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Colorful flower garden with a stone wall and wooden house in the background.

Germantown Commons

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2012

What we do

We are a welcoming, urban community built in 2015 in the heart of Tennessee’s capital.
Our cohousing community includes 25 small homes and a Common House with members ranging in age from 3 to 80, including singles and couples. Our community strives to be multi-cultural, multi-generational, and diverse with families and children.
Homes:
Square footage 659-1,320
1- or 2-BR flats to 3-BR townhomes
Ext. design of brick and hardy plank
Energy-efficient
Super insulation
Solar-ready infrastructure
Homes offer a private courtyard and rain garden, decks and patios
Our Common House is located on the corner of Taylor and 5th Ave North, 37208. Its glass walls and wrap-around porch overlooks an old cottonwood tree, perfect for swinging and other playful activities. Inside we have a dining room, fully-equipped kitchen, a children’s playroom, a cozy living room, activity room, guest bedrooms, and a laundry room. Our courtyard and rain garden include edible landscaping with creative gardening along wall trellises and raised beds.
Located on the Cumberland River, Nashville is known for its music industry and is central to publishing, banking, health care and a large number of colleges and universities, including Vanderbilt University. The entrepreneurial spirit of the city draws a variety of multicultural groups. The nearby downtown area offers popular attractions, including The Frist Art Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame, the world-renowned Ryman Auditorium, Bicentennial Mall and Farmers Market. The natural rolling hills that surround Nashville are beautiful year-round and call to outdoor enthusiasts. Our community is located near the Greenway, which connects Nashville’s Warner Parks, Radnor Lake, and Shelby Bottoms. Rivers and tributaries offer opportunities for fishing and canoeing, and Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest Lake offer boating and swimming.
Nashville was once rated by Forbes Magazine as third among growing cities because of our quality of life with low housing prices and a pro-business environment. According to the 2011 article, “A high quality of life, a vibrant culture and music scene with diverse population makes Nashville a desirable place to live.”
At times we have homes open for sale. Please go to our website, sign up for our newsletter, and/or contact us at: germantowncohousing.com

Our Mission

Community and Diversity

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2012
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2015
  • Started living together
  • 36 Total members
  • Not open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
38

How to join

The membership process would be to visit Germantown Commons, if a home is available, to meet with the homeowner. One would want to attend a Community Meeting and meet the community members, review the Homeowners Association documents and community agreements, and decide whether or not to purchase.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please visit www.GermantownCohousing.com and contact us.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

– Compassionate communication
– Respect for privacy
– Environmentally sustainable lifestyle
– A beautiful environment Commitment to the common good
– Meaningful and authentic interactions
– Honesty and transparency

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes
We intend to share cooking, cleaning, gardening, and other jobs.
There is a monthly homeowners association fee.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Workshop, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Recreational vehicles

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced
  • Hunting / Fishing

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community

Gender composition

  • Majority cis (over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    1 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Tennessee, United States

Germantown Commons

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

More Listings
  • Promoted
Offer
  •
  • Communities with Openings
5 days ago

Two Homes Available in Cohousing Community - Indianola, WA

The Wise Acres Community is a cohousing neighborhood in Indianola, Washington. We currently have two openings: a 5-bedroom house and a 1-bedroom cottage.  In Wise Acres, we gather for dinners, parties, and other events in our common house and tend a community garden together. We look out for each other, make decisions by consensus, and share the work of stewarding the land. One house available for rent has 4 bedrooms, plus a study that can be used as a bedroom. The kitchen and great room face east and south, with high windows that invite lots of natural light. The single-story home has a wood-burning stove in the living room and a whole-house A/C heat pump. Unfurnished. For photos and a floor plan of this house, click here. The other home available for rent is a 1 bedroom 650 sq ft cottage with skylight and a forest balcony. The tranquil, three-story house is suitable for those with good physical mobility.   Wise Acres is walking distance from the beach in a small, friendly town that is 6 miles from the ferry to Seattle. Here’s a link to the Wise Acres community website.  We are seeking to rent to a household that wants to participate fully in community life. For more information, call or text 360 860 0644.
  • Promoted
Need
  •
  • Volunteering
3 weeks ago

