Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Consensus, Majority Vote, "Blocks" [was Report on Survey of Cohousing Communities 2011. Just released. A must read!

[Moz (list]

Sharon says:
> Often the most seemingly obvious solutions were a surprise to the person
> needing them. But I can't think of any cohousing examples just now.

For a while our group contained a range of very different financial
orientations. We had a few older people who had reasonable capital and
were risk-averse, so they would prefer to pay a price premium to avoid
risk (to the point where one couple would rather buy only a completed
apartment). At the other extreme we had some younger/poorer people who
would prefer to buy land ourselves, get the permits and grind through a
somewhat slower, riskier process to save 20-40% of the final price (and
also spread payments over the 2-5 year process).

For a while it looked as though the surprise solution was for the
risk-taking types to buy the land, etc etc then get a developer in. The
risk-averse people would pay a small amount once construction started
(their first financial outlay) to secure first option on an apartment
should one eventuate. Meanwhile the risk-taking, money-saving,
sweat-equity-generating types would be finding the land, buying it,
pushing planning through and negotiating with the developer to maximise
the amount of work they could do in lieu of paying money.

Unfortunately the high-energy types were burned off and the group is now
committed to paying a market premium for completed apartments. The group
processes around that decision were unfortunate but not unexpected. I'm in
the "burned off" group, so am not unbiased.


Moz