Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Resales Was Cozy Home near downtown Sacramento

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi Katie and all --

Quite an animated thread on having a website!   It is hard to believe that 
there were entire cohousing communities organized, built and lived in before 
the internet and websites became ubiquitous.  But it did happen ...

We've just established a Resale and Rental Pod here at Takoma Village to assist 
owners w/ selling or renting their homes.   As a condominium, we are not 
allowed to restrict sales.  However, we acknowledge that the community members 
have a stake in who joins.  Plus selling a home w/out an agent can be 
stressful.  Even with an agent it's stressful!  

We want to smooth the path for both seller, buyer and community.  We want the 
seller to find a qualified buyer, we want the buyer to have a realistic 
understanding of the expectations of living in community and we want the 
members to feel certain that the newcomers understand that participation is key 
to community life here.  Win-win all around.

Katie -- you are singing my tune about sellers remitting a small percentage of 
the sale back to the community.  Long overdue.  I'd like to hear more about 
this from others.  Any community out there who has established such a practice?

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church VA
703-688-2646

On Jan 9, 2014, at 6:48 PM, Kathryn McCamant wrote:

> 
> Of course no one is "required" to have a website...but it will definitely
> effect your resales. Southside Park is on of the older communities
> (completed in 1993) and built before we were so dependent on the web and
> email (hard to imagine how we even did it back in the day without
> email...remember phone trees?????)
> 
> But I do think this issue points out one of the weak spot for
> cohousing...the community as a whole caring about resales. The cohousing
> resale process tends to be quite haphazard and few real estate agents
> understand how to sell cohousing. Communities talk a lot during the early
> process about wanting to control who joins, but really that is all about
> the effort and resources put toward that as a community, not just when you
> personally are ready to sell.
> 
> One of the few communities that has done a great job on supporting the
> resale process is Pleasant Hill Cohousing in CA. They have a resell
> committee that works to serve both the Seller and the Buyer. I would urge
> communities to consider organizing a resale committee to work with
> Sellers, and in return asking sellers to give a percentage (1/2% or 1%)
> back to the community at closing, especially if you are able to sell
> without a paying a realtor (which would be 6%). That funding could go to
> things like hiring someone to do a good website, working up a flyer
> template that can be easily adapted for different homes, and keeping a
> database of people that have expressed interest over the years (also good
> when rentals come up).
> 
> Katie 
> 
> -- 
> Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
> CoHousing Partners, LLC
> 241 Commercial Street
> Nevada City, CA 95959
> T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
> www.cohousingpartners.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/9/14 12:30 PM, "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Jan 9, 2014, at 1:40 PM, Don Benson <benson6451 [at] aol.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Maybe to start with, who expects each and every cohousing community to
>>> have a website?
>> 
>> Everyone needs a website. It's the new business card. It gives
>> credibility. It allows people to know more about you and what you do than
>> any conversation unless it is extended. It is also the new white pages
>> and yellow pages. That's how people find you.
>> 
>> Wordpress.com hosts free websites. So does Google. They have standard
>> designs to choose from. It is neither necessarily expensive or difficult
>> to put up a decent website.
>> 
>> Or I can do one for you. I have special rates for cohousing.
>> 
>> http://www.triplethreatwebsites.com
>> 
>> Sharon
>> ----
>> Sharon Villines
>> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
>> http://www.takomavillage.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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