Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Steve Welzer's Challenge to the cohousing 'system'

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

This is exactly why I created my 500 Communities Program (see 
https://www.cohousing-solutions.com/about-the-program)  to train more 
professionals to work in this space: developers, project managers, marketing 
and process professionals. The next webinar about the program is April 6th, 
more information on my website.

To the best of my knowledge, there are currently no developers initiating 
communities in the way Jim Leach or I did (Doyle St, Nevada City, Wolf Creek 
Lodge), nor (and especially) putting in their own money. So all new projects 
that have successfully launched are by people who fronted their own funds to 
find land and pay for all the development costs until they could get to a 
construction loan…. And yes, that is a big lift!

Housing, generally, got more expensive and difficult to build after the 2008 
recession, and thus so has cohousing.

I am a big believer in the buyers group/professional developer partnership but 
to date, most developers feel they can’t make enough money doing cohousing to 
make it worth it. I think they can if they discipline the process and I can 
show people how to do that.

Re community involvement:  Neither the developers nor the banks believe that 
cohousing buyers will be there at the end to buy if they don’t have money on 
the line…ie skin in the game.  Just imagine a year like the last when we 
suffered a doubling plus of interest rates. That said, I think there is a 
hybrid approach that combines real commitment and involvement from buyers while 
the real estate project is led by professionals. The real community comes from 
the social design, supported by the physical design. But you won’t get the 
depth of community we have come to expect in cohousing without real attention 
to the social design.  You can learn how with my 500 Communities Program.

Katie
--
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousing-solutions.com



From: cohousing-l <cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] 
cohousing.org> on behalf of Sophie Rubin <yophiest [at] gmail.com>
Reply-To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Date: Monday, March 13, 2023 at 10:08 AM
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Steve Welzer's Challenge to the cohousing 'system'

Helping create a slew of Wonderland Hill's seems like a path for reaching
what Steve thinks is a huge market.  And how do we check that statement; or
rather prove it to developers?

I’m a developer (nonprofit/government) who has been aware of cohousing for
over a decade and am planning/hoping to move into cohousing with my partner
soon. I’ve recently joined the listserve and I’m following this discussion
closely.

Please let me know who I should reach out to who has experience working
with professional developers and/or project managers.

What I will be trying to figure out is exactly what data is necessary to
determine real market demand and what banks/investors need to feel secure
in backing this type of development project.

Advice and opinions welcome!

Sophie
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