Cohousing-L Mailing List: Homeowners Who Are Active Military

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi all — 

I noodled around in the archives looking for information on communities that 
have active military households.  

We are in the process of reviewing our bylaws here at Takoma Village.

The way our current bylaws are written, Takoma Village is owner occupied 
housing.  We do have provisions for people who have to be away for up to 3 
years and need to rent their home while they are away.  We also restrict how 
many units can be rented at one time to make sure the financial institutions 
don’t assume we’re some rental complex rather than a bona fide 

With military households, they may deploy multiple times in a short time 
period.  Not a military person myself, I don’t know if a deployment or a 
requirement to serve out of the DC area could be longer than 36 months.

We had a military household want to buy here at TVC but the credit union denied 
their loan for a unit here since we had this 3 yr restriction on renting.  We 
want to look at this.

What restrictions on renting do you have in your community, if any.

Do you have one or more military households in your community?   What needs do 
they have that is different from your standard agreements rules and regs about 
renting?

How did or do you accommodate military households in re: renting?

We’ve actually had and have military households at TVC.  When they have been 
gone for an extended period of time they did not rent their units.

We are engaging this question as part of our bylaws review/revision, etc. and 
we’d like to have the option of accommodating military households.

Any info gratefully appreciated.

Best —

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Ex. Dir. & Mbr. Board of Directors
Mid Atlantic Cohousing
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654
zabaldo [at] earthlink.net

Good judgment comes from experience.  And experience?  That comes from poor 
judgment.

NOTE:  I’m switching back to using zabaldo [at] earthlink.net.  Many apologies!