Why not now?

Now is the time to start a community.

Now is the time to start a community. 

This is the magical moment. The timing couldn’t be better. 

• There may never again be a moment when all of your friends, simultaneously, are reconsidering how and where they live. 

• There may never again be a moment when people are suddenly open to their life being a little different than they may have planned it.

• There may never again be a moment where a large chunk of people are unconstrained by the location of their jobs.

If you have a dream to start a community, the time is NOW. This is the easy time. All other times will be harder.

Also: interest rates are lower than they will ever be in your lifetime. Banks are shoveling money out the door to help people buy property.

The moment everyone is vaccinated, this window of opportunity will close.
You have 6 months. 

So ask yourself this: Where’s the dream place? Who are the dream people?

They likely want it too. All that’s lacking here is someone to coordinate it.

This is the prime moment for coordination. Coordinate the people who will most enrich your life to live together.

Without coordination, everyone will make individually “optimal” decisions that are sub-optimal for the whole.

• Without making the ask, one friend will move to the suburbs for a yard -- not realizing they can have a bigger yard living with you. And that window of opportunity will close.

• Without making the ask, another friend will move to Austin because it’s a bit cheaper -- not realizing they could get more for less living with you. And that window of opportunity will close.

• Without making the ask, another friend will move near their family for childcare -- not realizing you can help take care of their child. And that window of opportunity will close.

Sure, someone might have a slight preference for Portland over Seattle or wherever. But I guarantee you they prefer Seattle living with all their favorite people to Portland without them. 

You need to put that opportunity in front of them. You need to make that ask. It just takes a little coordination.

Now’s the time. Why not now?

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There are a million ways to get started. It might be as simple as ….

• A straightfoward ask, like this one that led to the founding of Rabbithole

• Or an aspirational tweet into the great void

• Or a post, like this one that led to the founding of Radish

• Or a Google Doc, like this one that led to the founding of Casa Chironja, Gillian’s new community in San Juan..

• Or a Craiglist post, like the one that launched Bauhaus

That night, in a fit of inspiration, I posted an ad on craigslist entitled: “Let's start a semi-intentional living community!”. It outlined my vision for a community unrestricted by belief or background, where the only values needed for inclusion were commitment to honesty, communication, and transparency. 

The response was immense.

• Or a proposal for a traveling quaranteam to try out coliving temporarily

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Go! Take that first step… you won’t regret it.

Do it before the window of opportunity closes