It’s Not My Bag, but is Cohousing for You?

Call me cynical, but I have a difficult time believing that any group of people living in tight quarters together can really get along. Heck, people can’t even get along for 40 days for $1 million dollars! So, imagine my cynicism when I ran across an article on “cohousing.” In principle, it sounds just fine and dandy–that is, if we could all just get along.

Cohousing takes community-style living one step further beyond the traditional master-planned community. Though members of a cohousing community each have their own private residences, including kitchens and laundry areas, these communities are characterized by the inclusion of extensive common areas, including a large kitchen, dining area, laundry facility, gym, outdoor garden area, and even child care facilities. Cohousing allows its members to share duties, such as cooking for the community, child care or even laundry.

Different strokes for different folks, they say. As for me, I’ve worked on enough “group projects” through the years to know that there are doers and slackers in every group. I would be horrified at the prospect of actually living a group project. Then again, the house-drawing personality test I took said that I “always want to live alone,” so it shouldn’t be a surprise.

However, in case the photo above strikes your fancy, here are some sales and rentals in our area: 

For sale in the Seattle area:

Jackson Place Cohousing
800B, Hiawatha Place South, Seattle
2 br/ 1 ba, 857 sq.ft. 

For rent in the Seattle area:

Duwamish Cohousing
1 br + loft duplex

For Sale in Port Townsend:

RoseWind Cohousing 
2 br/1.75 ba, 1590 sq.ft.

For a listing of more cohousing groups in the Washington area, check out this directory.  It also lists new co-housing groups that are currently forming in Bothell, Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Seattle, so that you can get in on the get go, if this is your cup of tea.