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Leewood Homeowners Association
February/March 2002 Newsletter
See you at the Annual Meeting on March 12!
Annual Meeting Coming Soon by Ron Filadelfo /Chris Taylor
The Leewood Homeowners’ Association annual meeting for all homeowners will be Tuesday, March 12, in the multipurpose room at the Phillips School. The school is located right across Braddock Road from Leewoods. We’ll have signs at the entrances directing homeowners to the multipurpose room. Social hour, with refreshments, begins at 7 PM and the business session begins at 8 PM. We’ll again be giving away some very nice door prizes!
All homeowners are encouraged to attend. Because two new positions on our board need to be filled, it is important that you come to cast your vote, as well as to hear what issues Leewood faces in the coming year. Homeowners interested in being a candidate for the LHOA Board should contact Chris Taylor, or Judy Currier. (addresses/telephone numbers removed for web publishing)
There is a forthcoming vacancy and one need not be a longtime homeowner in order to apply. The association is looking for those who have a general love of the development and a desire to serve. We also need several volunteers to help fill some of the committees that oversee community services (eg. Grounds and Maintenance, Architectural Review, etc.), so please consider joining in to help our community run effectively.
Presidents Message - February
A thank you to those of you who have responded to the architectural review second notices and hearing requests. A lot of work has been done on various houses, and the community is looking quite nice. Remember to contact Pam Stover if you need an extension to complete any repairs with the cold weather now here or if you have any questions about the violations cited.
The association is serious in its efforts to maintain the community standards. Two cases have been brought to court. In one instance, the association was successful in obtaining a judgment to collect on the penalties assessed for non-compliance. In the other court case, the judge ruled that the association needed an expert to show that the shutters and paint on the house were in need of repair. So the association, with the attorney, had to step back and regroup (as we did not have an expert witness available in court that day). The board in conjunction with the attorney will determine our next steps. No one on the board or ARC wants maintenance issues to go this far, but the board does need to fairly and consistently enforce the standards set in the community.
Fence repairs are slated for February for some of the common area fencing. In conjunction with the association repairs, Lee Fence is offering the same pricing to individual homeowners who would like to replace their own fences. A flyer has gone to every residence and to offsite owners. If you need more information, you can contact Al Sanford at (703) 750-2831 for general questions or Jason at Lee Fence (703) 471-7766 if you are interested in participating.
The board will be sending out requests for proposals for a reserve study. The reserve study will be used to verify that the amounts that have been set aside for repair and replacement of the common elements (fences, sidewalks, streets, mailboxes) are sufficient. A reserve study was completed in 1993 and has been updated by the board annually. However, to ensure that the assumptions used to determine the amount of reserves are still accurate, the board believes that a study by an outside firm makes good business sense at this time.
The directory should be going to the printers soon and will be delivered to each resident and to offsite owners. Thanks again for turning in your updates. I know that I have found the directory to be quite useful and hope that you will as well.
Lastly, we are gearing up for the annual meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, March 12th. Notices and more information will be forthcoming. At this time, we are looking for volunteers to serve on the board and any of the committees. There is one board position that will be up for election this year. Remember that the five board members are elected by the homeowners for staggering three-year terms. Then the board members after the election determine which member will serve in each of the five positions (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and special projects board member). If you are interested in serving on the board or a committee, please contact Chris Taylor of the Nominating Committee or any other board member.
Presidents Message - March
We have quite a few homeowners who did not pay their first quarter assessment in time. Letters have gone out to those homeowners. Thanks to those of you who have responded so far. For those of you questioning how you missed it, the notice went out in late November along with the tot lot survey and directory questionnaire. We do not use the usual post card for the first quarter since we have to notify you of any increase in assessments for the new year. Continued on next page
A few items were discussed at the last board meeting regarding grounds and maintenance. We had received some complaints about late trash and recycle pick-up. Al Sanford monitored pick-ups and realized that it was only the recycling that was being picked up later in the day. He was able to speak to the truck driver and appears to have negotiated a return to early pick-up. If you notice late pick-ups beginning again, please notify a board member, and we will contact the trash removal vendor. In addition, the board has been advised of the pothole on Leebrad Street. Our grounds and maintenance person is working on getting it repaired.
In other open board matters, we have received a few more complaints regarding parking. The parking committee has completed some work this year regarding parking and traffic, but formal recommendations have not yet been made to the board. We hope that this will be one of the first items addressed by the board after the March annual meeting. In the meantime, we are still trying to ticket (and tow, where necessary) cars that are in violation of our parking rules.
