Steps To Becoming Really Good Neighbors
(The Village Beginnings)
If your family feels aligned with this vision, this is what would happen, step-by-step!
01
Contact Us
Click here to send us a message telling us about your interest! No need to get all fancy, just tell us the members of your household and anything else that's really on your heart to share. We'll follow up with enthusiasm and a questionnaire to provide some guidance in getting to know each other. If there are any other families at this point, we would also share the questionnaire answers with them.
02
Schedule A Zoom Call
It would be so silly to wait long before seeing each other face to face! This gives a chance to ask some further questions of each other (you're interviewing us as well- This is in no way one way). If there are other families at this point they would be included in the second half of this call. We're chill here, no reason to be nervous.
03
Decide & Zoom Again
After the first Zoom call, there would be space to think and ask further questions. We could plan another clarifying Zoom call as well. At some point, we'd all schedule a call with a decision about moving forward or not. This would only be with us (Sylas and Nia) and your family. If it's not a good fit you will not leave the call without alternative village references and specific steps about what your family could do next. If it is a good fit, we would ask each other more detailed personal questions regarding finances and feelings.
04
Meet In Person
Once we're all pretty sure we're a good fit, and that we have the number of families that feel good to start with, we'd all pick a location to meet in person (This would now be Sandpoint, Idaho since we have some families that are all interested in this area). Ideally, staying for a week at the least, to get to know each other and the place.
05
The Place
Once we've fully decided on each other and are committed to make it work, we'd go back and forth with potential land options that are on the market.
We wouldn't settle until everyone is completely settled in their own heart on the place. It could be the location of home for the rest of our lives- we're not going to try and expedite this. Ideally, we would all try and relocate to the place decided on before buying together- whether that be renting for a couple months or living in an RV. This would REALLY help move things faster if we can visit places together and communicate effectively. If a family needs some help moving, it would be awesome to travel to them and help out. It can really lower stress and increase excitement about the next phase of life together- combatting any temporary resentment about moving as, of course, uprooting is difficult.
06
Paperwork and Legality
This is where it all becomes very real- we'd all buy individual houses or buy land together. If it's outside of someone's country of citizenship, we would help each other work through the legality. We become very transparent with financial matters, legal what-if matters, and figuring out the specifics of each family's source of income in that (potentially) new country or state. We have a page on finances coming soon. We will all legally own our own spaces- financially protected.
07
Moving & Bonfires
Helping each other as much as we can, we begin moving into the new houses or onto the new land (if it's land this would have to be in the end of winter so that in the warm months we can build up a temporary structure for all of us to live in through the winter if there's not already one on the property. One of the first things we would all do together is hold a massive bonfire/ celebration. Everything until this point was leading up to this- the real moment of transition that we can now feel with all our senses as a reality. Without all the specifics of our living situation even figured out, it's time to celebrate, be vulnerable with one another, and prioritize connection over technical details. The healing balm for stress is relationship- the very tangible fact in this situation that none of us are alone.
08
Charging Forward
With whatever vision we have all created together for the future of our families, we move forward with clear communication and fun in making it a reality- always encouraging each other towards laughter and lightheartedness in the process.
