Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Waiting List Maintenance - How is it done?

[oz (oz]

Adding some of Songaia's experience into Diane's note:

D: We maintain a CONTACT list, not a WAITING list. Currently we have 259
names on it. Every time I get a bounceback or a remove request I take
the name off the list.

Same for Songaia, though we have about 400 email address, we don't actually
store people's names.

D: We have 30-day right of first refusal.

Songaia has 15 days. The most important part of this is that we have the
right to assign our right of first refusal to another party.

D: When you think things through you will realize you do not have time to
offer the unit to people sequentially and still stay within the 30-
day limit. The seller sets the price and the first household to make
an acceptable offer usually gets the unit.

O: Yes, but in our case, we've ALWAYS known many more than 15 days in
advance that a sale was imminent. Most sellers greatly value quickly
finding a buyer and being able to close fast can save a lot of money -
especially if they decide to do a private sale. And its even more valuable
to the seller if they get the asking price.

D: There is no fee to be on
the list. It is just a general list, not kept by unit type.

O: Similarly, anyone can sign up for ours.

BUT - we've never actually gone to the mailing list to offer a home for a
sale, though it has been used for rentals and two of our renters have
subsequently bought Songaia homes.

The reason we haven't gone to the contact list is because of the swirl of
"outside" people who already connected to us. Maybe 30 or so people are in
meaningful relationships with the community.

These wonderful folks occasionally attend meals (our food program offers 5
common meals/week), events (some of which, such as May Day, Thanksgiving,
Circles, Study Groups, etc. have deep substance), help create and nurture
the garden (which is integrated into our food program), go to parties and
retreats, etc.

Some come to identify as an authentic extension of Songaia, despite their
lack of residence here. One of the more amusing situations is Songburbia, a
shared household of people who had to move out of Songaia. They live about
2 miles from us and some are here a lot.

OK Sharon, your turn to weigh in... :)

Oz
ozragland.com

P.S. for those who visit my personal website - the section on Shared
Households is woefully out of date. My work is primarily focused on shared
households these days. I'll bring that section into synch in the next week
or so. In case an expectation that people will visit my site based on this
email may seem presumptuous, there's been a traffic spike after most of my
Coho-L post.