The buy-in math

Why a stake in 2,560 Kootenay acres costs about the price of a used truck — and how sweat and 0% sponsorship get you in without it.

~$10k a share — to buy the land together

Here's the whole thing on a napkin. Your land share is about $10,000 — 500 of us at $10k is $5M, which buys the $4.6M parcel outright and debt-free, with a little over for setup. A way into the West Kootenays for about the price of a used pickup. We're not aware of another honest way in at that number.

What your buy-in actually buys (read this twice)

This is the part to get right, because it is the bargain. Your buy-in does not buy a lot you own and could sell — nobody owns the land; the trust holds all of it, in common, forever. What your money buys is three linked things:

• Your capped equity — held as co-op shares, returned to you (at a capped, inflation-protected value) if you ever leave.
• Secure tenure to your cell — ~3 acres allocated to you by the co-op (occupancy, inheritable), on land held in trust, yours to live on, build on, and pass down.
• Your home — the log house you build is yours, outright.

So you fund the land together and hold a real, recoverable stake — but you can never flip the dirt for a windfall, and neither can a bank, a speculator, or a creditor. That trade is the whole protection. (Follow the money →)

'Capped value' — in plain words (the one to nail)

This is the term everything turns on, so here it is at the tavern, not the law office. When you leave, you get back what you put in, plus a small inflation bump — but never a market windfall. The amount is capped, and that cap is what keeps the next planter's buy-in cheap too.

Pat's story. Pat joins with a $10k buy-in and builds a $20k cabin (cash + sweat) — $30k in. Ten years on, Pat moves; an inflation bump adds ~$5k, so Pat walks away with ~$35k: money back, plus a fair bit — nobody robbed Pat. That cabin might fetch $150k on the open market, but Pat doesn't get $150k. Pat gets ~$35k, and the next planter pays ~$35k to take the place — not $150k. That gap stays in the commons, keeping it a planters' place.

What's capped, and what's yours. The cap is a ceiling only on the resale gain on your home and land. It is not a cap on your life — your business, your income, your savings, your tools, your whole livelihood are uncapped and yours. The cap only stops the dirt and the cabin from becoming a speculation chip.

The one line to remember: you can't get rich off it, and you can't get wiped out of it. You trade the lottery ticket — a windfall that may never come — for the guarantee: a cheap, secure home for life that no bank, speculator, or creditor can ever take.

And you don't need $10k in cash

• Sweat equity. Most of your buy-in can be worked off — building, replanting, running the nursery. We'd rather have your skills than your savings.
• 0% sponsorship. Short on cash? A backer fronts your buy-in at zero interest; you repay over time or in sweat. How sponsorship works →
• Debt-free, so no rent to a bank. Once it's running, the only ongoing cost is a small yearly membership fee — roughly $200 — paid to the co-op to cover the property tax, light bookkeeping, insurance, and shared upkeep. About a long weekend's rent, for a whole year.

The yearly fee — what ~$200 covers

The buy-in is one-time; belonging is cheap. A modest annual membership fee (target ≈ $200) goes to the co-op — not the trust — and covers the running costs of a debt-free commons: the property tax (~$6,700/yr across everyone ≈ $13 each), a bookkeeper and the lightest possible admin, the collective insurance, and upkeep of shared water, roads, and the mesh, with a little into a reserve. At 500 members that's ~$100k/yr — a real but lean budget, kept on open books. Big-ticket projects are funded by guild work and dedicated drives, not by creeping fees.

Where the number could move

Honest caveats: not all the land is buildable (terrain), the water licence may set the real roster below 500, the build cost of your log home is on top of the buy-in, and the exact yearly fee depends on real insurance + service costs. We publish the math as it firms up — open books to members, always.

Claim a founding share →   ← How it works