Inverness North H.O.A.

INVERNESS NORTH NEWS

Aug 06, 2001

A Community Newsletter for Inverness North Homeowners and Residents November 2000






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DO NOT PLACE SALT ON CONCRETE SIDEWALKS



Please remember - salt and other chemicals on concrete sidewalks will corrode the concrete surface and cause sidewalks to chip and decompose. New cement is especially sensitive to chemical treatments. Protect your sidewalk and avoid the use of salt or any other chemicals altogether! If you have a slippery sidewalk and want to treat it with something, use sand or cat litter. Sand or cat litter provides a great rough surface to prevent slipping. After the snow is over, just sweep the sand or litter onto your yard and it will disappear into the soil.




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COMMUNITY HOME PRICES CONTINUE TO SOAR !



The rise in property values has continued this summer and fall. Although very few homes in Inverness North have recently been on the market, the purchase prices in our community have steadily risen above $220,000. This month a home sold in Inverness North for $250,000! This latest sale was an interior home kept in very good condition that backed to our field. These recent sales are clear evidence that homes in our community are now an excellent investment.


This remarkable price appreciation reinforces the impact of the continuing community-wide home exterior maintenance and repairs program that the Inverness North Homeowners Association (INHA) Board of Directors has been emphasizing over the past several years. For these efforts to work and to continue to improve home values, not just homes for sale must be maintained, but also the adjacent neighboring homes and the community as a whole.




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TRASH PICK-UP SCHEDULE



Regular trash is picked up on Mondays and Thursdays by a contractor. Recyclable items are picked up on Thursdays by the County. When a trash pickup day is missed (such as on a Monday), the next pickup is not until the next regularly scheduled day (Thursday). It is never the next day, as some people may believe. Trash that will not be picked up due to a holiday (i.e., Christmas and New Years Day), keep in your house until the next regularly scheduled day. The confusion may be the result of the County rules for recycling pickup, which are different from the trash pickup. When the County misses a pickup day due to a holiday, it shifts the remainder of the week to the next day. So, if a holiday is on a Monday, our Thursday recycling pickup shifts to Friday.




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WINTER SNOWSTORMS


When snowstorms occur this winter, each resident can help out by doing a few common sense things. First and foremost, during snow conditions, do not park your car at any time in the entrance area to the community on the lower sloped portion of Muirfield Drive. This blocks the snowplows from clearing access into the community and causes a safety problem. In congested parking areas, such as the end section of Muirfield Court, curb parking should be strictly avoided because it prevents snowplow access. Our snowplowing contractor will not plow in areas where cars are parked at the curbs because of the danger of causing damage to someone?’s car. In other areas where parking lots are significantly sloped, we will be posting no parking signs during the winter at the important curbs to keep these areas open to snowplowing.

When it does snow, our plowing contractor will again be using a special noncorrosive Snowmelt treatment on the asphalt parking lots and roadways. This treatment has worked effectively the past several winters and leaves no sand residue.




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DOG OWNERS REMINDER !



Most dog owners in our community have been very conscientious about controlling and picking up after their pets. Our thanks to them. If you are a new dog owner in the community, please remember that what you consider acceptable or cute for your dog may strongly offend others. Please remember the following guidelines.



First, Montgomery County law requires that all dogs must under your control at all times. Second, if your dog poops on property that is not your own, including the community?’s common area, County law requires you to scoop it up and take it home. If you don?’t plan to do this, then have your dog stay in your backyard. Your neighbor?’s lawns and the common area are not restrooms for pets.



If individual homeowners have problems with a certain dog or dog owner, the best advise to end the problem is to call the County Department of Animal Control [(301) 279-1823] and have a notice of offense and citation issued. The $100 fine for each offense should end the problem.




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THE COST OF SECURITY



Leaving your front porch light on at night provides added security for you, your home, and your automobile. It also gives the neighborhood a warm and attractive appearance at night. Did you ever wonder what leaving your front porch light on every night might cost you? It?’s only $12 per year. Here is the calculation.

Assume a 40-watt light bulb burning for 10 hours a night (average) for 365 days a year. The calculation is: 40 watts X 10 hrs X 365 days = 146,000 watts hours per year.

146,000 watts -- 1,000 watts/kWh = 146 kWh.

146 kWh X $0.08278/kWh = $12.08 per year, or $1.01 per month, or only 3 cents per night !!!




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CHRISTMAS TREE DISPOSAL



Residents can dispose of Christmas trees by leaving them out by the curb for pickup on our recycling day - THURSDAY - through the end of January. Trees should be free of any decorations and should not be placed in a bag. The County recommends that you leave the tree out by 7:00 am the morning of the pickup.




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COMMUNITY REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE



The response to the group discount for concrete repair offer was again outstanding this year. To date, 24 homes have participated in the group discounts offered this year and in 1998. The group discount for this work was significant for the homeowners and this work has improved the appearance of the entire neighborhood. Thanks to all the homeowners that participated.




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FIREPLACE SAFETY WARNING !



The metal fireplaces installed by the builder in our townhouses function wonderfully with good draft, little smoke, and excellent heat output. However, caution should be exercised not to create high temperatures from fires that the fireplace is not designed to handle. According to the manufacturer?’s specifications, our fireplaces are not designed to be used with glass doors because this generates temperatures much higher than normal within the fireplace enclosure and metal pipe chimney. Caution also should be exercised in using chemical starter logs as they cause the same problem. The combination of closed glass doors and chemical starter logs is too much for the fireplace and chimney design and has been blamed for at least one house fire in Inverness North. If you have glass doors on your fireplace, leave them open until the fire has died down to only coals. Avoid the use of chemical starter logs altogether. Never use chemical starter logs and closed glass doors in combination.




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IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS



Community Association Services, Inc. (CAS) Management Company casinc@erols.com

Susan Szajna, Manager

(301) 840-1800 Fax: (301) 840-1801



PERRECA LANDSCAPE - Grounds and lawn maintenance, grass cutting services, fences

(301) 370-8965 (Jason Perreca)