Be careful on the roads
There is some question as to whether or not we have a contract with someone to clear our roads of snow/ice. It's especially bad a the intersection of Bethel and Coronado, so please be careful.
posted by Suzanne Sarhanis @ 7:32 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Anonymous said...
To The Community:
At the May 9th meeting on the roads, some interesting proposals were shared – but many questions remain.
1. What will our actual costs be for the proposals stated at the meeting? The County representatives noted that the costs in the booklet did not include moving of utilities, designing of the roads and the services of a supervisor of the road work. These are high ticket items not included in the figures.
2. How will we be affected by state owned roads – what changes should we expect?
The costs to us cited during the meeting were very low -- $40 every 6 months or approximately $500 per year for 30 years. This sounds very good -- however, a quick calculation shows these costs CANNOT be correct:
The estimate given by the County at the meeting held on August 17th was $32,000 per lot before adding in the other costs associated with this project. Using any real estate calculator (found on mortgage websites) you can determine the monthly (not every 6 months) cost to each of us. For example if the cost is $32,000 per lot at 6.75%, spread over 20 years the monthly cost to each of us is $243.31 PER MONTH FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS. Keep in mind this is before all of the fees have been tallied. It could ACTUALLY BE MORE!! And this financing has NOT been approved yet by the county – there is NO guarentee it will pass.
If you don’t pay the $32,000 up front and decide to finance at $243.32 per month for 20 years, and you decide to sell your home, your transaction may well be affected. The association president started at the meeting that you just shouldn’t tell the purchaser about the special assessment, but that would be fraud. The seller is required to disclose the monthly fee, which should show as a special assessment on your tax bill anyway. The lender for the purchaser will have to qualify them based on the sales price, taxes, insurance, homeowner’s association fee and the special assessment. This will cause some potential buyers of your home to not qualify and others to go to another neighborhood where they may get a similar home for $243 less per month. Another major consideration for many of us is the loss of a portion of our front yards. Consider your landscaping, along with your budget.
Comparison Shop for your roads! There are Tar & Chip companies available. A company was found to do Tar & Chip and this option was presented at the August 17th meeting. Tar & Chip is used by the county on some county owned roads as an alternative to paving. This LOW COST alternative has maintained our roads for 30 years. Over the last 15 years, we have paid only ONE special assessment in the amount of $783.00. Even if we need a special assessment at some point in the future, it is a BARGIN in comparison to the current roads proposal. And remember -- The board CANNOT unilaterally impose a special assessment. According to our bylaws and covenants there must be a vote of 2/3rds of the community in order to pass this. Don’t be misled by statements made that if we don’t agree we will have a huge special assessment. This can’t happen UNLESS 2/3rs of us agree.
You can post your comments and read what other neighbors are saying on a blog that was created some time ago for our use. The address is GailaWoods.blogspot.com
Marty Nohe, our Coles District representative on the PWC Board of Supervisors, is involved in this process. If you are concerned , you can reach Mr. Nohe at 703-792-4620.
I could manage to pay this road bill, if passed. But what about your neighbor that cannot. I know of a neighbor that would be hard pressed to make the payments. So the board would FORCE people to sell their homes.
vvvvvv
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