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Shared vehicles
Shared vehicles Another common fixture in cohousing. you should start tracking your car use metrics. Something like Month Day of the week No. of hours not parked in front of your house And Number of trips Ex: December Saturday 3 + 4 hours = 7 hours in total 2 trips in other words , " During ice skating season I leave around 10 am , drop my kid off, run errands all day Saturday and finally rest at 7 pm. I come back home to eat lunch and unwind 1 pm - 3 pm " Once you map
Shane Strano
20 hours ago1 min read
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What should you have built into your building walls ?
What should you have built into your buildings walls? Very very little id almost go against installing a stove in the counters so you can upgrade it easier. ( Exaggeration but you get what I mean ) Its possible to have the perfect speaker setup with the perfect TV specs done right the first time but more often than not you'll end needing a replacement or wanting an upgrade and it's more limiting to have stuff built-in to the walls This also goes for the private homes as wel
Shane Strano
2 days ago1 min read
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Outside help
Outside help For urban CoHousing there are tons of tasks that need to take place to maintain the building and some are worth doing yourself while others are not. General cleaning Can be done on a rotating basis or done by a committee .it's very labor intensive even with machines so extremely busy people probably aren't the best candidates. You can have one person physically do all the cleaning or have somebody create a cleaning system that involves everybody doing a small p
Shane Strano
4 days ago3 min read
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Social boundaries in life
Social Boundaries in life You have to consider a lot of things when you set your boundaries. Is it a soft general dislike or is this a hardcore " I can't continue living like this " thing ? Is the person able to consent to what your demands might be ? Are your requests reasonable for the situation at hand? Are you willing to follow through with your demands under pressure ? Are you willing to escalate the situation if hardcore boundaries aren't respected? Example : Your name
Shane Strano
5 days ago2 min read
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Parking minimums
Parking minimums Most people in cohousing don't want to be car dependent so having shared bikes ( including ebikes ) and shared vehicles can eliminate A LOT of car usage. Which will eliminate a lot of parking spot needs. You can highly encourage people to get rid of their cars but it's ultimately their choice so you should be transparent about the possibility that they might have to pay for a parking garage and guests might have a hard time finding parking if they live in y
Shane Strano
6 days ago1 min read
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Noise / smell in the common house
Noise/ smell in the common house Most of this should be solved by design but in my opinion you shouldn't expect dead silence in the common house. It's nice to feel like you have a big space to yourself sometimes but people should be able to talk normally or a bit on the loud side most hours of the day . I think washing dishes and music can be negotiated depending on the time but that's about it. This is also something you should be discussing with others during the cohousi
Shane Strano
7 days ago2 min read
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Types of bike / scooters
Types of bikes / scooters There are several bikes you can share for different reasons Toddler or Kids bike / trike / scooter Almost toy levels of swapability . There are about 3 levels of bikes/ scooters up until you get standard small bikes/ scooters that your kid can ride independently so it'll be cost effective to get maybe one and per level and keep them around just in case. They don't go through much wear and tear and they don't take up much space so it's probably fine
Shane Strano
7 days ago3 min read
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Co ownership of a house
Co ownership of a house Very basic not legal or financial understanding of ways people can own a home together. Its unlikely but it can come up in cohousing There are 3 main types of ownership structures Tenancy in common My very basic understanding is that 2 people can put up unequal amounts of money for the same property and both people get full access to the property. You just have different shares. You are able to pass on your rights to the property without consent of t
Shane Strano
Apr 22 min read
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Parking
Parking Heavily implied but in urban CoHousing parking will be difficult. Trying to be more sustainable and cut down on car dependence means cars will be prioritized less than amenities / people. You basically want to assume they'll be no parking for guests. You can still host VERY big gatherings in the common house for holidays or other occasions but you want to tell people in advance that there will be very limited parking. It is the trade off to being able to walk/ bike t
Shane Strano
Apr 11 min read
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Is jersey city walkable
Is Jersey city walkable ? Pretty much If you live in the 07302 area it's very walkable . You have a few grocery stores , access to the mall just a bit further out , access to restaurants ( leans towards Korean , Chinese and Indian food but there are American spots too ) , a pretty consistent farmers market, and a few yoga Pilates type deals. Schools are dependent on your needs but a few elementary , middle and high schools to choose from that are walkable. If they don't sui
Shane Strano
Mar 312 min read
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Acoustic engineering
Acoustic engineering For urban CoHousing you're gonna want to hire one to really feel comfortable I believe the specialization is architectural acoustics ( It's also possible the construction company you use already has one ) They can help guide the construction in ways that allow you to live closer and take up less sq footage. Small gains can add up. Then when it comes time for private homes you can dedicate more space to being creative and fun vs pure noise cancellation.
