Cohousing-L Mailing List: Colonizing vs. Cohousing

[seniorcohousing (seniorcohousing]

Has anyone else noticed that there is a glut of condos on the market?  Here in 
Ri, especially in Providence, but throughout the state, condos aren't selling 
well and more and more appear on the market every day.

Over the next few months, I'll bet we'll see even more developers going belly 
up and the remaining condos in their developments auctioned off to the highest 
bidder.

Why not exploit this market trend as cohousers?

Imagine 6 or more people buying condos, maybe not even in the same development, 
but in the same area. We could put down in writing our agreements for mutual 
care (and the limits thereof). Individuals own their own apartments, and when 
they sell, can sell to anyone. Meanwhile, other folks in the development might 
want to join us.

Dues to the group could be used to borrow against at market rates when we need 
to retrofit our condos for increasing infirmity. We could plan financially to 
stay in our homes until a dignified death. 

Imagine if our children with their children bought into condos near by. Imagine 
if their friends joined up, too. With enough people, we could influence the 
policies of the condo association toward more green repairs and maintenance.

Here's what we'd miss out on:

- Months (years) of discussions that seem to go nowhere about how we want to 
live as a community.

- Months (years) of planning to build new structures, with the financial 
strains that this entails.

- Months (years) of waiting to move in while our dream community is being built.

- The expense and trouble of an under utilized common house, over run by noisy 
children, a constant source of annoyance because of cleanliness and tidiness 
issues.

In other words, we'd get all the best part of cohousing, with lower levels of 
anxiety, frustration and contention.

Besides, the cost to the environment of building new green buildings is far 
more than using existing structures, and upgrading to more green systems.

What's not to like?