Free Guide: 10 Steps to Community Real Estate Development
A free ebook and checklist for community developers, CDCs, CLTs, and cooperatives.
The path from a community vision to a building your community actually owns — laid out in order, with the questions to answer at every step.
Most community-led real estate projects don't fail at the finish line. They stall early. Before site control. Before a capital stack. Before anyone has written down what the project is actually for.
Not because the vision is wrong. Because no one handed the team a sequence.
This guide is that sequence. Ten steps, in the order they actually happen, drawn from years of working alongside community developers, CDCs, community land trusts, and cooperatives pursuing social-purpose real estate.
10 Steps to Community Real Estate Development Success
What's inside
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The ten steps in the order they actually occur, from vision through operations
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A printable checklist to work through with your team or board
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The questions to answer before you approach a lender or a funder
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What site control really requires, and why projects stall without it
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How to tell whether your project is ready for capital or still needs shaping
Who it's for
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Community-based organizations exploring their first property
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CDCs, community land trusts, cooperatives, and social enterprises
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Small business owners who want to own their space rather than rent it
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Anyone working to bring a community-serving space to their neighborhood