So the proposed changes did pass, to give the declarant now listed as Harpers Mill Community Developers, LLC which has been listed since the last change in 2007 although still ultimately the Buescher Family in Florida and their creditors full control until all lots are 100% complete.
BnA Homes is the builder but control of the HOA will stay with the developer. Several at the meeting did voice concern about BnA's involvement considering their track record this is understandable, once it became clear their was a lot of opposition to BnA, Rita Barrett from Kuester and Sandy Brink the President of our Advisory Board made claims that the BnA Homes that is going to build here is not the same BnA Homes associated with the Pasquinelli Family, or Portrait Homes in anyway, it was stated by them that the Pasquinelli Family is associated with BnA Management Company and not BnA Homes, someone has been seriously mis-informed.
Go to: http://www.bnahomes.com the official BnA Homes website scroll to the bottom of the page you will see it states copyright 2013 BnA Management, LLC so we know BnA Homes and BnA management are one in the same.
Also go to http://www.chicagorealestateforum.com/2011/04/13/well-known-chicago-home-builder-packs-it-up/ and read the last paragraph about the Portrait Homes Bankruptcy and you will clearly see that BnA has been around and is run by the Pasquinelli Family and the now defunct Portrait Homes.
It was also asked at the meeting by one homeowner about who would pay for the completion of the needed development, like paving the roads and finishing common areas in phase 2. There has been to date no money set aside by the developer and no claim of responsibility by them either, many homeowners are afraid those costs will be passed to them in the way of dues or even a special assessment, the costs of which could be over $500,000. The attorney for the developer seemed to say it was the county who would decide if paving the roads etc is required to be done by the developer or not. It appeared that Kuester seemed to think since the roads are private the county would have no say. Kuester is going to inquire and report to the homeowners at the annual meeting what they find out. One of our readers has also reached out to the county and we will update you when he receives a response.
This blog was mentioned at the meeting one homeowner stated they felt some of the information posted here was not accurate, the blog is here to inform homeowners and is written by homeowners, and has a stated goal to inform all homeowners so we can all be informed and be united to help make this neighborhood successful.
If you question any content or have concerns you can always leave a comment below any posting or you can privately email us at harpersmillblogger@gmail.com we accept all submissions, suggestions, tips etc.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
So Just Who is BnA Homes, LLC Anyway?
We did an investigation to see what we could find out about BnA Homes, LLC and we got a lot of information, none of which is very encouraging. BnA Homes, LLC is actually BnA Management, LLC. BnA is supposed to stand for "best, new, affordable" but is best known in the home building community as "Bruno and Anthony".
The background here can be somewhat complicated as there have been so many company names they have done business under but most notably the company was started as Pasquinelli /Homes, and is best known as Portrait Homes and just like Mercedes Homes they suddenly stopped building in 2009 and eventually filed bankruptcy. One of the few remaining businesses not included in thier bankruptcy was BnA Management.
You can do Google searches using these names and you will find very few positive comments about the Pasquinelli brothers and their home building enterprises. Bankruptcies, lawsuits and investigations into their activities including a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, which names BnA as a defendant, alleges that a complex corporate structure enabled Bruno and Anthony Pasquinelli to transfer $87 million
from Pasquinelli Home building LLC to their own trusts and to various children and grandchildren
between 2005 and 2009. read more here -> http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-23/business/ct-biz-0624-builder-suit-20100623_1_pasquinelli-brothers-anthony-pasquinelli-bruno-pasquinelli
You can read about the details about their bankruptcy here -> http://www.chicagorealestateforum.com/2011/04/13/well-known-chicago-home-builder-packs-it-up/ lucky for them the bankruptcy stopped several lawsuits including one where a judge ordered the company to pay five families who bought new homes in Lake in the Hills a total of $1.1 million for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Some of the other Pasquinelli Businesses include:
Normandy Homes and CB Jeni, interestingly enough after Portrait Homes ceased operations Bruno Pasquinelli Jr started CB Jeni and tries to convince people he had nothing to do with the demise of Portrait Homes, the company his father started and which he worked at for 20 years.
