The Process

Photo of Hillcrest Community Cooperative Members celebrating after purchasing their community.
  • Save
The Members of Hillcrest Community Cooperative, a 97-site ROC in Clarks Grove, Minn., purchased their community in November 2015 for $1.72 million. Today, they work with Northcountry Cooperative Foundation for ongoing training and coaching.

ROC USA® helps resident groups in for-sale communities come together and purchase their neighborhoods. We work with a network of regional affiliates called Certified Technical Assistance Providers who, in turn work closely with community Boards of Directors.

TA Providers will, with your community owner’s permission, study the economics of a resident purchase. If it looks promising, they will speak to your neighbors about how they can go about purchasing the community. If you and your neighbors decide to move forward, you will form a cooperative association and hire your own impartial experts to assess the community’s infrastructure and the purchase itself.

If the results are promising and the association Members vote to move forward, the association secures a loan, perhaps through ROC USA® Capital. If a better loan can be found elsewhere (sometimes state housing agencies provide very-low-interest loans, for example), ROC USA and TA providers are required to provide that information.

With financing in place, a date is set for the purchase and you and your neighbors take control of your neighborhood. You can begin making decisions for the betterment of the community and enjoying the security and control of resident ownership and all the benefits that come with working with ROC USA.

Read ROC USA’s Organizing, Training and Technical Assistance Principles here.