Car Accident

A Homeowner on Shady Pond Dr, near the intersection of Harpers Inlet Dr in the area near the dumpster, woke up this morning to find their car was hit overnight by another car and damaged. The South Carolina Highway Patrol was here and asked several neighbors that were around if they saw anything, but no one had seen who did it.

If anyone knows or had seen anything please call the HOA and let them know or let the Homeowner know, we think she would really appreciate it, if she knew who hit and damaged her car.

UPDATE: The persons responsible contacted the homeowner and resolved the situation.

Some Good News!

Metrolina did come today and clean up the dumpster area, they did a fairly good job from what we can see. The gate post has been temporally fixed, it was meant back a little so the gate will close, but it is still meant pretty bad and will proably bend right back in a few days, the pin will need to be replaced to be 100% fixed.

But there is no garbage outside of the dumpsters, hopefully we can all work together and keep it that way.

Forest Oaks Dog Walk Area

Well we just received an email from a home owner it is bad enough we have our own problems with residents not picking up after their dogs, this homeowner saw someone walking their dog next to his home and did not pick up after their dog, he asked the individual how old he was, and he stated he was 15, so he asked where he lived so he could talk to the parents about not picking up after the dog, the person replied that he lives in Forest Oaks, when asked why he was here, he said he was just here to walk his dog, he further stated that he has been walking his dog here in Harpers Mill for years. He was asked if he was here to visit a home owner he said "no I am not here to visit anyone, just here to walk my dog, I always walk my dog here", he said he does know people who live here, but he was not here to see them he was simply here to walk his dog.

The homeowner did call the Sheriff's Department who issued the person a warning, and directed the individual to leave the neighborhood.

It amazes us, we already knew Forest Oaks homeowners come here and illegally dump their garbage in our dumpsters, but we had no idea that Forest Oaks homeowners used Harpers Mill as their private dog walk.

The Dumpster Yet Again

1) The walk through gate has been broken and cannot close this has been this way for 2 weeks now and no one has come to fix it.

2) for the second week in a row, either Metrolina Maintenance Group has come out and charged us for clearing the dumpster area, or they just haven't shown up at all because the same garbage is still on the ground since last week.

3) Waste Management of Gastonia came this morning to empty the dumpsters but one is still half full, so they are not doing what they are paid for, we have noticed the last few weeks, that after Waste Management comes, they are not completely emptying the dumpsters, and this is becoming a regular problem.

Sow how long before our Board of Directors and Kuester Management Take care of theses issues? When we figure out how to make a poll we will put one up for all you homeowners to vote on!!!!

Harpers Mill Forclosures

In the recent newsletter that was sent out, the HOA mentions that if you are having financial difficulties to let them know so they can work with you. Now sometimes filling a foreclosure is a necessary thing to do, however, we have heard that the HOA has filled foreclosure paperwork on homeowners just 3 months behind, and they would not work with the homeowner at all. What is worse is if you having problems after 3 months that would leave you with a balance of $375.00 plus late fees, but when they file the foreclosure paperwork almost never notifying the homeowner before hand you suddenly have at least another $800 in legal fees added to your burden.

There is a recent case where a long term homeowner who was one of the first to live here, has always taken care of their home and never caused any problems to their neighbors is being foreclosed on by the HOA, we wonder how much they tried to work with this homeowner. We know the person in question lives by them self and lost their job about 6 months ago, we also know by looking at the court records the homeowner is not being forclosed on by the bank only the HOA, indicating that the bank is working with them in their time of need, we have our doubts if the HOA is doing the same.

If you want to see foreclosure records for the community follow these simple instructions, these records are open to the public and available online

!) Goto: http://judicial.yorkcountygov.com/scjdpublicindex/

2) Don't change anything just click "Accept" towards the middle bottom of the page.

3) In the box labeled "Last/Business" Type "Harpers Mill"

4) Than you will see a listing of all cases filed since inception of the community, you will notice there are 7 pages of records, to go through, some by banks some only by the HOA. We count 32 Foreclosures that the HOA has filled as the Plaintiff, many of which show a status of cancelled which means the homeowner paid the past due amounts including all the inflated legal costs that were added to save their homes.

We hope this will bring some attention to this, and hope the HOA is really working with homeowners that are having difficult times and not just filling the paperwork and adding tons of legal fees on top of someone who is already struggling and would work with the HOA if the board was sincere in really helping our fellow homeowners out.

Garbage Everywhere!

It would appear that Waste Management did not empty the dumpsters yesterday (Friday) like they normally do, it is Saturday morning and the dumpsters appear to be halfway full, which is unusual if they did just empty them yesterday.