Here is a link about their practices in Indian Land, SC included in this article is a response from their own superintendent of construction who clearly states they use HOA money to pay for repairs and other things that they as the builder are responsible for, and we wonder why they want 100% control of our HOA until the neighborhood is 100% complete, here is why we should be scared very scared: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Portrait-Homes-Pasquinelli/Charlotte-North-Carolina/Portrait-Homes-Pasquinelli-Avoid-Portrait-Homes-at-all-cost-Quality-issues-untruthful-317574
And just when we thought there couldn't be a worse builder than Mercedes Homes!
The background here can be somewhat complicated as there have been so many company names they have done business under but most notably the company was started as Pasquinelli /Homes, and is best known as Portrait Homes and just like Mercedes Homes they suddenly stopped building in 2009 and eventually filed bankruptcy. One of the few remaining businesses not included in thier bankruptcy was BnA Management.
You can do Google searches using these names and you will find very few positive comments about the Pasquinelli brothers and their home building enterprises. Bankruptcies, lawsuits and investigations into their activities including a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, which names BnA as a defendant, alleges that a complex corporate structure enabled Bruno and Anthony Pasquinelli to transfer $87 million
from Pasquinelli Home building LLC to their own trusts and to various children and grandchildren
between 2005 and 2009. read more here -> http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-23/business/ct-biz-0624-builder-suit-20100623_1_pasquinelli-brothers-anthony-pasquinelli-bruno-pasquinelli
You can read about the details about their bankruptcy here -> http://www.chicagorealestateforum.com/2011/04/13/well-known-chicago-home-builder-packs-it-up/ lucky for them the bankruptcy stopped several lawsuits including one where a judge ordered the company to pay five families who bought new homes in Lake in the Hills a total of $1.1 million for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Some of the other Pasquinelli Businesses include:
Normandy Homes and CB Jeni, interestingly enough after Portrait Homes ceased operations Bruno Pasquinelli Jr started CB Jeni and tries to convince people he had nothing to do with the demise of Portrait Homes, the company his father started and which he worked at for 20 years.
Here is a link about their practices in Indian Land, SC included in this article is a response from their own superintendent of construction who clearly states they use HOA money to pay for repairs and other things that they as the builder are responsible for, and we wonder why they want 100% control of our HOA until the neighborhood is 100% complete, here is why we should be scared very scared: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Portrait-Homes-Pasquinelli/Charlotte-North-Carolina/Portrait-Homes-Pasquinelli-Avoid-Portrait-Homes-at-all-cost-Quality-issues-untruthful-317574
And just when we thought there couldn't be a worse builder than Mercedes Homes!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
A CALL TO ACTION!
Looks like we got rid of one bad builder just to be replaced by another one. BnA Homes, LLC wants to hijack our HOA, here is the scoop and what you can do about it:
They have sent homeowners a letter stating our HOA cannot function properly unless we vote on their proposal, this is simply not true, legally we should have a board made up of homeowners who control our HOA, the declarant was Mercedes Homes, Inc.,. which was dissolved back in 2011 legally at that point the HOA should have called a meeting and elected homeowners to the board to replace the declarant, but this did not happen the Buescher Family of Melbourne Florida, who owned Mercedes Homes kept control using Kuester Real Estate Management as their pawn, since they not us the homeowners hired Kuester in the first place, it did not matter that Mercedes Homes was a family owned business, because the declarant was Mercedes Homes, Inc a corporation that cease to exist when they filed bankruptcy and deregistered with the South Carolina Secretary of State.
The remaining unsold lots remained under the control of another Buescher family business named "Harpers Mill Community Developers, LLC" they have sold these lots to BnA Homes of Chicago Illinois.
Fast forward to today, BnA Homes hired a local attorney which is who is holding this vote next week they have not been very forthcoming with our current advisory board our insiders have told us, in fact they have pretty much pushed them aside stating that they just don't need or want their input at this time.
What the change in the covenants is for is so that control of OUR HOA can be transferred from Mercedes Homes to BnA Homes, and that they KEEP CONTROL until every last house is built and sold, meaning if anything happens to BnA Homes, like they go bankrupt and do not finish the last house they would still retain control of the HOA.
