Ouroboros Housing collective

We began because we were frustrated about housing security and accessibility.

Our first priority is to give access to housing for our crew. As many of us come from financially insecure backgrounds our solution can’t limit our flexibility, autonomy or agency. So we want to buy units together in a way that’s affordable and flexible. We understand that our relationships with the world and each other may change, so being able to leave is important. We also value community, so we want to make sure the people who are in share similar values around how we share space (even if this is just the driveway or garden).

Our original mission was to look in the inner/mid north and to purchase sometime late 2023. We’ve since found that there’s enough diversity of interest in different areas or timelines to instead try to support a few sub-groups. So our work at the moment is finding a broader pool of interested folks and developing the tools needed to link people into smaller buying groups with well suited interests.

New people are always welcome. Currently there’s a core group of people doing a lot of the leg-work to work out exactly what work needs to be done, and to do it. We always want extra brains on board, but if you don’t have the bandwidth for that kind of work that’s totally fine - we still need a good base of potential co-housing co-buyers!

Note: We are not lawyers. This is not legal advice. This is our notebook of stuff we are learning.

What are different ownership types?

What is strata title?

A strata title slices up a property with multiple units on it into seperate titles and rights - it also gives you to the right/fair use of shared areas of the property. Under Australian states’ law there are various rules for what kind of governance structure a strata title places can have, and tax incentives to use it.

What is non-strata?

If someone needs to exit / sell their property, things can be a bit more tricky - everyone’s name would be on the title, and there would be a legal document stipulating percentage of sharing and what areas are communal. UNCONFIRMED - eligibility as individuals or a collective for first home buyers grant

What about owning property the corporate world/entites?

If you formed an entity instead of entering into a single title, you would not be eligible for things like the first home owner grant. The extra flexibility sounds fun, but is not for the economically marginal.

Why does ouroboros focus on Strata titles?

What questions will the mortgage broker ask me?

Why am I crying?

What does an apartment purchase process look like?

We are working out what this looks like exactly through an Ouroboros lens - in the meantime the standard process in Victoria is outline on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website. We are still working on the - the steps you would need to consider when identifying co-purchasers for you co-purchase group.

Who is welcome to participate? What do I need?

You need to be prepared to work with some people on a collective project, You need to be eligible to get a home loan for $X.

Is this going to solve housing affordability?

What if I want out?

What are the timelines?

What is the difference between a Strata’d and non strata property?

Who else is doing this kind of thing? Are there alternative models? Alternative groups?

Does your standard real estate know about these kinds of cohousing schemes we are embarking on?

What are the essential questions I should ask a real estate agent in my first phone call?

What do you mean when you say governance

What is a conveyencer?

a person whose job is to manage the legal process of moving land or property from one owner to another:

What is with pre-approval for the first homebuyer grants?

You can keep reapplying for pre-approval for the first home buyer grants after 90 days

what if you thought about buying just individual flats over time?

How does accessibility work?