Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Waiting Lists

[Robert Heinich (robert]

At Eno Commons we have a pretty simple system.

Although we do not have any houses for resale, following Rob Sandelin's sage 
advise of keeping a list of folks who expressed an interest in our cohousing 
community, we still give tours.  Those that come for a tour, their contact info 
is entered in our community web calendar on the date of the tour.  Should a 
neighbor need to move away, I point them to the web calendar which they have 
access to so they can contact the prospects directly and I help them create an 
ad for their house to place on community web site.  This is a win-win-win-win 
deal as the neighbor has a list of folks who expressed an interest living here, 
the community wins as the folks listed on web calendar are interested in the 
community, the prospects win as the neighbor will contact them and the prospect 
does not to keep checking the web site for openings and I win as it is minimal 
work for me.

Our membership process is self selecting  so the decision to live here is 
completely the prospective member's, but we want to make sure that they do that 
with their eyes wide open,  at least as much as possible.  Our policy is "If 
you like us, we probably will like you."

It seems to be working as neighbors who move away have not used a realtor to 
help them sell their houses (more $$$ in the neighbor's pocket) and we have 
been thrilled with our new neighbors.

-Robert Heinich
 Eno Commons
 Durham, NC
 where we have an open house for the newly completed Barn 
 (aka the work shop) tonight.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "vicky wason" <vlwason [at] hotmail.com>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 11:26 AM
Subject: [C-L]_ Waiting Lists


> 
> Hello,
> 
> I posted a few weeks ago about how people handle their "waiting lists."  I'm 
> posting again because I only had a couple replies (Thanks Ron and Suzzane!)  
> And both of them have similar processes that we have here at Wasatch 
> Commons.   I'm on our "welcoming
> committee" and want to get some input from other groups on how you handle
> orientation for new people BEFORE they move in and waiting lists.  I had 
> heard that other groups have a much more extensive process.  Does anyone 
> require people to actually stay in the Common House for a weekend or pay a 
> fee to get on the waiting list?  Or how about requiring people to work on a 
> work team one weekend?
> 
> Here is the system we have right now.  It is pretty loose.
> 
> Right now I keep "the book" with names of anyone that calls or comes for a
> tour.  When a house becomes available the owner contacts me to look at the
> book and then they call people that might be interested.  The people
> interested are told by me and/or the owner that we require them to attend 3
> events before moving in:
> 
> ACM
> Meal
> Committee Meeting
> 
> This isn't documented or strictly enforced and hasn't been a huge problem
> from my prospective, but we might want to make some changes.  So I'm looking
> to see what other communities are doing.
> 
>  The purpose of having people do these 3 things is for them to get to know
> us before moving in.  We don't really have a "waiting list" but more of a
> book of everyone that has ever expressed interest.  We have recently had
> more interest in co-housing in Salt Lake and more people calling and coming
> by.  We are thinking that it might help sellers if these "requirements" are
> taken care of BEFORE they are contacted so that negotiations can begin right
> away, and there is no questions from the community about whether the new
> owner has gotten the information needed before joining.
> 
> So if you are interested in this topic, please post
> 1) how do you handle a waiting list
> 2) What requirements or suggestions do your have of people before they move
> in
> 3)  And what works for your group
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Vicky Wason
> Wasatch Commons
> Salt Lake City UT
> 
> 
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