As project manager of Cohousing ABQ, I’m excited to share some big news with you. Our community members are signing purchase agreements! What are purchase agreements and why are they such a big deal, you might ask? Well, cohousing communities don’t just get built by developers as a finished off-the-shelf product that’s available to anyone at anytime. It’s a unique product created through the grassroots efforts of community members who take action to make their dreams of living sustainably together a reality. In order to get built, they require the commitment of the future neighbors to move the project forward. Once the project advances enough that the home prices can be fixed and construction is just around the corner, our future homeowners make their down payments and sign a binding purchase contract to purchase their future cohousing home. When we sign the first purchase contracts, the construction phase of our project becomes that much more tangible and we can almost smell the shovels in the dirt. With construction right around the corner, we have ramped up our marketing efforts and expect most home-sizes to sell out well before groundbreaking. We have a variety of home-sizes - from a casita, just over 500sf, all the way up to 4-bedroom units – to provide a perfect home for any family configuration or life stage. Our community is being built to welcome families with children, people with disabilities, single parents, retired individuals, couples, or the just-out-of-the-house college student who desires independence while at the same time feeling connected to a larger community.
Having homes of all sizes doesn’t just create a diverse mix of households, it also makes it possible for multi-generational families to live within the same community– close-by but not necessarily in the same home. Like Jim and Mary in our community, who will be joined by their daughter, son-in-law and their two grandchildren just living a few doors down. A large mix of home sizes also allows people to remain part of the same community over their lifetime—If your needs change, just move to another home size when it becomes available. And lots of friendly neighbors will be available to help with the move!
If you’ve done any research on this you’ll know, once cohousing communities are built, they’re almost impossible to get into, because residents rarely move out and because there is high demand and too few cohousing communities to meet it. For built communities there are long waitlists, and when a unit does pop up it may not be the right size for your needs. If Cohousing is a dream of yours, this really is an amazing opportunity to make it happen. Right before construction begins and while homes are still available. We hope you will join us!
—Marlies, Project Manager of Cohousing ABQ