Shane Strano
Mar 301 min read
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Will I find my partner in cohousing
You should not go into a Cohousing project with the intention of getting laid or finding your partner. That's more of a cult thing. It sounds like I'm joking but legitimately if you join a cult or an extreme community where individuality is not important , you're more likely to find somebody with a similar mindset that's also looking for a partner that feels like they can only date within the community. With cohousing you're an independent person. You have your own place a
Shane Strano
Mar 301 min read
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Outside help
For urban CoHousing there are tons of tasks that need to take place to maintain the building and some are worth doing yourself while others are not. General cleaning Can be done on a rotating basis or done by a committee .it's very labor intensive even with machines so extremely busy people probably aren't the best candidates. You can have one person physically do all the cleaning or have somebody create a cleaning system that involves everybody doing a small part. A cleani
Shane Strano
Oct 30, 20253 min read
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Co ownership of a house
Very basic not legal or financial understanding of ways people can own a home together. Its unlikely but it can come up in cohousing There are 3 main types of ownership structures Tenancy in common My very basic understanding is that 2 people can put up unequal amounts of money for the same property and both people get full access to the property. You just have different shares. You are able to pass on your rights to the property without consent of the other tenant to whoev
Shane Strano
Oct 30, 20252 min read
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Is jersey city walkable
Pretty much If you live in the 07302 area it's very walkable . You have a few grocery stores , access to the mall just a bit further out , access to restaurants ( leans towards Korean , Chinese and Indian food but there are American spots too ) , a pretty consistent farmers market, and a few yoga Pilates type deals. Schools are dependent on your needs but a few elementary , middle and high schools to choose from that are walkable. If they don't suit your needs there are bus
Shane Strano
Oct 29, 20252 min read
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Acoustic engineering
For urban CoHousing you're gonna want to hire one to really feel comfortable I believe the specialization is architectural acoustics ( It's also possible the construction company you use already has one ) They can help guide the construction in ways that allow you to live closer and take up less sq footage. Small gains can add up. Then when it comes time for private homes you can dedicate more space to being creative and fun vs pure noise cancellation. In general you want
Shane Strano
Oct 29, 20251 min read
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Types of bikes / scooters
There are several bikes you can share for different reasons Toddler or Kids bike / trike / scooter Almost toy levels of swapability . There are about 3 levels of bikes/ scooters up until you get standard small bikes/ scooters that your kid can ride independently so it'll be cost effective to get maybe one and per level and keep them around just in case. They don't go through much wear and tear and they don't take up much space so it's probably fine to be kept in the bike ro
Shane Strano
Oct 28, 20253 min read
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Shared vehicles
Another common fixture in cohousing. you should start tracking your car use metrics. Something like Month Day of the week No. of hours not parked in front of your house And Number of trips Ex: December Saturday 3 + 4 hours = 7 hours in total 2 trips in other words , " During ice skating season I leave around 10 am , drop my kid off, run errands all day Saturday and finally rest at 7 pm. I come back home to eat lunch and unwind 1 pm - 3 pm " Once you map it out you can
Shane Strano
Oct 28, 20251 min read
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What should you have built into your building walls ?
Very very little id almost go against installing a stove in the counters so you can upgrade it easier. ( Exaggeration but you get what I mean ) Its possible to have the perfect speaker setup with the perfect TV specs done right the first time but more often than not you'll end needing a replacement or wanting an upgrade and it's more limiting to have stuff built-in to the walls This also goes for the private homes as well because you can streamline the construction process
Shane Strano
Oct 27, 20251 min read
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Parking
Heavily implied but in urban CoHousing parking will be difficult. Trying to be more sustainable and cut down on car dependence means cars will be prioritized less than amenities / people. You basically want to assume they'll be no parking for guests. You can still host VERY big gatherings in the common house for holidays or other occasions but you want to tell people in advance that there will be very limited parking. It is the trade off to being able to walk/ bike to get mo
Shane Strano
Oct 27, 20251 min read
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