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

[Ken Winter (kenatsun]

Interesting.  At Sunward Cohousing, also ~25 years old, 14 of 40 units
contain founding fathers and mothers.  That's about the same ratio as
Cornerstone!  Is 35% some kind of magic number?

On Mon, Jul 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM R Philip Dowds via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> My views are pretty similar to Alan’s … although I may have a different
> take on the significance of the founding role.  Because it’s not scalable
> into the future.
>
> Today, cohousing in America is still a micro-cult activity: Only a tiny
> fraction of USA residents live in cohousing, or can even find cohousing
> nearby.  But I like to picture a future where most small towns have several
> cohousing communities, and cities have dozens or hundreds.  Yes, some
> candidate cohousers will always choose to find each other, to learn how to
> be real estate developers, and to create their own brand of brand new
> community.  But many others will simply shop around, and select an existing
> community that best serves their lifestyle.  These existing communities
> will be 30, 40 or 50+ years old, and the majority of founders will be long
> gone.  For better or worse, the character and culture of these
> long-established communities will be, of necessity, self-perpetuating
> and/or self-redefining.
>
> After more than 25 years, only eleven of our 32 Cornerstone units are
> occupied by founders who were active in the development phase — and of
> those founders, a few have substantially decreased their participation over
> time.  The culture and practices dominant when my wife and I bought in 18
> years ago have changed significantly — usually with the encouragement and
> approval of some founders, and despite the resistance of other founders.
> We continue to evolve, and we’ll never be a cohousing mausoleum.  I hope.
> In this context, I share Alan’s preference for a “transparent” process that
> familiarizes and educates potential buyers before they commit to joining
> (and shaping) a living, evolving culture.
>
> ———————————
> Thanks,
> Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
>
> > On Jul 21, 2025, at 6:45 AM, Alan O'Hashi via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > Cohousers - At my place, the HOA requires buyers to take a tour and have
> an orientation session about cohousing, community participation, etc.
> Buyers attend a team or communit rmeeting, and attend a dinner. We have an
> interest list, but it’s not a great source of qualified potential buyers.
> We assign a community member or two to liaison among the HOA, seller, and
> buyer to set up visits and meetings. Ultimately, it’s up to the seller to
> pick a buyer. So far, our transparent process has worked pretty well.
> Others can chime in here, but generally, my observation is that no
> community has 100 percent ideal cohousers. The only group that can
> self-select is the founding group. Rather than worrying too much about
> future owners. I think it’s most important to correctly pick the initial
> members.
> >
> > Thx,
> >
> > alan o
> >
> >
> > Alan O'Hashi - Cyber Office
> > Buy “A New Dawn at Libby Flats”
> > www.bouldercomedia.com/retail
> > … Colorado..303-910-5782
> > … Wyoming. 307-232-9373
> > Typos By iPhone Auto-Mistake
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