More info on starting a fuel oil coop here: http://www.furnacecompare.com/fuel-oil-coops/

Thanks,
Chris

You’re kidding — you can’t even babysit? Ye, Gods!

We lived in a Queens co-op building, and I foolishly thought that the rules should apply to the Board members as well as me. It was a happy day when we moved out!

It seriously bugs the crud out of me that they block things like this hen residents attempt to go through the proper channels for an exception, and yet they do nothing to enforce the rules otherwise. Even when instances of rule breaking are reported to them. For instance, there’s also a rule that each unit is limited to having 2 vehicles on the property, and one of the vehicles MUST be in the garage. We have residents with 4 vehicles and nothing is done. There’s also a rule stating that the garage space can only be used to store a vehicle; it may not under any circumstance be converted to living space. bout 25% of the 150+ unit use their garages as additional living space, whether as a play room for the kids, an exercise room, and some even rent it out.

I’ve never lived in a place with a homeowners association before, and I hope to never do it again. I had no idea how much frustration this would add to our lives.

One thing about making sure one family doesn’t “take advantage.” While this is certainly a problem, and you don’t want leaches, consider reaching out to families in need in the neighborhood. If they have one or more members with disabilities, or are quite elderly, or have some other needs they can’t manage, invite them to participate to the extent they are able and pitch in as a group to help them out. For the most part, they are willing to participate, although some will indignantly “refuse to take charity.” You have no idea until you’ve been there how having your lawn mowed can make you cry for gratitude, or how wonderful a few tomatoes can taste from a neighbor who actually cares.

You can suggest that perhaps they do the tracking of who has borrowed what, or be the person who accepts packages when the recipient is away, or teach local children skills (crocheting, knitting, sewing, writing, math, music, etc.) as their contributions. That way it doesn’t feel like charity. And it isn’t.

Incidentally, helping someone keep up their property who is unable to do so goes a long ways to keep up your property values as well.

Another concept on this is “coworking” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking) where different freelance folks share an office also has led to interesting combinations.

Also, among our close friends, we have an barn-raising agreement – there are about 6 or so families involved and we’ve built: a roof structure over my 300sqft deck, and for others: an enclosed patio/sunroom, a mega-swing-set (you know, the kind with lots of 4X4’s that need their edges routed off and then sanded), re-roofed a garage, built a stage for backyard jams, and a permanent carport. Each project took the 12 +/- folks a weekend, where the individual family might have had to hire out the work or take several weekends. It’s great – the homeowner provides the PLAN, the building materials & his/her tools, water, sodas, burgers or someother cookout and everyone comes ready to work with their tools, too. I’m not allowed to use powertools due to clumsiness, so generally I get child-wrangling and kitchen duty – which is almost more than my fair share since among the 6 couples, if all offspring are around, there are 17 kids from 2 to 19! The 19 year old is the errand runner and handles the many trips to the hardware store…it saves everyone a bunch of time and money and has added value to our relationships – we’ve contributed to each others’ homes and that’s significant investment in our friendships.

(Casa Tierra Apts just south of Osuna and San Pedro in Albuquerque, NM if anyone wants to stop by)

The site has been running seamlessly despite that extra ‘burden’.

Thanks for this article. Wonderful suggestions.

We now talk to neighbors we used to only smile and wave at!

We cook the dishes together, split them and have a few meals ready for the next week.

We like it because it guarantees we spend time together, we both like to try new recipes and with this method, if the recipe turns out poorly, we’re not stuck with a lot of food we don’t like. It is also economical. It ends up costing about $15 each week. The most obvious benefit is that there’s less planning and cooking on our own.

I’m sure this could be done on a larger scale too.

My current condo association (we have garden-style walk-ups and large courtyards) has a yearly yard sale as well and we get some pretty good crowds. My downstairs neighbor made a couple hundred dollars last year on some old furniture and other odds and ends. I have noticed that because I sell stuff occasionally on craigslist, I have less of a need to participate than in the pre-Internet days.

Besides not knowing my neighbors, I’m not sure I would trust them – parts of my neighborhood are kind of dicey.