Cohousing-L Mailing List: Net Worth Exercise - how much power is there sitting at you meeting?

[Chris ScottHanson (cscotthanson]

Mina,

Your group may want to try this simple exercise.  It requires some  
trust, and it helps to have a "neutral third party" do the tallies -  
anonymously.

At a general meeting, first have all members and associates write down  
as a household, all their current assets. (Nearest $10,000 is OK.   
You're not looking for accuracy here.)  The full value of their home,  
their car(s) and all their retirement funds and saving, or personal  
property that has any significant value.  No deduct for mortgages or  
loans in this first step.

Next, have everyone write down their outstanding debt (liabilities) -  
including mortgages, credit cards, car loans, furniture loans -  
everything.

And finally, have everyone subtract their debt from their assets,  
giving them a number called their Net Worth.

Now, to complete the process, have everyone write these three numbers  
on a slip of paper, anonymously, underlining the net worth.  Fold the  
slips, and hand them to the "neutral third party."  (Sometimes the  
oldest and wisest person in the group can do the honors here.)

When this person adds up the net worth of the households who have just  
participated in this exercise, the sum is announced to the whole group  
(and all the slips are shredded or otherwise destroyed.)  Likely, you  
will be amazed at the result.  Your group's financial POWER is  
significant.

You need to look and feel powerful to be successful in this world of  
development.  And you especially need to look and feel powerful if you  
want to partner with a developer.  They must see you as a strong and  
capable partner - and not as potential buyers who simply may not  
perform when you can't get a mortgage at the end.


Chris ScottHanson

Cohousing Resources LLC
Ecovillages, Cohousing & Sustainable Communities
Development and Consulting for a Sustainable Future
   based on the Natural Power of Community

www.cohousingresources.com

(360) 321-7850 office
(206) 260-2800 eFAX
(617) 894-7661 cell



On Feb 27, 2008, at 6:33 PM, Mina Baisch wrote:
> Our group has been very active in the last year or so, and has
> identified a very promising piece of property. We don't have members
> with "deep pockets", so the group has decided to look for developer
> financing. We are open to working with someone who doesn't know a lot
> about cohousing, but if we do so we'd like to be able to introduce
> them to the idea of cohousing with several examples of developer-
> financed cohousing that was successful from the developer's point of
> view (as well as the community's). Can anyone help me to identify: 1)
> the names of such cohousing communities 2) a contact person that might
> be willing to give our group info via e-mail or a brief phone call?
>
> Thanks, Mina