What would have to be true for us to buy this building together? I’m building the Community Buyout Kit to help neighbors answer that question while the building is still for sale. It’s an open source project and a work in progress.
How it would work
The idea is to open the kit in an AI agent you already use and give it a property listing or whatever documents you have. It would ask what you want to do with the building, then help you sketch out one way to buy it. How much would you need to raise? What rent would cover the mortgage, taxes, and repairs? Who would own the building and decide what to do with it?
I want the kit to produce a short brief you can share with neighbors. It would show where the numbers came from, which ones are estimates, and what you still need to ask the tenant, a lender, or a lawyer. That should give you enough to decide whether to get people together and look into the purchase further.
Why I’m building it
I started with a hypothetical in “What if we bought the building?” If the building that houses our local coffee shop went up for sale, could enough of us chip in to buy it? The shop could stay independently owned and keep serving coffee. We’d become its landlord, responsible for paying the mortgage and fixing the roof when it leaks.
I like the idea that neighbors could take responsibility for a place they use every day. But before anyone can have a serious conversation about buying it, someone has to work out what it might cost, how the group could raise the money, and who would make decisions once they own it. I’m building the kit to make that first round of homework easier, so neighbors can decide whether this is something they want to take on.