What It Costs

I. One-time Joining Fee: $4,000 per adult. Payable when becoming a Provisional Member. (Sometimes Earthaven's finance committee OKs paying this fee in installments during the period of Provisional Membership.)

II. One-time Residential Site Lease Fee.
$20,000 for a Full Site, for up to 4 adults, plus any children, or
$12,000 for a Compact Site, for up to 2 adults, plus any children.
(1) Paid in one lump sum (Site Option #1).
(2) Paying half the site fee and monthly payments of at least $150 with interest (Site Option #2).
(3) Monthly payments only through a dedicated savings plan (Site Option #3).

The person can also go in with up to three other members on a full site, and up to one other member on a compact site. The new member doesn’t have to choose a site immediately, but can take several years to do so. However, the site lease fee must be paid (or begun) as soon as the person becomes a Full Member.

III. Annual Dues and Fees.

• Provisional and Full Members' Annual Dues and Fees: $808 for 2007-08.
• Facilities Fees: Fees of $70 - $140 if you use the Hut Hamlet bathing facilities, kitchen, or both.
• Vehicle Fee: $100 per vehicle ($50 for small vehicles—ATVs, motorcycles, golf carts).

IV. Annual Labor Requirement.

Full Members: 1500 community service hours over their first 10 years; 50 hours per year minimum. If paid in cash, $15,000 total, or $1,500 per year. (An hour's labor credit is one leap in our alternative currency, which equals $10 an hour.)
Provisional Members: 48 hours (leaps) per quarter or four hours a week. If paid in cash, $40 a week.

V. (Possibly) the expenses of building or buying (or renting) a small dwelling in the Hut Hamlet. The new member can live in the Hut Hamlet for up to five years while choosing a site and building a larger house in a neighborhood, although some members have lived in the Hut Hamlet longer. People sell or rent their small Hut Hamlet dwellings to new incoming members once they no longer need them. Hamlet residents who own their own huts there owe $40 or 4 leaps a month, payable quarterly. It costs one leap a month to use the Hut Hamlet shower and two leaps a month to use both shower and kitchen, payable quarterly.

VI. The expenses of clearing, developing, and building on a homesite. (See #9, below.)

1. Does it cost less to live at Earthaven?

Living at Earthaven can be both less and more expensive than living in mainstream culture. On one hand, depending on the size of home you built and materials used, it can cost more up front because bank loans aren't available and people need to use existing funds or personal loans. Many homes here are relatively small for this reason. Also, siteholders need to set up their own off‑grid electric power (or get power from a neighbor), which usually means the one-time costs for photovoltaic panels, batteries, an inverter, and other associated costs, and this is expensive.

On the other hand, people can build a very small home without electric power, which costs less. Or they can choose to go in with others to build a multi-family residence, which can cost less per household than building a single residence.

Earthaven homes must meet building codes; however, county building inspectors are supportive of our using strawbale, cob, clay-straw walls, and other natural building materials and methods as long as we can demonstrate that the building meets code requirements for strength and safety. Once people live here, monthly expenses tend to be lower than elsewhere (but this doesn't include the cost of commuting if they work off-site).

2. Do Earthaven members own title to their sites?
No, all members own all Earthaven property in common through the Earthaven Association. Members lease sites through 99-year renewable, transferable Site Leases with the Earthaven Association.

3. Do you have to purchase a Site Lease, or can you rent?
We don't have the option for members to rent indefinitely, as all members must have leased a homesite, alone or with others. However, new people who are considering Earthaven or who are already on the membership track can rent rooms or dwellings from existing members.

4. Can more than one member own a site together?
Up to four adults can share a full site, and two adults can share a compact site.

5. At what point do Provisional Members pay the Joining Fee?
During the Council meeting at which they become a Provisional Member.

6. At what point do new members pay the Site Lease Fee?
During the Council meeting at which they become a Full Member (unless they’re doing Site Option 3). As noted earlier, a new Full Member doesn’t have to choose a site immediately, but can take several years to get to know each neighborhood first.

7. If I leave, do I get my Joining Fee or Site Lease Fee back?

No. Your Joining Fee is non-refundable. Your Site Lease Fee is not refundable either; however, Earthaven may choose to buy back your Site Lease, but only if the community can afford it. Earthaven probably would not buy back a Site Lease in one lump sum, but over time, in payments. Please note, Earthaven is not obligated to buy back anyone’s Site Lease, but may choose to do so. You have the right to sell your Site Lease (and the improvements on your homesite) to any other Earthaven member; however, the sale needs to go through Earthaven’s Finance committee; it cannot be a direct sale between the two of you. If you are selling to a new incoming member, you will get back the money you originally paid for the Site Lease, and Earthaven will get the difference between that and the current Site Lease Fee.  