The nominating committee is still looking for individuals interested in running for the board position that will be open this year. Again, if anyone is interested, please contact Chris Taylor. The annual meeting is scheduled for March 12 at the School for Contemporary Education on Braddock Road. Everyone is welcome for the social hour that begins at 7:00 p.m. and the meeting that follows at 8:00 p.m. Come meet your neighbors and enter your name in our prize drawing for various gift certificates to local restaurants! If you cannot attend, please make sure that you forward your proxy to a board member or other homeowner so that we can be assured to have a quorum for the meeting.
Neighborhood Watch by Judy Currier
On Saturday night January 12th there was an attempt to steal a Jeep from our neighborhood (on Leebrad St.). The car's locks were drilled, but apparently the person got interrupted. There were two Jeeps stolen that night -- one from Leewood Forest. Be alert for unusual people/noises and do your part to keep the neighborhood well lit.
REAL HOUSE PRICES Opinion by tony mc sorley
Reported in Washington Post: " Falls Church's ASSESSED property values for smaller townhouses jumped from $196,600 to $260,000, 32.3 percent." The sale prices were probably in the $295,000 range. This leap was partly fueled by the current favorable low mortgage rates.
Leewood sellers seem to be really under pricing, given the last sale, a Bradwood Court middle unit, sold for $235,000 in a day. Four of the last five sales took a day, if not hours. They never even, formally, came on the market. These sales were by a multitude of different realtors.
These quick sales and Falls Church price increases show we are buying into realtors low ball pricing listings & appraisal presentations. My believe is a correct price would entail a sale cycle of week to 10 days, not hours and minutes as at present.
Some realtors want quick sales and commissions and use below market pricing. One way is to join Leewood with older Leewood Forest rather than Braddock Mews; which while not as nice is 20K to 30K more. Fairfax even compares Leewood with the Mews for assessments. But not realtors, their computers sort only on same name, Leewood.
Also, care should be taken when selling with a realtor who desires to build foot traffic and sell through a bidding war. The realtor will convince the homeowner to list the house at a unrealistic low price. Without the hoped for bidding war, its impossible to increase the price. This sale tactic while not illegal does nothing really for the seller but does help the realtor get a quick six percent commission.
Leewood seller should ask more and be willing to fight for a correct listing price and appraisal. If the appraisal returns low as happened with the latest 235K sale, the seller should not make the appraiser's job easy. If its wrong, say so and demand another. Don't just go along.
Maybe, the Leewood community should treat sales as a community endeavor and give a yearly exclusive marketing deal to only one realtor. Thus, helping those selling with an endorsed knowledgeable realtor who is not in for the quick buck but rather a real sale price based on the market value.
Alternately, maybe we could have a yearly class on selling your home yourself. The last person to do this at Leewood was able to sell within a week to buyer with their own agent. The seller agreed to give the buyer's agent 3 percent to handle the paper work and closing and got his price. All done with a sign at the house and one at Braddock Road. For a $235K sate half commission saving would have been $7,000.
Many factors go into a listing price and sale. For most an experienced realtor's commission is a well paid cost of selling your largest asset. But remember to look at the total picture and stand up for what you think. You should get three realtors opinions. If your price is to high, the market will tell you quickly by not buying.
Don’t forget to include in the list price your non-refundable $1,000 escrow in Leewood reserve funds and your reserved parking space, a $20,000 value.
Items For 2002 LHOA Annual Meeting Ideas by tony mcsorley
During last year's tot lot discussions, the Leewood president learned from the Leewood lawyer, the board of directors have the supreme authority and the final vote regarding everything, spending or building a tot lot, whatever. There were no limitations in the governing rules and covenants restricting the board from deciding to spend any amount of money on any thing that hits their fancy. While the twenty five year history of Leewood's boards has shown the integrity of the volunteer board members, we can not leave this glaring hole in our controlling documents. I'm sure our annual audit by a CPA wouldn't pass now that this bottomless hole is known, just like Enron.
Therefore, I recommend:
A resolution be passed to limit the spending of the Leewood board to anything not in the yearly standard maintenance budget items,i.e., garbage, grounds, and snow, to two thousand dollars per project, anything above the limit requires a majority vote of the homeownwers agreement. This switches the controlling vote from the board to the homeowners whose money it is.
This resolution pretty much just formally puts in place what the board did in resolving the tot lot vote. The big difference, it puts into law rather than just the wish and feeling of the board. It will stop any depletion of our homeowner reserve and yearly dues except with the concurrence of most of the homeowners.
