Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Marketing to Millennials and families

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Kat —

Whether for millennials, families, boomers etc there is a market for more 
affordable cohousing.

One of the solutions my company has advocated is shared housing in which people 
own a share of the home.  This is more easily done when building new so you can 
build in “suites” for people (bedroom, bathroom, sitting room or ante room) 
while sharing the kitchen, living room and other amenities.  But it could be 
done with existing property.

As a individual with more than 15 years of group house living prior to 
cohousing … I found it very appealing to combine my resources with others to 
live in a very nice home whereas on my own I’d be living  — well — not in DC!

While one person may be limited to affording a $250.000 mortgage if you combine 
two households you can qualify for  a $500,000 home.    The homes here at TVC 
in this range also have a small footprint:  1540s/f.  Plus we are a very green 
and sustainable community.  (BTW —  Four people could qualify for a million 
dollar home.  That could  be a VERY nice home.)

You can own a home with others through many legal means.   One resource I’ve 
found useful is this law firm:

www.andysirkin.com

Lots of information available on this website.

There are many lawyers on this list who can weigh in here.

HOWEVER … big however … if you are concerned about diversity of income, 
household size, etc. and choose to try this route … it’s all about MARKETING.  
And marketing is about educating and informing people about opportunities.  A 
robust, ongoing marketing program is important for all cohousing communities 
who wish to retain the unique characteristics of cohousing.  More so if you are 
offering something more innovative for buyers.  Just because you are offering 
some innovative solution doesn’t help if people don’t know about it.  Isn’t 
that the crux of cohousing in general?  We have this great way of living but 
who knows about it?  That’s our job!

Here at Takoma Village we have a very active Resale and Rental Pod which helps 
owners sell or rent their homes.  We have a well maintained mailing list, we 
offer tours, Open Houses when there are sales … we pour a lot of time, energy 
and effort into our resales.  It has paid off in the quality of people we are 
welcoming into our community.  We have handled 12 resales in the last three 
years that have resulted in contributions to the community from grateful 
sellers amounting to more than $30,000.  This went into our reserves and became 
part of our new solar installation.  We have saved sellers an average of 
$20,000 per household because no real estate agents were involved.  That’s a 
very nice savings to home sellers, welcomed contributions to the community and 
very happy newcomers!

I highly recommend the community organize and initiate a resale entity.  You 
will be happy you did!


Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

My password is the last 5 digits of Pi …


> On Feb 2, 2016, at 4:48 PM, Kat Jimenez <katlinx [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> My first time posting to the list serve. 
> 
> At Stone Curves Cohousing Community in Tucson, we have a wonderful, active 
> wait list with many people who want to get into our community (as renters and 
> buyers). The problem is (if there really could be a problem with having more 
> demand than homes available) is that we have a dearth of families and 
> Millennials on our wait list.
> 
> To generalize, Millennials have a reputation for wanting smaller carbon 
> footprint, shared resources and community involvement- perfect candidates for 
> cohousing! But how to reach that demographic?
> 
> Does anyone have a marketing plan for their community that focuses on 
> Millennials? Especially Millennials with families?
> 
> -Kat
> 
> Katalina Jimenez
> Stone Curves Cohousing Community
> Tucson, Arizona 
> katlinx [at] gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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