Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cozy cohousing home near downtown Sacramento

[Richard L. Kohlhaas (rlkohl]

IMO, even more important than a website, to communities looking for new members 
and/or resales, is 
an up-to-date listing in the Directory section of www.cohousing.org.

That is one of the first places that prospective cohousers, looking for a 
particular region, will 
look.

Surprisingly, there are several communities with no listing at all, and there 
are many which have 
not been updated in years--which means that contact information is perhaps 
obsolete.

How is YOUR community's listing looking?



Date sent:              Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:48:46 -0800
From:                   Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] cohousingpartners.com>
To:                     Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Subject:                Re: [C-L]_ Cozy cohousing home near downtown Sacramento
Send reply to:          Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>

> 
> 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



------------------------------------
Dick Kohlhaas <rlkohl [at] earthlink.net>
(719)633-8170   
Board Member, Cohousing Association of the US
Resident of  Colorado Springs Cohousing Community at Casa Verde Commons
Completed March 2003. 34 units on 4 acres     www.casaverde.us