To make matters worse a homeowner left a grill and several garbage bags outside the dumpster, now my first guess was that the homeowner sent their kid to dump their garbage and the kid could not lift the bags into the dumpster, but there is no way a kid could have brought the grill down to the dumpster area.

We have edited this post, removing the information on the homeowner who is in Phase 1 and did send their child back out to clean up the mess, they did a halfway decent job at cleaning it up, but this is a reminder to all homeowners, if your kids are young they may need help at the dumpster, and if they leave your trash outside the dumpster you can still be fined the $100 from the HOA.

We do not know if the same homeowner left the grill or not, there just is no way of knowing unless someone saw who put it in there, and if you did see who left it please email us or call Kuester Management.

Pool Opening This Weekend!

A message sent out by Kuester:

Just a reminder that the Pool Opens on Saturday, May 19th .   Pool hours are from 9am until 9pm.   You must have a pool pass to enter the pool area.   Passes will not work if your homeowners account is delinquent.  The management company will only be able update cards during normal business hours.  For a complete list of rules please visit the community website at www.kuester.com.  If you note any behavior or repair concerns during your pool visit this season please report to the management office at (803)8022-0004 or by emailing Rita at rbarrett@kuester.com

TV Drama Finally Resolved

The TV that has been in the dumpster area for nearly 2 weeks is finally gone, and though Metrolina Maintenance came twice since it has been there and charged us for cleaning the dumpster area and really did not do what we paid them for, a homeowner finally came and loaded the TV into his truck and took it to the county convenience center like the original homeowner should have done, this is the kind of spirit we need more of here in Harpers Mill.

Dog Poop!!

Below is a picture taken this morning near the main entrance to our community pool, which will be opening soon. As you can see it is a large mess, obviously left by a large dog. 

Here are the facts:  

1) It is a violation of the HOA Covenants to not pick up after your dog, punishable by a $25.00 fine per occurrence, this is enforceable by Kuester Management Company.

2) It is a violation of York County Ordinances to not pick up after your dog, punishable by a $470.00 fine per occurrence, this is enforceable by York County Animal Control and when they are not available by the York County Sheriff's Department.

So if you see someone walking their dogs and not picking up after them please call Kuester Management at 803-802-0004 or York County Animal Control at 803-628-3190 or The York County Sheriff's non-emergency number 803-326-2300

Just think it's a warm weekend afternoon you and your kids want to enjoy tho afternoon at the pool on your way there you are your kid steps in this, than your laying there on one of our nice lounge chairs next to the pool but you just can't get the smell of your mind, not picking up after our pets, has many ramifications including ruining the enjoyment of the neighborhood for our friends and neighbors.....

Unfinished Common Area Phase 2?

This pic is of an unfinished common area on Shady Pond Dr in Phase 2, homes on both sides of this common area were finished several months ago before Mercedes Homes or shall we say (Mercedes Premier Homes as the name they are now doing business under) Abandoned us.

The area is very rough and uneven and grass is not maintained on a weekly basis except the edges close to the road and the homes, so us homeowners would like an Answer from our Board of Directors about when someone will come in and level this area plant grass and some trees so that it will match the other finished common areas in the neighborhood?

This is an issue and a question that the current elected Board of Directors should answer and deal with, we have almost $90,000 in a reserve funds is it that hard to take s little out and get this done?

We all know this was Mercedes Homes responsibility, and really is the responsibility of the developer which is s subsidiary of Mercedes and is still in business so lets get this done and send the Buescher family in florida the bill!! My guess is though this will never happen as long as we have Kuester Management as our HOA management company as they still hold allegiance to the Buescher family and they would not want to rock the boat, although maybe they will prove us wrong and actually step up and do what is right for the homeowners and not there own business interests for a change?

Lake Wylie Magazine?

Ok below is a pic taken on Harpers Inlet Dr near the second entrance to our community, it is a box full of undistributed Lake Wylie Magazines, which is completely water logged and has been there for several months, so this brings up some questions?

1) Who and why where they left there in the first place?

2) Why has no homeowner disposed of them? (I would think one of the 8 homeowners who use that mailbox on a daily basis would have taken it upon them selves to dispose of this unsightly mess?

3) Assuming the answer to question 2 is that no homeowner wanted to take this on themselves, why didn't any of them call Kuester Management and let them come to dispose of this mess?

4) When will someone actually take care of this, whether it be Kuester Management or a Homeowner?

5) How do we prevent this from happening in the future?

I ask number 2 because as Homeowners we all have a stake in this community, we should be able to take care of our own yards and help keep up with the common areas around our own homes, and if it is something we cannot do on our own or feel uncomfortable doing on our own than we should be calling the management company so they can do what we pay them to do.

