Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Some people don't want to "own"

[carrol crawford (ananda.silver]

Hey Kristen, thanks for taking our time to explain all that to me.  I
sincerely appreciate it..  You gave me some really good ideas.  Thanks!

Ananda


On 1/12/08, Kristen Simmons <simmonskristen [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
> PLEASE, TRIM YOUR TAILS. That is, minimize quoted material
> on replies.  See  http://justcomm.org/jc-faq.htm#Q8
>
> Ananda,
>
> The beautiful part of cohousing is that you can actually make this happen,
> you don't need to just take a stand!
>
> N Street Cohousing in Davis, CA is a retrofit cohousing community, created
> over the course of many years (15, perhaps). It started with a couple of
> houses, which were "joined" when the owners began to remove the fences
> between them. In the past two years, they just built their common house.
> Lots of renters live there. I'm sure that someone else on the list can
> fill
> in the details. As I understand it, there are one or two people who had
> the
> energy and passion to make this happen.
>
> I myself am part of a new cohousing community forming in Boston. We want
> to
> be affordable and diverse, and having rental units could be a part of
> that.
> So, what we are trying to do is to figure out how it can be done. Do we
> have
> enough money ourselves to build rental units? Could we pay the mortgages
> on
> those properties (and maintenance and repairs) with the rental income ?
> Would be OK to have outside investors who do not live in the community, or
> could this potentially lead to a conflict of interest? Frankly, these are
> all really big challenges, on top of the really big challenge (and
> financial risk) of trying to make our project a reality. Most likely, some
> of our units will be rental units after a while, as lives change and
> people move.
>
> As for your questions, YES, both are possible! Find real estate investors
> who have an interest in community and see themselves as visionaries.
> Convince them to buy a building or housing units that have what you think
> that you want for your cohousing group and let them rent to you. At the
> same
> time, begin to form a group of cohousing renters who want to live together
> in community. You will begin to form community long before you ever move
> in
> to cohousing! Eventually, you will have several households. Think of the
> negotiating power that your group will have with rental agents and the
> legitimacy that you will have with potential investors. The downside, of
> course, is at you could invest a lot of time and energy and not get what
> you
> want. Or, even worse, you get the perfect situation and are happy for
> years,
> but rents become unaffordable, etc.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Kristen
> Stony Brook Cohousing, now forming in Boston, MA
>
>
>
>
> _______
> Personally, I choose not to have a mortage, and have always chosen to
> rent.
> I frankly don't want the responsibility of "owning" a home. It has nothing
> to do with affordability.   So I would like to live in co-housing as a
> renter, yet have equal rights.
>
> Why can't a bunch of people buy a building and rent out units as a
> co-housing unit?  Or why can't a bunch of renters make a co-house out of
> townhouses, or apartments.  Why do we have to live with strangers, because
> we are renters? And why do people assume that because you choose a
> simpler,
> stress free life of renting that you can't afford to buy a house?
>
> Just taking a stand.
>
> Thanks,
> Ananda
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