SOI - Stuff of Importance

Let's go omnibus here:

1. With the impending snow, a reminder -- we (HOA) will plow at 2 inches of accumulated snowfall and again as necessary. Please have your cars out of the street. The city also plows, but we're never quite sure when, so don't rely on it. As always, please help neighbors with shoveling if you can.

2. Our annual meeting is scheduled for March 20th. You'll be receiving a letter of notice and a proxy in the mail shortly. The notice is legal, but the proxy is something many misunderstand. To do business at the meeting, we require a quorum of homeowners, a minimum number. If you are in attendance, great. If you can't be, your proxy allows us to count your votes. You may designate another homeowner as your representative. Failing that, the Board will carry your proxy. We hope as many will be in attendance as possible, but be sure your proxy is in if you can not.

3. You'll be receiving a letter about community standards. The Property Manager has noted the violations throughout the community that will be addressed. If you're in violation, you'll also receive a notice describing the violation. (For instance, if you have no grass in your backyard, the notice will say "You have X days to prove seeding and will be subject to penalties if further inspection does not show you meet standards.") The biggest violations were yards, landscaping, and unapproved property changes.

3a. You'll also note street parking will be discussed. This is an ongoing debate to which there is no simple answer. While the covenants address this, this is superseded by local ordinances. The city of Greenwood has been issuing citations for street parking and for blocking sidewalks. The HOA will *not* be issuing violations on this under normal circumstances, but the city has the right to enforce their ordinances.

3b. So what's NOT a normal circumstance? In my opinion, if you are parking on the street for a short term period (ie, overnight), aren't blocking the road, are parking with traffic, and have your driveway filled, that's reasonable. (Reasonable, yes, but not legal according to the city.) If you have a car that's been there a week, is on blocks, or is otherwise a nuisance, that's where the HOA might get involved.

4. What's the biggest problem right now? Minimum standards for landscaping. MANY homeowners have not met the minimum standards that they agreed to when they purchased their homes. CP Morgan did not enforce these standards, which was their choice, but the HOA shall. We're not asking for anything elaborate; just the minimum standards as noted in the covenants. We'd much rather that people spent their money on making their homes look great rather than fines and court costs, so just take a look around. We'll have upcoming seminars on landscaping, yard maintenance, and other topics to help you. As well, we're working on getting some discounts from local businesses (landscapers, mowing, etc) to help manage the costs.

5. Here's the good news -- while the downturn in the economy hurts all of us, our area is seeing some of the smallest drops in home value. Indianapolis wasn't overvalued in the way that San Francisco or Florida were, so we'll come back quicker. Also, Homecoming is BELOW the expected rate of foreclosure given our community's size and demographics. With new businesses coming in, such as Cabela's, we're liable to see some increased demand later this year.

As always, if you have any questions, you know how to reach me by email or by phone.

A quick poll question for you on garages ...

ACC

No, this isn't a basketball post ... though Big 10 fans, you're down this year.

Instead, this is about one of the most exciting changes for Homecoming. With the changing of the calendar also came a changing of the guard. The board has taken over the administration of architectural and community standards. The Architectural Control Committee, led by resident Don Harrington, will be monitoring several important things to keep our community up to the levels we all expect. Their duties will include:

1. Approving any architectural changes

This sounds small, but if you're looking to add anything with any permanence -- a fence, a basketball goal, or make noticeable changes to the exterior of your home, you are required to get approval first. Failure to do so is ... well, it's bad, so don't do it! You should have the forms handy and turn them in to Main Street Management.

2. Monitoring standards

This goes hand in hand with the first one, but makes sure everyone is up to the community minimums on landscaping. This is a problem area and one that will be addressed. If you haven't got your trees, shrubs, and grass up to standards, it's not too early to plan out what you're going to do when springtime comes.

3. Monitoring violations

This is pretty self-explanatory and hopefully, we won't have to get into this one too much.

Thanks to Don and the rest of the committee. We'll have more information after their first meeting next week.