Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Bringing in New Members (was New Member Mentoring Guidelines)

[Alicia George (ajgeorge]

At Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC, we have a three-pronged approach 
to bringing in new members and helping them become active participants in our 
community.

OUTREACH

One of our teams, the Resale and Rental Pod, conducts outreach to help create a 
pool of people interested in cohousing. We do this primarily by hosting regular 
tours open to the public. During the tours we provide a detailed overview of 
how we operate, walk folks around the common areas, show a couple of homes as 
an example, and spend quite a bit of time answering questions.

Tour attendees who are interested in learning more are encouraged to come and 
observe a meeting, attend a social event (usually a meal), and participate in a 
work day. For folks who want to be kept informed when we have sales or rentals 
available, they can subscribe to our email notification list.

We have created a Guide for Prospective Residents that spells out these steps. 
It’s on our website, in our brochure, and we link to it in most of our 
marketing efforts. Sellers ask buyers to document the steps they’ve taken when 
they submit a purchase offer, so these getting-to-know-us expectations carry 
weight.

Over time we’ve developed local, regional, and national marketing outlets that 
enable us to send our announcements out to several thousand people who are 
interested either in cohousing or in our neighborhood. This is a work in 
progress, as we are continually seeking new ways to get the word out to more 
groups.

RESALE ASSISTANCE

The second prong of our approach is also handled by our Resale and Rental Pod. 
This is a process that supports sellers in conducting a For Sale By Owner 
(FSBO) sale of their home. We guide sellers through the sale process by sending 
a series of emails that prompt them to take certain steps at certain times.

On our website we’ve identified numerous resources for sellers (such as a 
sample sales contract, other legally required forms, moving companies, etc.). 
We also collaborate to provide tours of the community on the day the seller 
hosts an open house for prospective buyers, and we are available that day to 
answer questions about the community’s operations, budget, etc. 

Once the seller selects a buyer, we start the orientation process by providing 
documentation the buyer may need for their bank or insurance company. Then we 
connect them with a buddy who will help them through move-in and a formal 
orientation process.

We ask sellers to make a donation to the community in light of the savings they 
realize by not using a real estate agent. Over the past decade, we’ve brought 
in more than $130,00 to our Special Projects Fund!

ORIENTATION

The third prong of our approach is the multi-stage orientation process recently 
described in another post (see New Member Mentoring Guidelines). This stage is 
handled by another team, our Orientation Pod.

Communities who are interested in learning more of the nitty gritty about how 
we do the first two steps (outreach and resale assistance) can watch the 
recorded webinar (Cohousing Resales with Jim Leach and Ann Zabaldo), which is 
available through The Cohousing Institute. Ann will also be making a 
presentation about our resale process in a breakout session at the National 
Cohousing Conference in August.

Alicia
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
__________

Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:31:05 +0000
From: "Chapel, Thomas (CDC/NCIPC/DOP)" <tkc4 [at] cdc.gov <mailto:tkc4 [at] 
cdc.gov>>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ New Member Mentoring Guidelines
        
Can you tell me more about how your O-pod helps identify new buyers with a 
cohousing interest? That has been an issue for us in the last two sales