Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Owning units as tenants in common

[Rachel Wangen-Hoch (wangen-hoch]

I, too, think it is an awesome suggestion.  However, I was interested that you 
only mentioned individuals and couples who couldn't afford a unit.  At Woodard 
Lane in Olympia, WA (our hearing is scheduled for February 11, yay!), my 
experience is that it is families who can't afford the units.  It seems like 
individuals and couples are able to purchase the larger units, and at least two 
of the families involved are looking at the smallest units (900 sq. ft for a 
families with two children), and even these units may be out of reach for them. 
 I am from one of those families.  I work from home, as well, and just can't 
figure out how to make the small 2 bedroom unit work for our family. 

One creative solution our community is looking at is configuring our largest 
units (4 bedroom + study) to be a multi-family unit with a separate apartment 
in the daylight basement with its own entrance.  These units could be 
copurchased by two different families or a family and a couple/individual, or 
the buyer could rent out the extra rooms/kitchenette in order to help cover the 
payments.  This may very well be a solution that would work for us.  Our family 
could fit in a 2 bedroom +study, and the other two bedrooms could be configured 
as a small "in-law" apartment which a single person or couple could use as 
their living area.  We would share a common laundry area or do our laundry in 
the common house. Sharing the cost of one large unit may actually make this 
possible for us.  It is exciting to see our community thinking of creative ways 
to make tenants in common ownership work.

Blessings,
Rachel



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