Our Summerville Code Enforcement officer was in the neighborhood last weekend, and gave us ALL a compliment. He was impressed by how well SELF managed our entire community is doing. He said he had never seen our neighborhood look better. He gave us some very good suggestions for how to manage the few occupants who do not abide by the community standards they are legally bound to adhere to.
We are very fortunate to have so many cooperative neighbors who understand how their actions, or inactions, impact their neighbors. This is particularly important to our residents who are trying to sell their homes due to transfers. When someone is buying a home in Heatherwoods, they are not only buying the home they want, they are buying the view from the entrance all the way to their driveway. That means how you maintain your lawn not only impacts your home value, it can determine the sale for your neighbor.
The board has seen tremendous cooperation from everyone as we have contacted them about a violation. We want to insure the majority of HOA members in good standing that they will not be penalized for the legal actions we have to take against the very few occupants who are in breech of contract with the HOA. All legal fees will be added to the offending member's liens and accrue interest.
The violations that can no longer be tolerated are:
- Boats in the neighborhood in view from the street
- Trailers in the neighborhood in view from the street
- More than 2 vehicles in a driveway
- Blocking a sidewalk with a vehicle
- Failure to keep grass cut lower than 6"
- Failure to keep lawns edged
- Leaving trash cans where they can be viewed from the street
Violations notices and fines are as follows:
#1 - Notice with 10 days to correct = NO FINE
#2 - Notice with 10 days to correct + $50 Fine
#3 - Notice with 10 days to correct + Additional $100 Fine
#4 - Notice with 10 days to correct + Additional $200 Fine
All unpaid fines after 30 days will require a lien being placed and all filing and processing fees will be added to the lien.
This is not intended to offend anyone other than those offenders of the Covenants and Restrictions that the vast majority of us uphold honorably.
Monday, June 29, 2009
June 2008 Yard of the Month
Congratulations to Joel & Beth Kruger at 108 Equinox. They have a beautiful yard, and have consistently maintained and improved it year after year. They received a $50 Lowe's Gift Card from the HOA and a $50 Dinner Certificate courtesy of the Noisy Oyster. Our runner up homes both recieved a Pizza Gift Certificate from FAMULARI'S Pizza. Those winners were Jeremy & Brit Lock at 310 Equinox, and James & Ashley Alessandrini of 220 Equinox.
There were many honorable mentions. The house numbers were:
Equinox Cir
308 220 221 213 208 204 405 108 417 433 435 300 412 317 314 107
Full Moon Court
107 115 110 121 123 125 127 133 129 120 108 117 128 114 112
Thanks to all these hoa members, and everyone who takes the time to keep our property value up by the simple acts of following the Covenants and Restrictions and ARB Guidelines we are agreed to when we purchased our homes.
The next winners will be announced the first week of July. Our next newsletter will go out the 2nd week of July.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Our Next Improvement Requests
Thank you to all who are participating in providing ideas and solutions to our neighborhood improvements. We have begun the improvements on Heatherwoods Park, which we hope to complete in the next month (weather permitting). We encourage anyone who has an interest in the final look to be a part of the landscaping efforts, which are in planning right now.
During our informal conversations with over 80 of the homeowners recently, we have had some interesting improvement ideas come to the surface.
With the completion of Heatherwoods Park, we will have an amenity that can be used when a home goes up for sale. A number of our neighbors expressed an interest in developing the retention pond we share with Eagle Run into a small, stocked fishing pond. We are going to put together a committee to work with the Eagle Run HOA Board to see what it would take and present it to the membership. This would give us two amenities, and one that we could share the expense of upkeep with.
We are looking at a number of options for the front entrance sign upgrade.
Another excellent suggestion was to line the sidewalks with trees on Equinox to mirror the sidewalks on Full Moon Court. We have started looking at ways to find trees in bulk at a lower cost to perhaps do this. If you have any ideas on where we could locate any at a great price, let us know.
If there is an improvement you feel we should investigate, please email us. We are looking for ways to use our HOA dues to improve and maintain, and your input is important.
Thank you for being a good neighbor!
During our informal conversations with over 80 of the homeowners recently, we have had some interesting improvement ideas come to the surface.
With the completion of Heatherwoods Park, we will have an amenity that can be used when a home goes up for sale. A number of our neighbors expressed an interest in developing the retention pond we share with Eagle Run into a small, stocked fishing pond. We are going to put together a committee to work with the Eagle Run HOA Board to see what it would take and present it to the membership. This would give us two amenities, and one that we could share the expense of upkeep with.
We are looking at a number of options for the front entrance sign upgrade.
Another excellent suggestion was to line the sidewalks with trees on Equinox to mirror the sidewalks on Full Moon Court. We have started looking at ways to find trees in bulk at a lower cost to perhaps do this. If you have any ideas on where we could locate any at a great price, let us know.
If there is an improvement you feel we should investigate, please email us. We are looking for ways to use our HOA dues to improve and maintain, and your input is important.
Thank you for being a good neighbor!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Find your Property Plat Online
Go to: http://gisweb.dorchestercounty.net/imap/public_search.asp
In the dropdown menu, select STREET ADDRESS
On the next line, enter your address as such: EQUINOX CIRCLE 111
click RUN SEARCH
Your plat information will be returned.
In the dropdown menu, select STREET ADDRESS
On the next line, enter your address as such: EQUINOX CIRCLE 111
click RUN SEARCH
Your plat information will be returned.
Home Values Analysis
We have requested that a local real estate agent do an assessment of our declining home values and what we can do to reverse that trend.
