Insights > Welcome 2 of 6: Pre-Prologue: Learning about the Community Before Purchasing

Welcome 2 of 6: Pre-Prologue: Learning about the Community Before Purchasing

By Published On: December 16th, 2024

Above: Orienting new members begins even before a unit is sold.

Welcome to the Community: A Series from Caddis Collaborative

By Karin Hoskin
Karin Hoskin is business manager for Caddis Collaborative, former executive director of the Cohousing Association of the United States, and a founding member of Wild Sage Cohousing Community.

Successful orientation begins even before a unit goes on the market and then continues as the property goes up for sale and as potential buyers look at it.

At Wild Sage, we discovered that some buyers inadvertently did not realize they were moving into cohousing and were not prepared to participate in the life of the community. So we established a Resale Team to help address this issue.

The Resale Team decided to “stack the deck” as best it could – with the goal of attracting buyers who truly want to live in community. The team did this by developing four tools, all of which support community members who are selling their units:

  • Interest list
  • Open houses and tours
  • “What Is Wild Sage?” document
  • Sales and rental policy

Interest List

While an interest list can simply be a notebook with contact information jotted down, we have found that an electronic interest list is simpler to manage and easier to share among community members responsible for reaching out to potential buyers and renters on the list. Wild Sage did this by creating a simple Google form.

The link to the Google form is located on the Wild Sage website on our “For Sale/Rent” page, though a community with a fair amount of turnover might consider placing the link on the home page. To comply with the Fair Housing Act but still get information that will help us sell our units, we are careful about what we ask on the form. We ask the following:

  • Do you want to purchase or rent?
  • Have you ever visited Wild Sage?
  • How many in your household would be over 18 and under 18?
  • What is your life stage – early adulthood, family/career, slower pace, retired?
  • Are you prequalified for a loan?
  • If the property you are interested is deed-restricted (for the city’s affordable housing program), have you begun the process with the city?
  • What city and state do you currently live in?
  • What else would you like us to know about you?

A small team of Wild Sagers monitors this list. We track when and why someone asks to be removed. We track our communications with the interest list. And we scrub the list annually so that it’s “live” and dynamic. Currently, we have about 500 people on the interest list, with over 250 joining in 2023 and 2024.

When a unit goes up for sale or for rent, we send an email to everyone on the interest list, and if the listing changes (such as a price reduction) or if there is an open house, we send another email. We also send information to the list about our National Cohousing Open House Day event, and we try to invite interested people to a gathering or two during the year.

Open Houses and Tours

The Cohousing Association of the United States (CohoUS) organizes a National Cohousing Open House Day every year in March. This is a great opportunity to offer live music, host a potluck barbeque, have a tie-dye event, give a mini-presentation on cohousing, or provide tours of the community.

We are also happy to give tours to anyone who asks at any time during the year, and we also have a video tour for those who might not be able to come in person. Video tours can be posted on your community website, on YouTube, or on the CohoUS website. Have a plan for your tour, and create at least a loose script. Think about what makes your community unique. What is your favorite thing about your community? What do you want potential buyers and renters to know? And remember: it’s not as much about the buildings as it is about the people. “Stage” some people who will appear in the video to give a sense of community life.

“What Is Wild Sage?” Document

This document is created for realtors to have on hand when they show a house. Many seller’s agents keep copies of the document in the unit so that all potential buyers will see it when they look at a unit. We also attach this document when sending an email to the interest list.

This document is a great opportunity to highlight what makes Wild Sage tick, what benefits it offers, and what is expected of new buyers and renters. This document goes into much more detail than can be included in an MLS listing.

Sales and Rental Policy

Wild Sage recently passed a policy that requires sellers and landlords to fully indicate that Wild Sage is a cohousing community. The policy includes language sellers and landlords should use in MLS listings and other advertising and marketing for their units. The language clearly specifies that buyers and renters are expected to participate in the work and life of the community.

Click on the links below to learn more!

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