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

[Cynthia Koan (cynthia.koan]

My sister and I inherited two units at Meadow Wood in Bremerton,
Washington.  (https://www.mwcondo.com/)  My mom was a founder, helping to
design and build the 24 units, and she served on the board for most of the
20+ years she was involved.  We are in the process of selling the first of
those units and have gone through their ROFR requirement.  In their case,
we were obligated to notify the board of our intent to sell with our price
and any conditions (in our case, no owner financing).  A simple email
sufficed.  The HOA had fifteen days to select a buyer and for that buyer to
make an offer.  I understand there have been situations where multiple
parties from the HOA were interested; in that case, I believe the HOA
stayed out of the process.  I *think* if the bidder agrees to our price,
we'd be obligated to sell to them.  If they offer less and we agree, we
have a sale.  If they offer less and we don't agree, we go to market and
are only limited from then on to go back to them if we are prepared to
accept another offer for the same or less than theirs.  There is a training
process but I don't know that a binding vetting process would be
constitutional.  You all probably know better than I.

As you're drafting your process, I'd be concerned if the process required a
purchase agreement from another party to start a bidding process.  I'd
imagine the complication and likely delay would scare off purchasers.
Meadow Wood's process allows an off-market window for the HOA to make an
offer before being free to go to market, as long as we don't accept a lower
offer.  In that case, we'd be obligated to go back to the original bidder
and give them the right of first refusal at that price.

Cynthia


On Sun, Jul 20, 2025 at 5:53 AM R Philip Dowds via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> Great question(s).  At Cornerstone Cohousing, we’re still working on this
> (we’ll probably always be working on this), and don’t pretend to have all
> the answers.  But I’ll share some of our experience and thinking to date:
>
>       (1) We have ROFR built into our master deed from the year 2000.  The
> idea is that (a) Cornerstone can insist that sellers present the
> association with a (partially redacted) purchase and sale offer, and then
> (b) Cornerstone can “take over” this offer by transferring it to some other
> buyer we “like better”.  Cornerstone itself never buys or owns a unit, even
> transitionally.  But historically, we've NEVER USED ROFR.  First, we tend
> to feel it’s intrusive on the “private” transaction of a valued friend and
> neighbor who wants to sell; and second, we worry about stumbling on some
> prohibition of fair housing law.  Meanwhile, we’re told that ROFR inteferes
> with reverse mortgages, which potentially allow some of our older members
> to afford staying at Cornerstone after they retire.  So:  We are currently
> looking at removing ROFR from our master deed.
>
>       (2) Many communities seem to maintain a successful and useful
> waiting list.  On the other hand, cohousing units do not turn over with the
> same regularity as do “ordinary” HOA units, so maintaining a viable and
> relevant waiting list can be a lot of work, and in the end, irrelevant.  My
> personal view is that if you want a relevant “waiting list”, you should try
> to invest it with more value.  This could mean (a) insist on an annual
> registration fee ($50???); (b) consistently invite waiting list members to
> your community events (e.g., special meals, lectures, game day, whatever);
> and (c) encourage list members to show up for work contributions, like a
> spring yard clean-up.
>
>       (3) The association “approves” a buyer?  ???  I’ll hasten past all
> the ins and outs of fair housing law, but if you engage in “approving” one
> buyer over another, you may inviting a discrimination law suit.
> Personally, I’d stay far away from anything that looks like the association
> “approving” one  candidate, and “rejecting” another.
>
> So: What do we do at Cornerstone?  We confess that we’ve heavily and
> shamelessly plagiarized from Ann Zabaldo at Takoma Village — and we’ve
> established a “marketing team” that “helps” all of our willing sellers to
> sell their units.  Some of the activities of this team include …
> Helping to advertise availability.
> Helping to “show” the unit.
> Meeting with candidate buyers.
> Explaining participation expectations.  More specifically, emphasing that
> sustaining relatively low monthly dues is supported when community
> “members” invest time in management and chores.
> Explaining social expectations.  More specifically, emphasizing that we
> value household-to-household reciprocity of helping out.  And getting to
> know (and respect) the backstories everyone brings with them.
> Helping candidates find the professionals — vendor sources — that can
> assist with the burdens of moving, and setting up a new residence.
> … And so on.  All of which, (1) attracts households with communitarian
> instincts.  And (2), scares off households without.  We are NOT real estate
> attorneys or real estate brokers, and we don’t imply that we are.  But
> sometimes or often our “help” is substantial, and grateful sellers may make
> a voluntary cash contribution (typically four figures, but one time, five)
> back to Cornerstone.
>
> ———————————
> Thanks,
> Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
>
> > 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
> > Check out my new book, *Vegan Minded: Becoming a Steward for Animals,
> > People, and the Planet <https://amzn.to/3LCD47t>.*
> > Learn more about my work at christinecookmania.com.
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