Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Guidelines for selecting membership

[Michael Barrett (mbarrett]

Harriet,
I have no wisdom to offer on the perennial problem of trying to ensure that 
new residents will be "perfect", or even OK, beyond trying to get the 
potential new folks to spend lots of time in the community mixing with the 
present residents.

I am curious about the financial mechanics of your limited equity co-op.  If 
the residents own a portion they presumeably paid a price for that ownership 
share.  Do all portions of the community have equal value.  How was that 
value/price decided?  Does it or can it change upon a change of ownership? 
Who decides?  In non-co-op real estate there are two parties: buyer and 
seller.  In your limited equity co-op it seems there are three parties.  And 
two separate transfers?

Maybe this is all explained in "Limited Equity Co-op 101", but I missed that 
course.

Michael at Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg, VA - where the buyer and seller 
mutually decide on what each home plus a 1/32 share of the community 
property is worth to them, and the community has essentially no input.



 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harriet Lewis" <hlewis [at] sonic.net>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: "Harriet Lewis" <hlewis [at] sonic.net>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 5:17 PM
Subject: [C-L]_ Guidelines for selecting membership


>
> In our limited equity co-op,  residents own a portion of the entire 
> community rather than an individual unit .  When the resident leaves, the 
> unit reverts back to the co-op.   We may be  exploring alternative ways 
> for selecting new members.  Do any co-ops choose applicants based on a 
> list of skills needed by the community?  For example,  priority is given 
> to applicants who have backgrounds in leadership, finance, building repair 
> and maintenance, gardening, secretarial skills, etc.
>
> Also, does anyone have a system where applicants might receive priority on 
> a wait list by showing great interest in the co-op, i.e. by voluntary 
> attendance at meetings and  workdays .
>
> Another example might be to give men or women preference when the 
> community gender balance  is skewed?
>
> As always,  we want to be very careful not to discriminate.
>
> Marley Fein, Santa Rosa Creek Commons
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