8. What are sample costs for building small dwellings in the Hut Hamlet?
Costs have ranged from $7,000 to $20,000, depending on the year these were built, their square footage, the materials they were made of, how much labor was required, who built it, and whether or not it's a single dwelling or an apartment in a larger building. We can provide more specific information.

9. What are sample costs for clearing and developing a site and building a home?
This involves clearing trees (skilled Earthaven loggers can do this for a fee), and removing brush. In most neighborhoods, it involves building a road to the site, and building a driveway, (skilled Earthaven trackhoe and tractor operators can do this for a fee). It involves bringing in electric power for power tools and water for concrete for footers, foundations, etc., and materials and labor costs for any buildings.

Sample costs of homesite development at Earthaven have ranged from about $35,000 to $50,000 for a small home on a full site with a small PV system (one owner-builder finished his home over seven years as funds became available), to about $200,000 for a larger home on a full site, with a larger PV system and other sustainable systems (with the owner developing the site over several years and hiring a construction crew to build the home over several months). Most homesite development costs are roughly $50,000 to $60,000 for a very small home on a full or compact site, and more than $100,000 for a full-sized two or three-bedroom home on a full or compact site. Construction costs continue to rise, so these figures may be outdated.

About Earthaven's Financial Structure:

10. Is Earthaven's property paid off?
Yes! We paid it off in 2005.

11. What are Earthaven's annual expenses??
Annual Operating Expenses (Fixed Expenses): Property taxes; insurance; repair and maintenance of community buildings, roads, bridges, equipment; promotions; administrative costs of committees, such as office equipment and supplies, printing, photocopies, postage, food for workers in work parties, and any paid services; legal and accounting services. 

Until 2005, annual expenses included paying back principal and interest on money loaned by the Earthshares Fund for property purchase and development.

One-time Expenses (Capital Expenditures):Clearing land; building new buildings, road, bridges, power systems; improving/remodeling old ones; buying new equipment.

12. What are Earthaven's sources of income?
Non-recurring income sources are new members’ Joining Fees and Site Lease Fees, whether paid up front or over time. Recurring annual income comes from monthly dues and fees from non-member residents; all members’ annual dues and fees; agricultural lease fees; electricity sales; and grants and donations. .

13. Why do incoming members pay Joining and Site Lease Fees?
Until 2005, these fees reimbursed the founders and Earthaven friends and supporters who financed the purchase and development of the property through the Earthshares Fund, and paid the interest on this loan. Fees from founders and our earliest members paid the up-front costs of buying and developing the property's roads and community buildings. Fees from later members helped pay off the loan for these expenses, and for developing additional physical infrastructure, such as the bridge at the second creek crossing. Fees from future incoming members will pay for further physical infrastructure, such as the planned new kitchen-dining room building.

14. Why do Earthaven members pay annual fees and dues?
These fees reimburse the annual operating expenses, as noted in #11, above.

15. Where does Earthaven get funds each year for new buildings, roads, and bridges?
As noted above, from that year's Joining Fees and Site Lease Fees, if or when any money is left over after making loan payments. Thus each year's new incoming members directly fund Earthaven's property purchase and infrastructure development costs.

16. What is the Earthshares Fund?
A loan of money from a number of various Earthaven members, friends, and supporters, who in 1995 moved money from CDs and other investments to a multi-year savings plan/loan investment to help get Earthaven started. Additional people loaned Earthaven money through this fund in 1996 and 1997. The Earthshares Fund was used to pay off the property's former owner-financers between 1995 and 1997, and for early infrastructure development. The loan was secured by a promissory note and deed of trust (lien on the deed). Lenders to the Earthshares Fund were to be paid back over several years with payments on the principal, and 8.5% interest. For two years we couldn't make the principal payments, so we just paid the interest. These people were fully supportive of Earthaven's development, and thanks to them, we were able to buy and develop the property. In the last year of the loan, interest rates were reduced by agreement with the Earthshares lenders.

