Cohousing-L Mailing List: Sun Village model - Houses owned by company

[Yusuf Pisan (yusuf.pisan]

Hi,

There are very few cohousing communities in Australia. Housing is usually
very competitive in big cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Houses are
often sold at an open auction with multiple people bidding in a very
competitive environment. This makes it tough, but not impossible, to get
cohousing started.

One of the models that is being attended is by Sun Village where the
company owns all the apartments, people pay rent on apartments they occupy
and recover the cost through shares they hold in the company. A more
detailed explanation of the model is described at
http://www.sunvillages.com.au/questions.html

Are there any US based cohousing communities that have similar financial
arrangements? Have other communities considered this approach? Would this
also work in the US? Are there any pitfalls that you can see in this model?

Any thoughts and comments are much appreciated.

Thank you

Yusuf