Looking for Full Time Volunteers

We are currently accepting full-time residential volunteers. Join us for 6 months (or more) at our Tibetan Buddhist center. Volunteers receive their own private room as well as all meals covered. Volunteers also have full access to classes, workshops, events, and ceremonies. This is a labor-intensive work study program–volunteers work 6 days a week on a variety of tasks such as cooking, cleaning, house maintenance, gardening, It & Tech, event planning, administrative duties, and more. 
  • Promoted
  • Events
2 weeks ago

Healing Love Healing Money: Trust As The Foundation For A New Culture

Money, love and power are among the hardest things any community works with, and many of us carry the same fears into both: not having enough, losing what we have, and the sense that if someone else gets money or love, we won’t. Healing Love, Healing Money: Trust as the Foundation for a New Culture is taught by two intentional communities. Karen McAllister and Duncan Cryle are from Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Center, a Buddhist-lineage community in the BC Rockies. Monika Alleweldt and Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Tamera Healing Biotope, a community of about 160 people in southern Portugal that has spent decades studying love, trust and relationship. Clear Sky has spent years working on its relationship with money, and our two communities found surprising parallels in the fears beneath both. Over four sessions we explore the roots of fear around money and belonging, love, possession and power, trust as infrastructure (community as a container for healing), and ethical livelihood. We use short meditations, body-based practices, reflection and small-group conversation. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship or live in community. When: October 27, Nov 3, 10, 17. All four sessions: 12–2pm Vancouver, 1–3pm Alberta, 7–9pm UK and Portugal, 8–10pm Central Europe. Note: US and some Canadian provinces change clocks on November 1, so the US west coast is 12–2pm on October 27, then 11am–1pm for the remaining sessions, and Eastern is 3–5pm on October 27, then 2–4pm for the rest. Cost: sliding scale Details and registration: https://www.clearskycenter.org/event/healing-love-healing-money-online/  
October 27, 2026 13:00 – November 17, 2026 15:00
  • Promoted
Offer
  •
  • Communities with Openings
2 months ago

Affordable Cohousing in California

La Querencia is an established, multigenerational cohousing community of 28 private homes in northeast Fresno, California. Homes of different sizes are available for sale or rent, at prices well below those of many other cohousing communities—especially in California. We each have our own homes and lives while also sharing meals, gardens, celebrations, a common house, a pool, and the work of caring for the community together. See current homes, prices, photos, and details: https://www.laqcoho.org/available-homes We offer monthly virtual information sessions and in-person tours for people who would like to get to know the community. Tour information is available through our website: laqcoho.com.
  • Promoted
Offer
  •
  • Communities with Openings
4 months ago

Do you feel called to help co-create a small, newly forming eco-spiritual community?

Old structures are crumbling. New ways of living are calling. We are answering that call. Wild Grace is an eco-spiritual community located in the Sierra foothills 30 minutes from Grass Valley, California. We recently completed new homes for those who feel called to our vision. Currently there are four of us living on this sacred 80 acres of land although we are a hub for an expanded neighborhood community. Many join us weekly for potlucks, expressive dance, Qi Gong, monthly musical gatherings, and seasonal celebrations in our temple, as well as tending to our orchard. We are excited to welcome others to join us on the land who are dedicating their lives to spiritual growth and ready to live in a more focused and intimate heart-centered lifestyle. Might that be you or someone you know? The fundamentals are simple. Spirit. We listen personally and collectively together most mornings, usually starting with a musical offering, a prayer, or a short reading, followed by about 40 minutes of what we call “sacred silence.” Heart Circles. About once a week we gather to share and listen. We are informed by authentic and compassionate communication practices. Nature. The land itself—an 80-acre oasis of field and forest perched above the wild and scenic South Yuba River—calls for our stewardship in the gardens, orchard, greenhouses, and general care. In turn, nature feeds us abundantly, both literally and spiritually. Interbeing. We join with others to share inspiration and connection as we host monthly gatherings of song, story and prayer that draws from the larger community in addition to other events we share with our closer neighbors. As we attend to these fundamentals, Grace flows to and through us—often in “Wild” or unexpected ways. Grace catalyzes through us, but is not something we possess. Because we all are connected, we feel that Grace actively transforms n
Need
  •
  • Communities with Openings
2 days ago

