Cohousing-L Mailing List: Right of First Refusal

[lewbowers155 (lewbowers155]

At PDX Commons we utilize our Right of First Refusal (ROFR) in every sale.
We maintain an active "Waiting Pool" made up of households who are
interested in cohousing, have likely had a tour of our facility, and have
paid $50 to join the pool. When a unit owner declares that their unit is
available for sale at a given price, the community first decides whether
they want to buy the unit. The standard answer is NO, we do not have the
money. But the ROFR also gives the community the right to assign that right
to any member of our Wait Pool. This means that any wait pool member can
make an offer on the unit for about 30 days BEFORE the unit can be marketed
to the world. We also encourage any member selling to give priority first to
any existing member who wishes to move within the community and second to
any wait pool offer. However, the seller can sell to whomever they wish.

 

Of the 8 units which have been up for sale since we moved in 7 years ago, we
have sold 7 of them through this ROFR process. It works. The units are sold
directly by the seller, no real estate agent is involved, thus saving the
commission. We have a Resale Group which works with the owner to help market
the unit to the Wait Pool and runs the community process. We also require
all prospective owners - whether from the Wait Pool or not - to attend an
orientation to the community where we go over issues such as expected
participation, governance, meal agreement and other community agreements.

 

The beauty of this process is that it gives the community legal standing to
explain the "social contract" necessary to live successfully in our
community. This ROFR does potentially extend the time necessary for the
owner to market the unit to the general population, but our track record has
shown that our process gets the seller a buyer committed to cohousing and a
reasonable price. It balances the sellers property rights with the
communities legitimate rights to find have buyers who are both knowledgeable
and interested in joining a cohousing community. 

 

We have modelled this system on the one created by Tacoma Park Cohousing in
Washington DC. They have used a similar model for 20 years. Lew Bowers PDX
Commons