Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Appraising Coho Amenities

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 6 Feb 2012, at 10:51 AM, R Philip Dowds wrote:

> Hmm.  It seems to me that there are high-end (often gated) condo communities 
> out there that have far more elaborate amenities (like a golf course with 
> club house and pool) than do most cohos.  Downtown luxury condo highrises 
> will often include private pools, exercise rooms, functions rooms, and so on. 
>  It surprises me that appraisers cannot cope with this.  It sounds more like 
> the term "cohousing" queers the deal.  "What say? A communist what …?"

Except for the impossibly expensive, they also have far more people sharing 
them. It's the proportion that makes the difference. One exercise room to 500 
units vs 1 per 43 units. For some of the golf course communities in Florida 
there are blocks and blocks of houses. Big developments.

My daughter lived in Manhattan in stunning building with a huge marble lobby 
and more than one staff members standing there to greet you 24/7. Their party 
room on the roof was nice, but about the size of our dining room for 1,000 
units. Yes, 1,000. Not 43.

In the condo trade it is also the norm that amenities attract people but few 
use them so all they have to do is have ones large enough to list.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines, Washington DC
"It is harder to be kind than clever. KIndness is a choice and hard. Cleverness 
is a gift and seductive." Jeff Bezos' Grandfather