This is all about MONEY Harpers Mill Community Developers, LLC aka the Buescher family can get more money for their unfinished lots by also turning over our HOA to the new builder, we also suspect Kuester which also owns a real estate business is in on the sale and making a percentage.
This change gives our new builder complete control of the HOA, including how much we pay every month in dues, violations, and community rules as examples.
I do not think there would be a large opposition to this at this point if their request was somewhat reasonable like retaining control until 85% with a drop dead date which is normal in a situation like this. To remind those that do not know we had a drop dead date back in 2007, the first homeowners moved in to Harpers Mill in 2003. when 2007 came Mercedes changed the covenants and removed the drop dead date, but no BnA Home, LLC wants control until 100% of the neighborhood is down and has no drop dead date.
At this point our concern is BnA Homes has now come in, has shunned our advisory board and is requesting control until they decide the neighborhood is 100% complete, they have not reached out to any homeowners to introduce them selves or tell us their plans, it has all been kept secret between them and our good friends at Kuester Real Estate, this is un-acceptable.
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO:
There has been some talk that the vote does not matter, do not buy into this talk, if it truly did not matter they would not have a vote, however more than likely if just a few home owners vote yes it will probably give them enough votes to move forward, the only way to counter this, is for EVERY HOME OWNER TO VOTE ABSOLUELTY NO! either in person or by proxy!
VOTE NO ON OCTOBER 31st, 2013 at the office of Palmetto Law Associates, 1171 Market Street, Suite 2014 Fort Mill, SC 29708 or by proxy.
They have sent homeowners a letter stating our HOA cannot function properly unless we vote on their proposal, this is simply not true, legally we should have a board made up of homeowners who control our HOA, the declarant was Mercedes Homes, Inc.,. which was dissolved back in 2011 legally at that point the HOA should have called a meeting and elected homeowners to the board to replace the declarant, but this did not happen the Buescher Family of Melbourne Florida, who owned Mercedes Homes kept control using Kuester Real Estate Management as their pawn, since they not us the homeowners hired Kuester in the first place, it did not matter that Mercedes Homes was a family owned business, because the declarant was Mercedes Homes, Inc a corporation that cease to exist when they filed bankruptcy and deregistered with the South Carolina Secretary of State.
The remaining unsold lots remained under the control of another Buescher family business named "Harpers Mill Community Developers, LLC" they have sold these lots to BnA Homes of Chicago Illinois.
Fast forward to today, BnA Homes hired a local attorney which is who is holding this vote next week they have not been very forthcoming with our current advisory board our insiders have told us, in fact they have pretty much pushed them aside stating that they just don't need or want their input at this time.
What the change in the covenants is for is so that control of OUR HOA can be transferred from Mercedes Homes to BnA Homes, and that they KEEP CONTROL until every last house is built and sold, meaning if anything happens to BnA Homes, like they go bankrupt and do not finish the last house they would still retain control of the HOA.
This is all about MONEY Harpers Mill Community Developers, LLC aka the Buescher family can get more money for their unfinished lots by also turning over our HOA to the new builder, we also suspect Kuester which also owns a real estate business is in on the sale and making a percentage.
This change gives our new builder complete control of the HOA, including how much we pay every month in dues, violations, and community rules as examples.
I do not think there would be a large opposition to this at this point if their request was somewhat reasonable like retaining control until 85% with a drop dead date which is normal in a situation like this. To remind those that do not know we had a drop dead date back in 2007, the first homeowners moved in to Harpers Mill in 2003. when 2007 came Mercedes changed the covenants and removed the drop dead date, but no BnA Home, LLC wants control until 100% of the neighborhood is down and has no drop dead date.
At this point our concern is BnA Homes has now come in, has shunned our advisory board and is requesting control until they decide the neighborhood is 100% complete, they have not reached out to any homeowners to introduce them selves or tell us their plans, it has all been kept secret between them and our good friends at Kuester Real Estate, this is un-acceptable.
