Current Board Activities – March 2008
Foreclosures
By now, everyone is aware of the current meltdown of
the housing and mortgage markets, and unfortunately our community has become a
microcosm of our nationwide problems.
Currently, there are 6 homes in foreclosure, and at this point there is no way to know what the
final impact and will be in 2008.
In an effort to get ahead of this issue, the Board recently distributed
a survey to all residents to gauge their interest in a Town Hall meeting that
would bring together a wide array of financial professionals to provide our
residents with the most current usable information to protect their homes. To date, we've only had a few
responses, so we assume there's no interest, and have elected to table the
idea.
Delinquencies
Based upon the deteriorating economy in Michigan, as
of March 1, we currently have 23 homes that have yet to pay their 2008
annual assessment, and are
therefore delinquent. Six of those homes are also in foreclosure. It should be noted that from the date a
home goes into foreclosure, the liability for the outstanding unpaid assessment
from that point forward shifts from the homeowner to the bank, and the
association is confident that it should be able to collect at least a portion
of this debt.
As a result, two separate delinquency letters have
been sent out, and the homeowners have been informed that if the overdue amount
is not paid by March 31, the Board intends to take suitable and appropriate action
including Small Claims Court, judgments and liens to collect unpaid
assessments.
The current amount owed to the
Association for these delinquencies is $15,031.
Home Rentals
One of the byproducts of our depressed housing market
is that some residents have moved and rented their homes to tenants. While
there is no way to know if this will become a more common occurrence, it raises
a few issues that we need to share with everyone.
Please be advised, if you intend to rent out your
home, the bylaws stipulate that the following rules must be followed:
á
The unit may not be
rented for a period of less than six months.
á
A copy of the signed
lease must be provided to In Rhodes Management, our property management
company.
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A copy of the bylaws
must be provided to the tenant, and they must be apprised of the fact that they
are required to abide by them in the same manner as all of the residents, even
though they didnŐt sign the original purchase agreement.
It should also be noted, that in the event a tenant fails to maintain the rental property, or violates other portions of the bylaws, the owner of the property is still ultimately responsible, in the same fashion as if they were still living in the subdivision.
By now, everyone has felt the impact of the 54.5%
increase in the cost of Village water. Last fall, Bob LeClercq and Mark Diaz
were charged with the task of exploring the possibility of installing a well by
the pond to water the common areas.
We are pleased to report that the well was installed,
and it should be hooked up and ready for use by early spring. You may be interested to know, that
while we had hoped to hit water at about 100 feet, the contractor had to drill
through bedrock to 180 feet before we found a volume of water sufficient for
our needs. We are confident that
the new well should be able to eliminate the cost of irrigation on about 70-75%
of the common area, and we should recover our initial investment within 12-15
months.
As you may recall, last year a few of our homeowners
volunteered to serve on some committees.
Now that spring is here, we are hopeful that some additional residents
are willing to provide a few hours of time to our community. The following list contains those
individuals along with their area of responsibility:
Howie
Distel – use and maintenance of common areas
Michelle
Merrick – social activities
Julie
Diaz – replace plants in the common area [where needed]
Please
join us in thanking them for their participation, and feel free to call them if
you would like to work on any of these committees. In addition, we are also seeking some volunteers to help
repaint the street sign and stop sign posts in our sub-division.
As some of you may recall, last summer and few of our
neighborhood children were discovered playing in the pond. Depending on water runoff, the
detention pond at times is 8-10 feet deep, and in addition to being dangerous,
the water is undoubtedly polluted. While they and their parents were warned
that the pond is not for swimming, it did give us cause for concern.
During the winter, Board members came across a number
of teenagers using the pond as an ice skating rink and for ice hockey. Our primary concern was the potential
for thin ice, and the possibility of someone falling into the water, and they
too were asked to leave.
As a result of this activity, the Board considered the
potential liability to the Association, and decided to have a sign produced
indicating that the pond is not for recreational use. This sign was installed about six weeks ago and hopefully
will eliminate these problems in the future.
i. A new page has been added containing classified ads that will allow all homeowners to offer items for sale, and post services needed or offered. There will be a limitation on the maximum number of words, and we believe it will further enhance the site.
If you are interested in posting an ad to sell or request an item or a service, there is a link on the homepage to Community Ads, and should be sent to ads@woodlandsofriverside.com
ii. We have added a number of community links of interest, and if you have any suggestions for some additional ones that you feel would be of interest to the community, please let us know.
iii. In the event you have any questions or suggestions for improving the website or activities within the subdivision, please feel free to drop us a note at: boardmembers@woodlandsofriverside.com.
The Board has collected a list of vendors over the past two years, and still hopes to post a list of preferred vendors as part of the homeownerŐs buying cooperative in the spring. These services will include, but not be limited to a wide range of homeowner needs [plumber, painter, fine wood work, basement finishing, etc.].
Now that we have some structured committees, we also are hopeful that some additional residents will volunteer to help us develop a larger list for everyone's use.