Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Ideas for Marketing Larger Units

[Melanie Mindlin (sassetta]

At Ashland Cohousing, we have never had difficulty selling our larger units. In 
fact they are the most popular here. This may be the result of setting pricing 
that did not have too great a spread. After all, all of the infrastructure, 
common facilities, predevelopment costs, and other soft costs, are not 
dependent on the square footage of each unit.

Our community has been very attractive to families with young children. We had 
several in our forming group, and we always provided child care for meetings 
and child-oriented activities to keep the kids enthusiastic. Where the kids go, 
their parents will follow. Some children were born to members in the early 
years. The presence of children in the community brought a second wave, and 
recently a third wave of younger kids here. As the kids grew up, their 
assistance as dependable baby sitters was much appreciated by those with 
younger children. Our community is now 15 years old, and almost all of the 
first wave of kids have gone to college or elsewhere. Some of the second wave 
didn’t stay with us. Our third wave has been supported by the kids involved 
already knowing each other from school. Their (single) parents thought this was 
a great option, and it has turned out wonderfully.

Our larger units have also been popular with folks working from home—giving 
them the possibility of having dedicated office space.

Generally, our most successful new residents have been ones that had some 
personal connection to individuals in the community before moving here. 

Housing that does not yet exist is hard to sell as most people don’t really 
think seriously about new housing until they really need to move.  We found 
that many of our “explorers” and even some investors gave up before we built 
the project because they just couldn’t wait—and we had a pretty short timeline 
compared to many.  A meaningful connection to other members will keep folks 
around through the work and waiting.

Good luck with your project.

Melanie

> On Feb 12, 2023, at 3:16 AM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:
> 
> _ Ideas for Marketing Larger Units