by the stairs, you should know that my neighbor who uses a wheelchair  
put in a chair-lift and find it works quite well.

If you saw the neighborhood long ago, do take a look again: Breads of  
India is opening up downstairs, there's a new nightclub across  
Washington Street, and the sold-out condo project across Clay street  
is almost done. I've never seen any community in such a vibrant,  
active setting, and I'll really miss the 12-minute BART commute to  
downtown San Francisco, the Friday Farmer's Market out front, the  
short stroll to Jack London Square movies and the Alameda/Oakland  
Ferry and Amtrak.

The details are on the website, so I'll just give the numbers you  
need if you want to get an offer in: asking $399,000, 720 square feet  
and sharing in 3500sf of common space; HOA dues around $300 a month  
including all utilities except electric (which is typically $10 a  
month), fully funded reserves, and my agent Lee is at (510) 332-2899.

http://www.swansway.com/
---
Events Update

I'm writing now to wish you all a safe and happy Memorial Day  
weekend, and to remind you to register early for the July 8 cohousing  
bus tour if you haven't been on one before. This is the first "East  
Bay-only" tour, put on by the Cohousing Association of the United  
States (Coho/US), starting at Swan's and going to all the East Bay  
cohousing communities. The tours do sell out fast, and there won't be  
another one for the rest of summer.
http://www.cohousing.org/tours.aspx

If you're interested in cohousing in the East Bay, do join our MeetUp  
group for notice of another gathering in June, a potluck at Swan's  
specifically aimed at helping people connect to the info they need  
and the people they need to work with to make cohousing happen in the  
urban East Bay.

http://www.ebcoho.org/

Core Groups Update

A lot of long-time EBCOHO'ers are expressing interest around creating  
a core group in Albany, so keep an eye on our MeetUp group for an  
update on that, and let me know if you'd like to host a meeting of  
that group.

The Urbans are deep in negotiations around an exciting site; they've  
been kinda quiet lately so they can get their ducks in a row before  
starting a recruitment drive. What I can say is: urban, North  
Oakland, fast-track, high-density, and keep an eye on our Meetup  
group for updates.

Something else you may see soon: a Senior/Elder Cohousing core group,  
focussed on creating age-specific cohousing. Our experience at  
tabling at recent events has found that there's a lot of interest in  
the area in this new form, in addition to the "classic"  
intergenerational cohousing model.

http://intentionalcomm.meetup.com/1/

National Conference

If you're serious about creating or moving into cohousing, I  
recommend registering for the National Cohousing Conference, this  
July 21-23 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. All of the country's top  
experts will be there, and many gurus from the cohousing movement,  
near and far, sharing info that you WILL need along the way.

http://www.cohousing.org/conference.aspx

Thanks for reading! I've been quiet for a while, working to make this  
all real. I look forward to seeing some of you at events ahead,  
because it is YOUR involvement that will make your cohousing dreams  
in the East Bay come true.

Raines