Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Coho without work expectations?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 2, 2018, at 5:38 PM, Philip Dowds <rphilipdowds [at] me.com> wrote:

> Not explaining the cohousing lifeway to the last wave of buyers may have been 
> an omission with durable consequences.

Having an active Resales and Rentals team has made an enormous difference here. 
They stress self-management and participation from minute one, starting with 
tours for the general public. It also helps that we have a waiting list — there 
is no need to soften the message in order to get a sale.

The new households jump in even before they move in. We had one new member who 
had professional food safety experience. I asked her if she would take on the 
freezer — we had someone who did the refrigerator but the freezer was full of 
stuff with no names or dates, and I was not sure if anyone was watching the 
temperature. It wasn’t low enough for long term storage.

She said, "Oh, sure. I look at Sunday morning."

I found out a week later that she wasn’t moving in for another 2 weeks or so.

Two women started participating in workdays before there was even a hope of a 
unit the size they wanted being available.

Those are the people to look for.

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