As told to me by a Leebrad resident, only a three person change on the board could result in a new tot tot behind your house. This was probably the meaning behind the January article on the tot lot vote results ending with "AT THIS TIME."
Other resolutions to be voted for at the annual meeting could be:
To keep all homeowners knowledgeable of association matters, require the monthly board meeting minutes be published with the Leewood Newsletter.
Further, to help foster community communication and solve the scattering of unread newsletters, everywhere, the Newsletter be mailed to all homeowners. At present this service is only provided to off site investor owners.
Proposed by a Leestone street resident, all proposals to the board have at least 3O signed homeowner endorsements (15%) and dollar cost figure.
Lastly, of critical importance, is to require that all Leewood monetary accounts require TWO signatures. I believe, we now have Schwab money market accounts with only one signature/password required. This leaves Leewood seriously exposed. There is nothing Leewood does that requires immediate access. Most decisions are taken over a month or two not seconds and minutes needing only one signature.
If you have other things to add to the business of the LHOA annual meeting, I sure if you just button hole one of the board and express your concerns. they will gladly be added to the annual meeting agenda.
Emergency Preparedness
Fairfax County has produced a Home Guide to Emergency Preparedness, which was included in the Washington Post on Sunday December 16. Fairfax County residents who do not subscribe to the Washington Post received the publication in the mail. It was also sent home with students in Fairfax County public schools. If you did not receive a copy and are interested, the guide can be viewed and downloaded from the Fairfax County website in seven languages (Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Farsi, Arabic and English). The website is www.co.fairfax.va.us/emergency/emergencyprep.pdf. The guide is also available in Braille and on cassette. For more information, call (703) 324-3187.
Everyone Benefits Opinion by tony mcsorley
" All Leewood homeowners whose accounts are current as of April first should be credited a $100 for the next two quarterly assessments periods. "
With the conclusion of the year long tot lot discussion and the vote finalized, we shouldn't move on too quickly to other matters. A few very important facts popped up showing serious faults both in our handling of the accumulating association funds and the very governing documents of Leewood Homeowners Association.
It was stated by the president, who was,also, the previous treasurer, in the very last and final Playground Survey voting form under FACTS put out by the Leewood Board, there were funds amounting to $40,000 laying around in the operational checking account from previous years. These funds were not retired to the reserve funds when not used, but just marked as excess operating funds. These extra unused funds coulc be devoted to the $16,000 to $18,000 needed for spending on building a tot lot.
Forty thousand dollars is a overpayment of about $200 by each homeowner. As anyone who watch Washington can tell you, extra money just leads to silly ideas and serious time consuming conflicts regarding spending this unused overages. Remove the money, our overpayments, and most of these problems disappear and time is spent on productive endeavors. Therefore, my recommendation of $100 credit for next two assessment periods.
Lastly, the causes of these overpayments amounting to $200 each should be carefully reviewed to define whether it is an ongoing occurrence which should lead to lower assessment costs or this was a unique occurrence due to under spending for budget items or some other reason,i.e., the assigning seven thousand out of the reserve fund to the operational budget without lowering the assessment, as happened two years ago; or maybe a group of reasons.
Of course, alternately, we can prorate the refund by length of time homeowners resided at Leewood. By the way I'm a resident since 1978.
Fairfax Tax Deadline by tony mcsorley
If you purchased a vehicle or moved into Fairfax County on or after July 1, 2001, Personal Property taxes are due February 15, 2002.
EASY STATE TAX FILING
Is there a mouse in your house or at your library? Put it to work wit FREE INTERNET FILING of Virginia 760 income tax returns. Fast, easy. secure at www.tax.state.va.us just click the file income tax icon.
Watch Your Flag ..... Low-lifes Abound by Judy Currier
There has been at least one American flag stolen from its display in the front of a home, and an attempt to steal another one. Please take care to secure your flag in a manner that it would be difficult to steal. If you have a flag that has a particular meaning to you, you might want to purchase one that is not quite so full of memories.
Meanwhile, let us all be alert for anyone tampering with others property or showing up with “slightly used” goods and try to get the property back to its owners.
Audited Financial Statements
We are including copies of the 2000 financial statements from our audit, which were recently completed. We receive a reduced rate from our auditors by allowing them to complete the work during their off-season, so we do not get the results very quickly. A copy of the complete financial statements (including all the notes and other schedules) is available if you are interested. Please contact Leona Taylor if you want a copy.
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