Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How big is too big (for a house)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 14, 2017, at 4:02 PM, Mary Vallier-Kaplan <marycvk [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> However we built different sizes of units 1 BR/no basement to 4BR with
> attic and basement units to promote a variety of family types and sizes and
> hopefully income too.  THis has worked pretty well though there is a 4BR
> house with one person and a 3BR with 5 people!

We have had the same experience at Takoma Village. There isn’t any predicting 
how many people will be in a unit, large or small. We have one person in a 4 
bedroom and 1 in a 3 bedroom. And have had 3 and 2 in a 625 SF bedroom with a 
den.

Although, as the units change hands, larger households do choose larger units 
and the smallest ones sell to one person.

Our prices have also almost quadrupled in 17 years. We were the first new 
construction in the neighborhood and there has been an incredible amount of 
development. We’ve gone from 2 fairly downscale neighborhood restaurants to a 
very upscale fish place, upscale pizza, a very nice local chain with great food 
and a bookstore, and ….. a Starbucks. This is in addition to several smaller 
places and a sorbet place. It’s a huge change. 

But it also means we are losing the income diversity we had in the beginning. 

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org