Cohousing-L Mailing List: Ongoing insurability concerns for cohousing

[Cheryl Keil (cheryl.keil.wc18]

We at Wasatch Commons in Salt Lake City recently had to go on a search for
a new Master Policy insurer (our previous insurer stopped covering COAs
altogether).  In our search we had 4 insurance companies/brokers tell us
they would not consider us because we were a cohousing development.  The
insurance industry's lack of familiarity with cohousing + the idea of being
"self managed and self maintained" did not appeal to them.  We were
considered too much of a wild card.

I brought this up in a similar email to cohousing-L a few months ago and
remember getting feedback from one responder stating "we don't tell
insurance companies we're a cohousing community; we just tell them we're a
condo association".

Our management team intends to take the same approach but we're wondering
how far we need to distance ourselves from the "cohousing" label.  Are
other communities considering removing the word cohousing from their name,
websites, etc in an effort to look more like other "normal" condo
associations?  We obviously want to maintain the traditions and culture but
if the word "cohousing" is going to put us in jeopardy with our insurance
and mortgages, then we are wondering how far we need to go to adjust.

Thanks in advance for your feedback,
Cheryl Keil
Wasatch Commons