In the wild ride that we've had in the month since getting land under contract and splitting Concord Ecovillage into two legal entities, there has been a lot of time spent on legal documents. Creating a new legal structure for Three Groves Ecovillage was really the easy part, but in addition, we had to revise the Membership Application. While the Membership Application for Concord Ecovillage had to deal with abstracts and fuzzy timelines, all of a sudden, we had the privilege of dealing with concrete realities like real land and a real ProForma (budget).
The Membership Application not only creates part of the legal union between us all, but it also defines many of the privileges and obligations of membership. The Agreements of Sale for our homes will come much later. I'll outline the important points in the Membership Application for you here, and if you want a full copy of it, (or the LLC and LLP documents), please just email us using the Email link in the margin.
1. Each household needs to make a $25,000 downpayment on their house. (A larger downpayment is welcome, too!) The money can be paid over time, up until about Ground-breaking and the signing of the Agreements of Sale (anticipated at August 2010). At that point, it is all due. This money is not escrowed, but instead, is used during development to pay various professionals for their services. The money is therefore at risk.
2. To make up for the risk, there is of course, reward. Early contributors get to participate in our Rebate Program. At the end of the project, money that would normally be profit in the developer's pocket will be split 50/50 with us, the new homeowners. Our half will be rebated to households based on how early they made their downpayment. Earlier downpayments get larger rebates. Later downpayments get no rebate.
3. To further provide incentive for getting money into the project early, placement on the Lot Selection List costs less now, but will soon get more expensive. For example, right now, $2000 is due with the acceptance of a Membership Application, and an additional $3000 means that an applicant is placed in line to select the location and size of his or her home. After July 31, 2009, $5000 is due with the acceptance of a Membership Application, and an additional $5000 is needed for placement on the Lot Selection List. In either case, the full $25,000 downpayment on the home is eventually needed, but the initial sums needed to participate in decisions as a member and to get on the Lot Selection List are less. Amounts go up again after January 31, 2010.
The Membership Application has other information about participating in decision-making, reading assignments, and legal clauses about deaths, dissolution, disclaimers and such. The LLC and LLP documents are hefty tomes drafted by the lawyer and are more about legal structure and doing business as a real estate company. Again, I'm happy to send whatever documents you would like to review. New members are asked to sign the Membership Application and to become Limited Partners of the LLP. Eventually this all turns into a Homeowners' Association, but that is much further down the road.
If you've been contemplating membership, now is the time to join! Again, send us an email if you want to review the documents, and remember that the sooner you join, the better lot and house selection you get. Don't be left behind!
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