Bus Co-op & Environmentally Friendly "Life Style."  This is Chicago Taxi Willie
I'm interest in starting a new conference on Environ. Friendly Living, such 
as using public transit, maybe starting bus co-ops, and other socially 
responsible stuff like living in non-detatch homes (apartments, townhouses,
cluster housing), rather than heating the great out-of-doors with 4 exposed
walls + roof.  I'm also into non-profit/low-profit housing, housing co-ops,
and a concept I've developed, co-op condos.  I've passed by realtor license
test and signed with a broker, and am just waiting the the license to come in
from the state.  I'm interest in your comments and suggestions, and whether
you think it's a good idea to start such a new conference.  Thanks.

16 responses total.

I have developed a bad taste reflex when it comes to realtors.  Most of
them have their heads in the ionosphere, know very little about building
construction and are in part responcible for the hight cost of housing.
(Look at a 35 year old house west of A^2 with SEV=$65K, tax=$3.8K and it
was listed at $197K!  The roof had been poorly redone last year, needed
new gutters, furnace and windows/sliding glass doors, kitchen cabinets
and floor in 30% of the structure.)  I have also run across a very few good 
ones too though.

I agree w. Response #1: That's why I think the topic of non-profit and low-
profit housing, including co-ops and condos is important.  In the R.E. 
practice I'm about to start-up, Iill specialize in co-ops and condos.
After three years under an established broker, I will be able to go after
a brokership of my own, and pow: Utopian -op Condos.

Um, Realtors don't set the sale prices of houses.

Hey folks, forget the fixation on "the real estate industry."
The point of this item, is should we start a new conference on Environmental
Friendly Living, such as using public transportation or starting bus co-ops,
and living in high-density housing.  This also relates to community vs. 
alienation: sharing a vehicle rather than racing down the expressway cursing
at the next guy, living in a co-op or condo rather than a detached house,
heating the great out-of-doors with 4 exposed walls + roof, mowing a huge lawn,
and filling a 3 car garage with sheet metal @ $15,000. a crack.
Chicago Taxi Willie

(r.e. #3.  No, but they can have a very big influance.  How many people do
you know, esp. elderly folks, that know what their housing is worth?)

When I decided to buy a house, I decided against condo type housing for
several reasons.  I don't want to have to deal with many of the strict
rules most condos etc. must abide by.   I didn't want to have to 
put up with the noise, etc. my neignbors generated
 nor do I want my property value to be dependent on how well others in
the units behave, etc.  My house is very energy efficent, though it's almost
40 years old.  I've added 12 inches of insulation to the attic, installed
a 92% efficent gas furnace, replaced windows with thermal-pane, etc.
Much can be done to inprove existing single family dwellings!  Much of what
is being built today has little, if any, attention given to how the unit
is situated with relation to the sun, location and types of windows, location
of trees, etc, etc.  

However, I'd really like to live in an area where my values are shared with
others.  Where we can barter for baby sitting, repairs, etc.  Kind of like
a large family.  It would also do a lot to mend many of the problems of our
isolated, channel 7 news, TV influanced society.

(I know more people who know the value of their houses than not.)

re #5 I have always wanted to live in a situation like that.. sigh cant 
find one though

I think cooperative values are part of a `hippie' philosophy and
lifestyle.  I would respond (if I had anything to say) to such 
items posted in this conference.

In response to the comments on housing costs, I am currently looking
at applying to a housing cooperative, and would  certainly like more
information about housing coops in Ann Arbor and Madison WI.

My experience with coop living was on a vist to my best friend in Seattle.
One morning we decanted a carboy of homebrewed mead into another container
and wondered what to do with the yeast left in the bottom.  I suggested
using it to make sourdough bread (?).  We mixed up some dough, left it
to rise, and left for downtown.  When we got back, someone who wasn't even
aware of who made the dough had punched it down and left it to rise again;
later another person had taken it and put it in the oven when it looked ready.
We came back to finished bread.  It was awful bread, but the cooperation
of the housemates was almost eerie.

The coop was a colony of space aliens with telepathic powers.

Is that a usual requirement?

No, and don't tell anybody, it's supposed to be a secret.

<Smiles>  :)

I am interested in learning about co-op housing.  Could anyone tell me
about any or your (or your friends') experiences?

There are several housing co-ops around AA that were built with 3% mortages,
and thus have income limits, which have become rather liberal- like c.
$41,000 for a family of three.  You have to buy up equity $1000.-$4000., but
a couple banks have what are call "chattel loans," on which you can use your
equity as collateral.  NBD is one of them, and I think Great Lakes Federal is
the other.  I live in one in Plymouth, and it's very nice and well kept up.
E-mail me the number of peeps in your family, & I'll e-mail you back the
income limit.
One problem is that they're such a good deal that they have long waiting lists.
I was lucky to even get on mine's waiting list, thenit took 1-1/2 yrs.
Brenda said she have moved into University Townhouses, which is one of these
type co-ops, and she said she had to wait a year.

Maybe I should apply now?  I am single and will bring no family to a co-op.

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