Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Three Groves Poll Results

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Janet -- thanks for this information.  It's extremely valuable.

On Nov 2, 2010, at 4:54 PM, Janet Pelletier wrote:

> Given the current economy and uncertainty in people's lives, it perhaps
> should not have surprised us that people wanted to know firm prices and
> exact floor plans before committing.

We released a poll two weeks ago to the mailing list on one of our projects.  
About 20% of the 100+ subscribers responded.  About half the respondents had 
been to a site tour, presentation or an event.  The others were gleaning 
information from the website and other sources.

Their responses mirrored yours almost exactly.  In order, they are:

Firmer pricing
Floor Plans
Look and feel
Time commitment expectation
Schedule of payments

> We got this response from both people
> who were very familiar with the need for very early involvement to create
> coho, and from people who are new to coho concepts.

Ditto except for two households who have lived in cohousing previously.  They 
signed on right away.

> Follow-ups suggesting
> that they might like to join us to help with design and pricing, and to
> ensure that they understood the value of early involvement were not
> productive. (As with many other communities, early joiners also get best
> pick of lots and potential financial advantage.) I am unsure whether this
> pattern would be repeated in areas where coho is more established. The
> nearest built coho to us is about 2 hours away.

This is exactly repeated here.  We talk about early involvement, the benefits 
of co-creating the project together w/ the professionals from the beginning, 
etc.   There are TWO cohousing communities w/in walking distance of the one we 
are currently targeting.  Many of the subscribers have been to one or both of 
the built communities.

> The good news is that we have decided to proceed with the Design Phase, and
> in fact, have verbal commitment for investor equity sufficient to see us
> through the Design Phase. (We are exuberant!) We will be interviewing
> prospective Architect firms this winter, and hope to begin Design Charettes
> in January/February timeframe. Stay tuned at our website where we post
> updates when we have them, and prize-winning poetry from our children when
> updates are scarce.

Good for  you!  This is exciting to hear!  
> 
> Hope this is helpful. I would be interested to hear what feedback others are
> getting if they also decided to send out a Poll along similar lines.

I'm interested in hearing about any results as well.

The questions I have are:

Have we, as Jim Leach has written, absorbed all the cohousing pioneers there 
are out there in cohousing-land?  Or, at least in our geographic region?

How many "burning souls" does it now require to organize and get a cohousing 
community built?

How does the information from the polls change our marketing and outreach 
strategies?

Thanks for getting this thread going, Janet!  And good fortune to you in your 
next phase!

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
703.663.3911