Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: question about waiting list

[Rebecca Reid (rreid]

Pioneer Valley has had a waiting list from nearly the beginning and we have 
only had one house that went on the open market.  All the rest have been 
sold to our waiting list.  Recently, however, we realized that most of our 
list had become people who were thinking they might want to live here 
someday and were just keeping the option open.  So we have changed our 
policy-now a person has to pay a $500 refundable fee to be on it, and has 
can't turn down a house that is a good fit for them and still stay on it. 
This is a very new system and we don't know yet how it will work.  The new, 
active list has 6 families on it.  The old inactive list is about 15, and 
they can get onto the active list any time by paying their $500.
This came up because we realized we were becoming a retirement community and 
wanted to attract younger families, but they were getting discouraged by the 
length of the list.
Anyone can be on the list, but there is a process for getting on it which 
involves getting to know the community through taking a tour, coming to a 
meeting, coming to a meal, talking to a couple of people about expectations, 
consensus decision making, and the reality of living here. They have a buddy 
they work with and who answers their questions and helps them find their way 
around.  When they first inquire about the community we send them a big 
packet of information that they read before we ever meet them.
We also have a 30 day right of first refusal to go through our waiting list, 
and it is a miracle when the right house and the right person and the right 
moment coincide, but it has happened here many times.
Rebecca Reid
Pioneer Valley


Message: 1
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:04:45 -0400
From: "Dorothy" <driehm [at] comcast.net>
Subject: [C-L]_ question about wait lists
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Message-ID: <FBB38F112C594509B190FC80C2F706AB@D6CXS571>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

   I am Chair of the Membership Committee at Rocky Hill Cohousing in 
Florence, Massachusetts.  Our committee is questioning the usefulness of our 
current Wait List, and we are wondering if other extablished cohousing 
communities have a Wait List for potential members and, if so, how does it 
operate and is it effective.
   Before our community was completed, and we had more people interested 
than we had homes, we developed a wait list application and policy.   But 
now that we have been a functioning community for five years, we find that 
when a house comes up for sale, our current wait list has not been helpful 
and in fact every house has ended up being sold on the open market (and 
always to people who have been a wonderful addition to our community).
   Do other communities have this same experience, or do you find that a 
wait list procedure has helped you sell your homes.  If so, what is the 
criteria for placing someone on the wait list, and how has it worked.
   Any thoughts on this question would be greatly appreciated.
   With many thanks,
   Dorothy Riehm
   Rocky Hill Cohousing

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