Recording Library - Finances
Cohousing finances cover topics and needs that are different than a typical household would experience. This topic includes sessions that cover financial topics like replacement reserves and budgeting.
After decades of doing this, Heartwood Cohousing has a pretty successful annual budgeting process in place and a secret weapon for arriving at a balanced budget that they’ll share with you.
After decades of doing this, Heartwood Cohousing has a pretty successful annual budgeting process in place and a secret weapon for arriving at a balanced budget that we’ll share with you.
Members of three different communities will share their stories of ways their communities have pooled resources to help community members in need. Each will tell of the structure they used, the success of the program and what they have learned along the way. Join us to learn about “Spare a Dime”, “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” and “Rainy Day Fund”.
Hear from expert Lyons Witten on how to keep your community’s buildings and finances in good shape for generations. He will explain the importance of setting up replacement reserves (RR) from the date of move in, what is typically in an RR spreadsheet, where RR money is invested, and how the spreadsheet is updated annually. Your community will benefit greatly from a healthy RR account!
Every community needs to plan for large future expenditures and have reserve funds in place. But how do you know how much to save and what to save for? In this session, Mac will share insights gleaned from 25 years of being the person primarily responsible for the financial oversight of Heartwood Cohousing. If you want your established community to build a solid financial foundation, this may be a good session for you.
Rocky Corner Cohousing, in Connecticut, has been going through what could be every community’s nightmare, just as they were approaching move-in: construction challenges, financial overruns, bank foreclosure, government rule changes and funding delays, all on top of COVID and materials shortages affecting us all. Last week they were profiled on the Sunday New York Times Real Estate section in an article that omitted lots of details and, combined with the over-a-thousand comments practicing Monday-morning quarterbacking, created many wrong impressions. Join us as two members of the group share the reality and how it felt to deal with the challenges, with lessons for other communities in preparation and media management. And let’s explore together what this level of attention and energy means for the cohousing movement.
