Cohousing-L Mailing List: Co-housing: caretaking / renting possibilities?

[Cher Stuewe-Portnoff (cherworks01]

Hi -
 
Greg & I are planning to travel from August through November, to get acquainted 
with cohousing communities we might call "home." We have been in touch with 
some of you in the past few months -- we now have sold our home, and are 
helping out with family/kids through July.
 
If you know of a small short-term rental within your community during that 
period, we would love to hear more. We need to spend some time on the west 
coast (more family), preferably in the Portland area, but other OR/CA locations 
are of interest, especially in August -- flexible dates -- up to a month. After 
that, we would like to spend a little time in Colorado, the Michigan area, 
around Ithica, Virginia, possibly North Carolina. But the order of travel could 
be rearranged. The time in each place could range from a few days to a few 
weeks, depending on your needs.
 
We are a couple, no pets, non-smokers; potentially could have a well-behaved 
grandchild with us IF your situation allowed (not essential). References and 
any info you want about us gladly provided on request. We are making a 
commitment to this travel in order to determine whether co-housing is right for 
us, and us for it, so we are looking for places where we could participate in 
the work and any common meals, to the extent possible. We are on a limited 
budget, but expect to pay reasonable rent. We are also experienced in 
caretaking/exchange arrangements (although until we finish this journey, we 
won't have a home to exchange) and would be good with your pets, gardens, etc.
 
This is pretty general, in order to see what opportunities might be out there. 
We will make commitments as soon as possible, though. Please contact us off the 
listserve at cherworks01 [at] yahoo.com for more info. Thanks!
 
Cher Stuewe-Portnoff