Seeking Partner/Co-Founder for a Cooperative Community in Western NC

Co-Founder / Project Partner Needed: Coweeta Heritage Center The Coweeta Heritage Center / Talking Rock Farm in Otto, North Carolina, is seeking a dedicated co-founder and long-term project partner to help manage, expand, and transition our community land project. As the primary founder is balancing physical limitations (including a bad back) and a demanding workload, we are looking for a capable partner to share the operational reins and help shape the next phase of this intentional community. What We Are Looking For Organizational & Administrative Skills: Ability to streamline systems, manage outreach, and organize community data. Social Media & Digital Presence: Skills to revitalize our online reach, update public directory listings (such as ic.org), and manage applicant communications. Practical & Technical Capabilities: Hands-on familiarity with or strong interest in sustainable forestry, organic agriculture, and alternative energy infrastructure. Strong Communication: A commitment to Non-Violent Communication (NVC), transparency, and collaborative governance. What We Offer On-Site Housing: Dedicated housing is provided on-site in Otto to facilitate close coordination, daily collaboration, and deep integration into the land. Established Foundation: Step into an active project with existing infrastructure, clear community onboarding frameworks, an established legal LLC structure, and an estate succession blueprint. Strategic Input: Full partnership in vetting future interns, managing the phased onboarding pipeline, and executing land-clearing and sustainable infrastructure projects.
Need
  •
  • Communities with Openings
1 month ago

Looking for a family-friendly farm, cohousing, or intentional community

This might be a little hard to explain, but I’m going to try. I’m 28, Colombian-American, and I have a seven-year-old daughter. Our life is a little unconventional. I travel, my work is not a normal 9–5, and I’ve realized I don’t want to keep building our life around temporary housing, hired help, and having to recreate a support system everywhere we go. I keep wondering whether there is somewhere we could actually belong. Not necessarily an “intentional community” in the formal sense. It could be a farm, a group of families, cohousing, an intergenerational household, or something I don’t have the language for yet. What I want is for my daughter to grow up around people she really knows. Other children. Adults who become familiar and trusted over time. A place where people notice when someone needs help, where meals or childcare or work sometimes overlap naturally, and where community is more than everyone living near each other. And for myself, I want people I can actually think and build with. I care a lot about spirituality, inner work, land, education, caregiving, and learning how to live differently. But I also care about power and about whether the communities we create reproduce the same things we say we’re trying to get away from. I need to be around people who can acknowledge things like racism, class, gender and systemic inequality without becoming defensive or treating those conversations as inherently divisive. I’ve been developing some of my own thinking around all of this through a framework I call Conscious Colombia, Participating Wisely, and Contemporary Sādhana. A lot of it comes down to a question I keep returning to: how do we become people who can participate in community wisely, while also creating structures that remain accountable and open to correction? I don’t have a fixed location in mind and I’m not looking to rush into anything. I’m really just trying to find the people and places where this kind of life is already being attempted — imperfectly, seriously, in real life. If you’re building something like this, living in something like this, or even asking similar questions, I’d love to talk.
Offer
  •
  • Forming Communities
4 weeks ago

Looking to Form Community for Families with Neurodiverse Children/Adults

Seeking to a form an intentional farming community for families with neurodiverse children/adults. I would not only like to aim to provide support for the families on the land, but also provide arts and mutual aid initiatives within the greater community. We are located in Vermont, and looking to hopefully stay in the Northeast/MidAtlantic area. I envision an ecovillage that incorporates aspects of permaculture and optimizes sustainability. In addition to farming, we would offer additional opportunities for neurodivergent individuals to learn, build skills, socialize and receive support during the day. K-12 students would be offered an alternative schooling option – think “free school”, “Sudbury method”, or “Waldorf method”. Adult members would visit “stations” throughout the day (i.e. farm, arts, weaving, music, nature walks, etc.). The ultimate goal of this community would be to provide support for school-aged children and their families and then eventually provide care-giver assisted housing for family members ready to transition to more independent housing. I have experience with Camphill and other similar lifesharing communities for neurodiverse individuals and would love to collaborate with other families looking for support in navigating care for neurodiverse loved ones. 
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