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO:
There has been some talk that the vote does not matter, do not buy into this talk, if it truly did not matter they would not have a vote, however more than likely if just a few home owners vote yes it will probably give them enough votes to move forward, the only way to counter this, is for EVERY HOME OWNER TO VOTE ABSOLUELTY NO! either in person or by proxy!
VOTE NO ON OCTOBER 31st, 2013 at the office of Palmetto Law Associates, 1171 Market Street, Suite 2014 Fort Mill, SC 29708 or by proxy.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Police Activity!
Police were called to Shady Pond Dr several times today, for a landlord tenant dispute and neighbor dispute, apparently an eviction for the tenant there is in progress, the renter never put the utilities in his name as was required by his lease the homeowner had the utilities disconnected after the tenant had already agreed to move out on September 15th and didn't. The tenant started using one of his neighbors water and electricity by taping into the outside fixtures.
Police were called in the morning and took a report by phone from the neighbor, than the tenant called the police and tried to press charges on the owner for having the utilities turned off. Later in the day after another neighbor saw the tenant taping into and using another homeowners utilities police were called again, this time the tenant was put on trespass notice from his neighbors yard by the Sheriffs Department.
Police were called in the morning and took a report by phone from the neighbor, than the tenant called the police and tried to press charges on the owner for having the utilities turned off. Later in the day after another neighbor saw the tenant taping into and using another homeowners utilities police were called again, this time the tenant was put on trespass notice from his neighbors yard by the Sheriffs Department.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Shots Fired
Police recieved a report of a disturbance at a residence on Shady Pond Dr between a female and her x boyfriend a resident here around 11pm tonight, a few minutes later a second call came in stating that the female was trying to break into the home and shots were than fired. It appears the original address given out was incorrrect the incident took place on Water Fall Way, no one was actually shot.
We will post any updates as they come in.
We will post any updates as they come in.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Breaking News: New Builder; BnA Homes
From Kuester: You will note the new builder signage at the entrance to the 2nd phase. BnA Homes is currently under contract to purchase some or all of the lots from the Declarant. It is our understandings the homes will closely miror our existing homes. We will continue to bring you more information as this matter develops.
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Keep in mind any new builder who buys the unfinished lots from Mercedes Homes, will also take control of the HOA and our finances, we don't have an opinion yet of BnA Homes, but we hope for the best, but we need to keep up with what they are doing and how they are doing it, to ensure we do not get taken advantage of.
BnA homes appears to be a small company based out of Chicago, which fairly recently opened an office in Charlotte. A Google search reveals very little about them, although it does not appear they are a licensed business in SC at this time, we will investifgate further and keep you posted.
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Keep in mind any new builder who buys the unfinished lots from Mercedes Homes, will also take control of the HOA and our finances, we don't have an opinion yet of BnA Homes, but we hope for the best, but we need to keep up with what they are doing and how they are doing it, to ensure we do not get taken advantage of.
BnA homes appears to be a small company based out of Chicago, which fairly recently opened an office in Charlotte. A Google search reveals very little about them, although it does not appear they are a licensed business in SC at this time, we will investifgate further and keep you posted.
Phase 1 Tree Trimming
UPDATE: Tree Triming was delayed by one day, and should start tomorrow July 17th.
A-1 Tree Stump Grinding will begin trimming all of the trees in the 1st Phase on Tuesday July 16th, they will begin on Harpers Inlet, Waterfall Way and finish on Shady Pond. You don't have to be home for this service but we ask that if you are home and note that they are working in your area that you temporarily move your vehicle from the work area. They will knock on doors to alert owners as well.
If you have any questions please contact Kuester Mgmt. at support@kuester.com or by calling (803) 802-0004
A-1 Tree Stump Grinding will begin trimming all of the trees in the 1st Phase on Tuesday July 16th, they will begin on Harpers Inlet, Waterfall Way and finish on Shady Pond. You don't have to be home for this service but we ask that if you are home and note that they are working in your area that you temporarily move your vehicle from the work area. They will knock on doors to alert owners as well.
If you have any questions please contact Kuester Mgmt. at support@kuester.com or by calling (803) 802-0004
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