Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohesiveness of community after a sale?

[Stefani Danes (sl47]

Christine, I’m sure there are many approaches to sustaining community culture.  
It’s so fundamental!  I would suggest that you consider adding a 
governance-orientation program that is a prerequisite for joining your waiting 
list.  

I am not speaking from experience, since Rachel Carson EcoVillage is currently 
under construction.  But we teach a short online course based on Sociocracy for 
All’s Empowered Learning Circle to every new explorer and will continue with 
anyone interested in our waiting list.  Sociocracy has been the keystone of our 
community for five years and is the foundation of our cooperative culture.
Our sales agreement states that any future purchaser who is not already on the 
waiting list is required to complete the sociocracy course before closing on 
the property.

Our community also has a limited right of first offer and right of first 
refusal, which we see as ways to support both a seller and the community.  Laws 
on this vary by state, and we worked this out in detail with our attorney.  
Note that such a provision may affect your homebuyers’ financing, as it's a red 
flag to some banks and the VA, since they are concerned about disposing of any 
defaulted property as quickly as possible.   In any case, it’s a good corollary 
to consider how the community can be pro-active and help a homeowner avoid 
default.

Best regards,
Stefani
Rachel Carson EcoVillage


> On Jul 19, 2025, at 2:55 PM, Christine Cook Mania <christine.d.cook [at] 
> gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> We're forming a new cohousing community and we are thinking about how to
> maintain the cohesiveness of the community when someone sells their unit.
> We want to ensure the new buyer is committed to being an active participant
> of the community and would like some review of the prospective buyer before
> the sale is completed. We have come up with three different options:
> 
>   1. One of the ideas we are considering is for our community to have the
>   "right of first refusal" to buy the unit. For any community that does
>   establish a "right of first refusal" on the sale of a unit, what do you do
>   to actually exercise it?
>   2. Another way is to maintain a waiting list of qualified buyers.
>   3. And another way is to add something to our by-laws requiring the
>   approval of the "condo association" of the buyer.
> 
> We are curious to know what existing communities are doing?
> 
> Warmly,
> Christine
> 
> 
> ___________________________________
> Christine Cook Mania, MA, RYT-200
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