Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Separate financing of common house and individual units?

[Jim Snyder-Grant (jimsg]

New View (Acton, MA) financed the common house separately, but I wouldn't
recommend it.  We built the common house 3 years after we moved in, as one
of our strategies for dealing with cost overruns. We used the same formula
for splitting up the cost of the commonhouse as we did for condo fees (by
'beneficial interest' for you condo law geeks), plus we had donation
opportunities for amenities: we added windows, fireplace, additional
soundproofing, and additional wooden floor, and more  (yes those last two
were not quite compatible).

Jim Snyder-Grant
508 572-2985
18 Half Moon Hill
Acton MA 01720


On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 1:55 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] 
sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
>
> > On Oct 13, 2015, at 10:11 AM, Raines Cohen <rc3-coho-L [at] raines.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > (here's the reply I sent Mike when he sent this question (before posting
> to
> > Cohousing-L) directly to Coho/US via the cohousing.org website, where I
> > answer questions. -- Raines)
> >
> > Hi Mike. Thanks for writing to Coho/US.
> >
> > Most communities treat the common house as the condominium clubhouse and
> > plan for it and build it in to the cost of the homes. This is standard
> > across the country, and a best practice for cohousing -- as raising funds
> > afterwards and getting people into the habit of using it is much harder
> if
> > it is not ready for use when the first members move in.
>
> We also included the dining room tables and chairs, the living room
> furniture, dishes, cutlery, and large pans in the budget. This allowed
> people to include it in their mortgage amount because the common elements
> are purchased at the same time as the unit.
>
> We quickly had other things donated — toys, exercise equipment, other
> furniture, etc.- when people began moving in.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>