Co-ownership and co-operative real estate opens up a plethora of opportunities for people of different backgrounds, communities and personalities to come together and form their own intentional communities through real estate. One of the great aspects of co-operative real estate and co-ownership is that it doesn’t have to follow the conventional method of home purchasing. In co-ownership, complete strangers can come together and purchase a home. Whether you’ve known someone for years or only met them yesterday, a co-ownership group needs to foster and build trust to be able to successfully purchase a house together. In this article, we go through some of GoCo’s activities to help groups come together and get on the same page and set them up for success.
Think About What You Want
The first step in getting to know potential co-ownership partners begins with you getting to know yourself and what you want your ideal home to be. Think about what co-ownership and co-operative living means to you. Ask yourself who you want to live with and question why. Dive deep and think about who you can live with as well as things you can’t possibly live without. By doing this activity you can create a general profile of yourself and what you’re looking for so you can better align yourself with potential partners.
Once that’s done, you can then think about your needs and wants. Separate out different aspects of what you envision your ideal home will be. Cover as much as you can: from financial outlooks, physical aspects of your ideal home and lifestyle preferences. Do you want to live in a house that promotes sustainable living? Do you need public transport nearby? Would you prefer a garden? Do you have pets? Do you have allergies? Is affordability a major concern for you? All of these things should be taken into account.
Getting To Know Each Other
Each member of your potential co-ownership group should do the above exercises so that each member has their own profile and vision of their dream home. You may find out that you’re willing to compromise on some things as you open up and discuss with others. Meeting opposing views and perspectives are a healthy way to look inwards and question your own list in a healthy way.
You can move on to comparing your needs and wants and what that means for your co-ownership partners. Think about how much you want to share and what that would mean for your group. Do you want to share food? What does that mean for the group? Will you all contribute to a weekly budget for groceries? Will there be a cooking schedule? Do people have allergies that need to be accounted for? A small idea can spread and affect an entire household.
You’ll have to take into account everyone’s differences in needs and wants. A conversation may need to be frank. People may need to have a frank conversation with you. Some differences can’t be resolved and that’s okay. You’ll find a group that matches your wants and needs as long as you are open to the 3 pillars of the co-operative mindset: compassion, cooperation and compromise.
Have Some Fun With It
Things don’t have to be so rigid when getting to know a group of partners. Every group and individual will work differently. Some groups will benefit from a very structured discussion while other groups will prefer to work in a more light-hearted scenario. Wherever you sit on the spectrum, you can explore different ways to get to know your co-ownership partners.
Ask some different questions like: how would you react if one of your partners had a dog that ripped up your sneakers? What would you do if one of your partners was upset that you left dishes in the sink overnight?
The key is to find what works best for you and your group. Perhaps having some coffee and keeping the conversation casual will work for you. Perhaps a more structured meeting will be better. Explore different methods so you can find your perfect group and begin on the path of co-operative real estate.
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