17. What did the property cost?
The purchase price was $1200 an acre for 328 acres (even though we only actually have 320 acres) or $393,600. However, by the time we'd paid off the owner-financers (the Brown family) in 1997, with interest of 8.75%, we'd paid them $425,000 total.

BUT the property cost more than that, because from 1995 on we were also paying 8.5% interest to the Earthshares Fund. So by the time we paid off the Earthshares Fund in 2005, we paid out approximately $155,000 more in interest to the Earthshares lenders. We've paid approximately $580,000 total for our 320 acres.

[Note: The original purchase price was quoted as $1200 an acre, or $441,600 for 368 acres. However, after a property survey it turned out to be only 320 acres, or 48 acres less than they (and we) had thought. But the owner-financers wouldn't lower the price any more than 40 acres' worth, so we paid for 328 acres instead of 320.]

18. Did Earthaven borrow money to buy the property and develop infrastructure?
Yes, twice. The first loan was built into the property purchase when we bought it in December 1994. We paid a down payment of $128,000 on the purchase price of $393,600, and the Brown family loaned (owner-financed) the rest of what we owed them at 8.75% interest. So it was like they were a bank making a loan. This kind of owner-financing is fairly common when people buy rural property.

The second loan was from the Earthshares Fund lenders, which was about $250,000 in 1995. Later more funds were lent by these lenders. As noted above, the funds were used to pay off the Browns, and for early infrastructure development. We paid off the Earthshares Fund lenders in early 2005—which means we paid off the property.

19. If Earthaven disbanded as a community, would the property be sold and the profits divvied up equally between all members?
The Land Use and Common Rights Agreement (LUCRA) of Earthaven Association requires that if we disbanded as a community and sold the property we'd set aside 1% of the proceeds to go to a new ecovillage effort. The portion of the sale income derived from the land value would be divided among all siteholders according to fractional ratios of their site holdings (full or compact sites) and the amount they originally paid as Site Lease Fees. All the rest of the proceeds, from the value of common buildings, bridges, the tractor, and other assets, would be divided equally among the members.

20. What are new members paying for when they join?
One can buy a similar quarter acre of raw land in this area for less than Earthaven's combined Joining Fee and Site Lease Fee for a full site. But comparing a quarter-acre of land outside of Earthaven to a quarter-acre homesite inside Earthaven is like comparing apples and oranges. What people buying into Earthaven get is more than a quarter-acre of land. They get co‑ownership and enjoyment of the whole property and the right to help determine its future; the right to develop and build on their own home or business site; their share of all physical labor and materials costs to develop roads, bridges, and community buildings; and their share of all the years of administrative and social/cultural work of creating an intentional community. Plus not having to do all this work from scratch.

21. Will the Joining Fee ever go up?
It might. At first there was no separate Joining Fee. It has been $1,500, $3,000, and $3,500 over the years. For the last few years it's been $4,000.

22. Will the Site Lease Fee ever go up?
It might. We decided years ago to put a cap on the full site when it reached $20,000 (and on a compact site when it reached $12,000). We raised the full site fee by $500 every year for many years and it reached $20,000 in 2007. (We did this because every year we have more physical and administrative infrastructure in place, so every year people are buying into a higher-value property.) But we could always increase it again, if the need arises.

23. How are Site Lease Fees determined?
By an estimate of the expected total capital costs for property ownership and development vs. total capital income. More specifically it's a kind of artful guess about the following factors: the property's actual purchase cost, including principal and interest; the cost of materials for developing our physical infrastructure (community buildings, roads, bridges); the cost of labor we have to hire for infrastructure development; and the potential for receiving Joining Fees and Site Lease Fees from our total future number of members. The Finance committee can propose changes in the amount of the fee every year, which Council can adopt, amend, or reject.

24. Where will Earthaven get revenue once it has leased all its home and business sites and has all of its planned 160 members?
From annual dues and fees; grants and donations through our affiliated nonprofit, Culture's Edge; and income from hosting large gatherings and events and other, smaller sources.

25. What kind of legal entity does Earthaven use to own its property and assets?
A Homeowners Association, which is a particular kind of a nonprofit corporation, used most often for housing developments. In most Homeowners Associations, everyone has title to their own land and a share of the common property. The Earthaven Association, however, uses this legal entity differently, in that all Earthaven members own all Earthaven property and assets in common, and individual members have a Site Lease, but not a deed and title, to their homesite.

26. Who keeps track of all this?
The Finance Committee. All Earthaven members (including Provisional Members) are welcome to attend these meetings.