Cohousing-L Mailing List: Beginning finances for cohousing

[Janice Karpenick (jkarpenick]

We are just forming our coho group in Eugene, OR.  Currently, we are three 
members in the core group.  We have a membership fee of $250, non-refundable.  
We are looking at our next steps including marketing, outreach and basically 
growing our membership.  We actually already have a site and it is currently 
owned by one of the core group members.  I was interested in learning what 
early steps you took in the formation of your cohousing groups in regard to 
financing.  

Specifically, did you collect funds other than the membership fee prior to the 
actual unit purchases for incidentals, and if so, how much?  Were those 
additional funds then subtracted from the eventual price of the unit purchased?
        
Did you have a graduated buy-in fee structure, meaning did subsequent members 
pay more the later they joined?
        
Did your developer front the costs for the building and property?

Thanks for your help.
Janice