Susan Nicholson, with Carolina One Real Estate, will be a guest speaker at our July HOA Meeting (being planned). Susan has listed and sold more homes in Heatherwoods than anyone else in the market. She will address our reputation within the real estate selling community and it's impact on our home's resale value, and even getting our homes shown by agents. She will share ideas we can do as a community to keep home values steady through this tough economic period, and how our recent and planned improvements will impact the perception and desirability of our community. Some of what we have heard is going to be hard for us all to hear, but until we know what is said about us outside of our community, we cannot pull together to resolve them.
We know that home values are important to us all, whether we are selling or whether the next door neighbor is selling. We hope that everyone will make a special effort to join us at this meeting.
Susan Nicholson, with Carolina One Real Estate, will be a guest speaker at our July HOA Meeting (being planned). Susan has listed and sold more homes in Heatherwoods than anyone else in the market. She will address our reputation within the real estate selling community and it's impact on our home's resale value, and even getting our homes shown by agents. She will share ideas we can do as a community to keep home values steady through this tough economic period, and how our recent and planned improvements will impact the perception and desirability of our community. Some of what we have heard is going to be hard for us all to hear, but until we know what is said about us outside of our community, we cannot pull together to resolve them.
We know that home values are important to us all, whether we are selling or whether the next door neighbor is selling. We hope that everyone will make a special effort to join us at this meeting.
Past due Notices Mailed
Our Heatherwoods HOA 2009 dues notices were sent out in January. To date, most homeowners have paid their 2009 HOA dues either in full, or using the optional payments plan. 37 homeowners failed to make any attempt, or request payment options. We have sent the final notices out with the past due amounts that have accrued since the due date (March 31, 2009). We know some of these were unintentional oversights, others may be having difficulty during this tough economic time. We have requested that they make arrangement to complete their obligations by June 15th, or we will have to file liens against their homes on your behalf. (Note: local realtors advise us that our low HOA dues, $100 less per year than the next lowest local community, do have a positive impact on our resale value).
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Heatherwoods Park Improvement Project
Heatherwoods Park is the most expensive community property we maintain, exceeding the cost of our water, power, and insurance combined. Heatherwoods Park was left as an open field by the builders. Each Heatherwoods HOA Board of Directors has been decisive in stating that we need to complete what the builders left unfinished as they pulled out. However, these boards failed to implement any improvements to the common areas to warrant 135 homes paying for the upkeep.
As stated in our 2009 annual meeting, improvements were the primary focus of the Board this year. We appreciate the tremendous support of the neighborhood in these efforts that will improve our home values and the enjoyment of the commonly owned property we all pay taxes on and pay to maintain.
Phase One of the Heatherwoods Park Improvements is installing 3 natural areas with covered seating in the park corners. These will include the installation of 3 - 12'x12' shingled roof gazebos with commercial park picnic sets, the installation of 12 new trees, and the installation of natural cedar mulch.
NO SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS REQUIRED (i.e., no we are NOT going to ask anyone for more money.)
Budget:
3 Gazebos with shingled roofs: $4500 (Contracted)
12 trees (25 gallon+) $877 (purchased)
30 yards Mulch delivered $1000 (contracted)
Sodcutter Rental $275
3 picnic sets $900
Total Heatherwoods Park improvement project estimate: $7552
Phase 2 will be the installation of natural walkways on the two easements from Equinox Circle to the Heatherwoods Park on Full Moon Circle. This will define the walk-through for all the neighbors to use, rather than having residents walk through someone's yard.
Budget:
Sodcutter Rental $95
Surveyor $200
14 yards natural cedar mulch delivered $500
700' weedguard $170
Total estimate to install natural walkthroughs: $965
Decisions made for improvements are made in the best interest of all 135 shareholders of the common property. Of the nearly $12,000 we spent using a property management company from April 2008-November 2008:
- $0 was spent on property improvement.
- $0 was the revenue from fines paid.
- $0 is the property value increases realized from 2008 management company
As stated in our 2009 annual meeting, improvements were the primary focus of the Board this year. We appreciate the tremendous support of the neighborhood in these efforts that will improve our home values and the enjoyment of the commonly owned property we all pay taxes on and pay to maintain.
Phase One of the Heatherwoods Park Improvements is installing 3 natural areas with covered seating in the park corners. These will include the installation of 3 - 12'x12' shingled roof gazebos with commercial park picnic sets, the installation of 12 new trees, and the installation of natural cedar mulch.
NO SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS REQUIRED (i.e., no we are NOT going to ask anyone for more money.)
Budget:
3 Gazebos with shingled roofs: $4500 (Contracted)
12 trees (25 gallon+) $877 (purchased)
30 yards Mulch delivered $1000 (contracted)
Sodcutter Rental $275
3 picnic sets $900
Total Heatherwoods Park improvement project estimate: $7552
Phase 2 will be the installation of natural walkways on the two easements from Equinox Circle to the Heatherwoods Park on Full Moon Circle. This will define the walk-through for all the neighbors to use, rather than having residents walk through someone's yard.
Budget:
Sodcutter Rental $95
Surveyor $200
14 yards natural cedar mulch delivered $500
700' weedguard $170
Total estimate to install natural walkthroughs: $965
Decisions made for improvements are made in the best interest of all 135 shareholders of the common property. Of the nearly $12,000 we spent using a property management company from April 2008-November 2008:
- $0 was spent on property improvement.
- $0 was the revenue from fines paid.
- $0 is the property value increases realized from 2008 management company
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