Just because the HOA cuts our grass and sometimes trims our bushes and sometimes replaces dead trees and shrubs, does not mean us as homeowners can't pitch in and help out, and keep our neighborhood clean and neat. If you have pride in your home and your yard and your community than this should not even have to be brought up, because you would be doing this already.

Just a Little Update

We received an email from a concerned homeowner, the email expressed concern that this blog may be to negative and cast a bad light on the neighborhood, and so cause high tensions between homeowners. Our answer is that we are not here to be negative, we are here to help make the neighborhood a warm and welcome environment for all homeowners. Also we hope to bring change to how the HOA is run, up to now actual homeowners have had very little input everything has been controlled by a chosen few and few home owners show up at the annual meetings, why? because if you have a problem or complaint, it is largely ignored the HOA Board and Management Company really seem to feel they do no have to answer to anyone, this needs to change homeowners need to have more input and the people in charge need to do a better job of communicating with the homeowners in general and need to be held accountable.

This is why we have stressed homeowners are welcome to participate in this blog by either emailing us or commenting. In the few days this blog has been up we have already had 52 unique page views, and several emails of feedback which were all positive.

Yes if a homeowner emails us pictures, video, or other evidence that a fellow homeowner is breaking rules we will call them out on it, in hopes that they will discontinue that kind of behavior, especially issues with the trash as all homeowners have a stake in this, the more that homeowners abuse it, the more it costs to correct and all those costs get passed to each and every home owner in terms of HOA fees and even to renters in how much they pay for rent. Hopefully there will come a day where rule violations are rare and everyone does their part in taking care of our neighborhood and following the rules.

We hope this clears the air a little on what we are trying to accomplish and why we are doing this, we thank our supporters and welcome them and the ones who may not like us to participate, because everyone's opinions do count, nothing will ever change if we don't talk about it.

Metrolina Maintenance Group

Metrolina Maintenance Group is the company employed by Kuester Real Estate on behalf of the Harpers Mill Townhouse Owners Association to do maintenance. Also every Monday morning they come and clean the dumpster area and are supposed to take away any large items left outside the dumpsters by homeowners. Over the weekend we posted the picture below showing a TV and child's exercise bike that were left by a homeowner. Well Metrolina came on Monday and cleaned the dumpster area and got rid of the exercise bicycle, but left the TV. Though I am not sure why they would not have gotten rid of the TV which is what we pay them to do.

I have a guess that possibly they felt it was to heavy and need 2 people to come and move it, if true that is even more money the rest of us homeowners will have to pay out of our dues. So if you know who dumped this TV please email us or call Kuester, so these extra costs can be passed back to that homeowner or at least so the HOA can fine them the $100 for leaving garbage outside the dumpster. The $100 fine won't fully cover the costs that the rest of us are going to have to pay, but at least we could re-coop some of the cost, and hopefully Metrolina can actually do the job we are paying them for and have paid them for on Monday and come and dispose of this TV that now has been there for at least a week.

How to Participate

If you would like to add a new topic to this Blog, just email your story any pics or videos you may have  to me, by clicking my name HarpersMillBlogger.

And of coarse you are more than welcome to comment on any post you wish, although comments will be moderated if neccessary.

The Mess Mercedes Homes Left

Well since Mercedes Homes is now out of business even though the Buescher Family of Melbourne Florida, who owns it is still in business just under a new name Mercedes Premier Homes, which was filed by them a month before the bank shut them down for not paying their bills, has left us the Harpers Mill Homeowners a bill of $575.00 per mow to mow all the undeveloped lots that they left us with. Legally the builder is responsible for this cost and the cost of any repairs required before turning the neighborhood over to the Home Owners Association when the neighborhood is complete, but by closing their business Mercedes Homes and starting a new one called Mercedes Premier Homes, they have escaped that liability and dumped those costs on us, not very fair I believe.

Harpers Mill Dumpster Area - Phase 1

Well an unknown Harpers Mill Home Owner left the garbage in this picture a TV and kids exercise bicycle next to the dumpsters for phase one, which now means the Home Owners have to pay Kuester Real Estate's maintenance department at least $100 for a service call to come and pick this garbage up and either dump it in the dumpster or cart it away to the York County Garbage Convenience Center. I for one am tired of having to pay for my neighbors laziness....

If you know who this garbage belongs too, please let us know so we can pass that information to the management company.

Hello Harpers Mill Home Owners

Since the HOA seems to be incapable of enforcing it's own rules, maybe publicly posting homeowner violations will help stop some of the problems we have been experiencing in the neighborhood, everything from not picking up after dogs, throwing garbage on the ground next to the dumpster instead of inside the dumpster, etc, etc, etc......

If you are a Harpers Mill Home Owner and would like to add violations to the list, just email me pictures or videos of the said violation with any other information you may have and we will get it posted.

Thanks.