Eden Prairie’s Realife Valley View Cooperative sets open house

By Karla Wennerstrom

There are 74 senior co-ops in Minnesota. There are 94 in the United States, according to Dennis Johnson, board chairman for the Senior Cooperative Foundation (www.seniorcoops.org), in St. Paul.

“The first one started in Edina in 1978,” Johnson said. “We’ve been working for years to expand it.

Why so popular in Minnesota?

“This is where the developers, the architects, the attorneys and the lenders put these together,” he said, and the state is supportive of the concept.

The residents of Realife Valley View Cooperative in Eden Prairie, 10785 Valley View Road, can’t be sure, but “we think we’ve got it all,” said Sandy Sellstedt, marketing committee member.

Former board member June Gilbert added, “It’s not for everyone, but it’s a nice alternative.”

“We are the leading state in the nation,” Gilbert said.

There is another senior cooperative building in town, Summer Hill of Eden Prairie, at 7610 Smetana Lane.

“We would like people to understand what co-op living is,” Gilbert said. “A lot of people don’t understand what it is at all. At the same time, … people that want to move here, they don’t know how to sell their house. They don’t know what to do with all their stuff.”

So Realife has set an open house on June 23 to let people know about cooperative living, and to offer information on downsizing and selling a house. Realife has an open house about every two years.

This is the first time they’ve offered speakers and a program.

“It’s still not the greatest understood concept,” Sellstedt said. “You buy a share, which is like a stock share. Realife is a limited equity co-op. Each year, your share increases by a set formula. Ours does on Jan. 1, so your equity increases. So when you move, you sell for that increased price.”

Sellstedt said that nine units will be open for tours.
“We find if we let people go on self-guided tours, they’ll pick out what they want to see,” she said. “It goes quickly, they go where they want to.”

There will also be time for questions and answers.

Realife Cooperative, which is for those age 55 and older, has a reservation list. Almost half signed up pre-construction, but have yet to move in.

The balance of them have been on the list just for the last four and a half years or so, Sellstedt said.

The ones who haven’t moved in yet either aren’t ready yet, or aren’t sure how to sell their home, she said.

Community

“We are a community,” Gilbert said.

She said Realife offers freedom, independence, involvement if you want it, affordability – and you don’t have to do yard work anymore.
“Living in your home, as you get a little older, you become a little isolated,” Gilbert said.

“Here you get to walk down the hall, see your neighbors, go to weekly events, monthly dinners, outings and whatnot,” Sellstedt said.

The co-op has 94 units housing about 140 people, Sellstedt said, and 90 percent are involved in dinners, social events, committees and task forces. Groups garden, pursue other interests, play cards or other games, exercise, walk on the city’s trails, participate in crafts and woodshop.

“You aren’t interfering with one another,” Sellstedt pointed out, “but you do become sort of a family and people will help each other out in some times of need.”

“There’s a lot of compassion and heart here,” Gilbert said.

“We’re the country right inside the city, and Eden Prairie is getting to be quite a city,” Sellstedt said.

For more information, call 952-943-9463 or visit http://www.fairviewebenezer.org/Housing/c_578432.asp.

If you go
What: Realife Valley View Cooperative open house
When: 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 23
Where: 10785 Valley View Road, Eden Prairie
Information/RSVP: 952-943-9463.
The first hour of the event includes a free seminar for seniors on “How to Sell and Downsize Your Home.” The second hour includes self-guided tours. Speakers are Ryan Yardley, a senior housing specialist heard weekly on the WCCO AM Real Estate Radio Hour; and Carolyn Manhatton, owner of Move Strategies & Solutions. Cookies and cake are planned.

What is cooperative housing?
“Cooperative housing is joint ownership of those living in the facility. Realife is a limited equity cooperative, where members become owners by buying a share of stock in the cooperative. This gives a member the right to occupy a specific unit and each unit has one voting share. The Board of Directors is elected from the membership and acts on behalf of the cooperative. A cooperative is operated on a nonprofit basis. Thus, any increases in monthly housing costs are limited to actual increases in operating costs. The monthly carrying charge paid by members is for operating expenses (such as principal and interest on the mortgage) and for a replacement fund, which is used to cover replacement of appliances, structural components, etc.”
Source: Realife Cooperative