Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: self developers

[Leah (drsweetie]

At Bear Grass Village in Ashland Oregon (where the first 2 families are moving 
in this week!) we originally did not want there to be any "compensation" for 
the earlier self developers. After forming the LLC and getting the construction 
loan we realized that the longer-standing members had money in the project for 
quite a lot of time that would have otherwise been making a profit if they were 
invested elsewhere. Some of this money had also been invested in stages in 
which it looked like the project might not happen, risking our money in hopes 
that we might somehow get to where we are today. We decided to put a 1/2 
percent increase in the house price per month during the construction phase. 
When a new member put their full 20% down the increase stopped. This encouraged 
members to put their full deposit down, (we had an option for a lesser down 
payment) saving the project interest on our construction loan. If any of the 
members that joined more recently have any resentment
 about this, they have not voiced it. 
  Leah Schindler
  Bear Grass Village
  Ashland, Oregon

       
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