Village Cooperative of Ute Valley - Colorado Springs, Colorado

James Wing

Very unlikely to be a square deal. Somehow exempt in Colorado from regulations on securities as well as real estate, sales of 'housing cooperative' interests are very opaque. The sellers flat out refuse to tell you how much debt you're buying into, instead diverting your focus onto initial payments -- much like a car salesman selling you a car based on payments without ever divulging the total cost (or even rate & terms of the loan). They claim they cannot know the cost in advance, but even after they can and do know, they still are very cagey about it and insist on you contracting to buy it before they will tell you how much debt you'll assume. I love the coop housing concept in general, but the lack of transparency is a huge red flag, and makes it way too easy to grossly overcharge for the building and the seller's services. Several important details were misrepresented in their initial sales spiel/seminar on this project. They are definitely targeting unsophisticated buyers (and seemingly finding them). I think some folks will still be happy with this, but primarily due to blissful ignorance of how much equity they actually (don't) get in exchange for their cash. There's good reason you cannot finance these shares -- their value is tentative at best, and lenders are sophisticated enough to balk at the whole idea of buying something without knowing the cost.