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home- of- the- month

Started by CharlesW1 • 11 replies • 1671 views

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CharlesW1 (Georgia)
Posts: 826
Posted:
You all have always given me such great advice and suggestions in the past. I’m the Chief Editor of our monthly newsletter. I would like to introduce the idea of having a “home- of- the- month”. Do you think this is a good idea? Any suggestions as too how I would get started? I would like to know how
Other communities have set-up the guidelines to establish the home-of-the-month. I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions. I would like to list in February’s newsletter the criteria to qualify.

Thanks once again
Chuck W.
Charles E. Wafer Jr.
GeraldT1 (<Not Specified>)
Posts: 519
Posted:
CharlesW1,

The criteria for determining the home of the month should not include an item that is a requirement as per your gov. docs. For example, a manicured lawn. The greenest lawn, or most weed free lawn may be a criteria. In other words, don't reward an owner for what they should be doing in the first place.

Some criteria suggestions are as follows:
Most creative use of annual/perennial color display
Greenest lawn
Most imaginative Fall color display
Winter color display
Night lighting display
Most festive door wreath
Most colorful potted plants
Most festive Welcome Sign

Best of success!!
GeraldT1
NNJ

CarolF (Florida)
Posts: 435
Posted:
Our community has a monthly "beautification" award. It is given by the Garden Club to a home that has recently planted flowers or landscaping. There is a small award sign that is inserted in front of the landscaping, and then passed on to the next winner. Also, a picture of the home with the owners next to the sign appears in our monthly magazine. The Garden Club has a couple of volunteers who go around the community to find the winners.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Some neighboring HOAs have a "Yard of the Month" award. We do not. It has crossed my mind but I think people who take pride in their yards will keep them up anyway and those who don't won't be inclined to change their lifestyle for the chance to win an award.
Ron
SC
WilliamT (Arizona)
Posts: 489
Posted:
Ron, you'll never know unless you try it, and give it sufficient time, perhaps two seasons, to catch on.

We haven't tried it yet because we're too busy trying to get some major things taken care of and get volunteers for various committees. Once we get to that point we will give it a try.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Posted By WilliamT on 01/05/2007 2:46 PM

Ron, you'll never know unless you try it, and give it sufficient time, perhaps two seasons, to catch on.


I may end up making this it's own topic but:

I'm sitting in my living room looking out at the house across the street. We have a limit of three cars to be parked in the driveway and no overnight parking on the street. My neighbors (who are basically nice people, they invited us for Christmas dinner, etc.) has been keeping a car belonging to their daughter who lives somewhere else in their driveway and although there are only two drivers living in the house, they have three cars because the woman has a company car. Their garage is six feet deep in junk with only a narrow path from the door to the entrance to the house. With all the vehicles in the driveway they have been having trouble getting them in and out and have made some serious ruts in the lawn. Sometime in the last day or so the decided to widen their driveway with several pieces of plywood!

The only thing "shielding" their garage cans from the street is the vehicles parked in the driveway. They cut down a large dead tree a year or so ago and the stump is still in the side yard.

I don't think they're going for "yard of the month" anytime soon.

BTW: Even though they are friends, I’ll be contacting the ACC for enforcement if the plywood is still there tomorrow.

Ron
SC
BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640
Posted:
Ron:

I feel your pain, I am glad we don't have a yard of the month award. I get yelled at because I spend too much time in my yard already. The competitor in me would have me outside 24/7. However, if someone has a good plan and has had success with it I would love to see it.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Some associations with amenities such as pools, recreation centers, tennis courts, etc. have a "clubby" feel to them and a yard of the month club might be a good idea. Others (like ours) have no amenities and except for personal friendships or relatives living in the development, it's just "the place where your home happens to be". I don't think there would be much participation in contests.
Ron
SC
GregoryB (Florida)
Posts: 15
Posted:
Ron,

we are just starting this as well only we judge them quarterly.

The criteria is compliance with our documents and overall condition of the roof cleanliness, gardens, lawn condition, driveway rust stains and mold ect. we also to encourage inprovement to a home by a most emproved catagory when some one really makes a nice improvement.
The winners for each block in our neiborhood get a small sign to put in there garden and a award from the HOA as well as there homes picture is noted in our news letter. We are trying this to hopefully show in a positive way the standards set for our community rather than sending our violation letters and it lets residents know we will be judging there homes quarterly for compliance with our documents.

I'll let you know how it works or if it does not.
Greg
CharlesW1 (Georgia)
Posts: 826
Posted:
I appreciate all the suggestions and advice. I knew I could count on the members of HOATalk to receive some good advice. Understand my intentions here. I do not want to “reward” homeowners for doing the right things. (Mowing their lawn, planting some flowers, edging ext.) My intention is to have so and so keep up with the “Jones”. I would like to honor “yard of the month” not “HOME”- I had never heard of “Home of the month” either! I would like to reward a homeowner that goes above and beyond the basic requirements, it’s not fair to those of us (self included) that do go above and beyond what is required and I live in a cul-de-sac where your neighbors can’t even do what is required. Now that can be discouraging to many, I’m sure! I enjoy having my yard look good, I want others to see how good my yard looks and notice how bad my neighbors yard appears. If this encourages other to participate great and if not it was well worth the try.

I’ll keep you all posted
Thanks once again
Chuck W.
Charles E. Wafer Jr.
DeborahC (Florida)
Posts: 1
Posted:
This is a question for RonaldW: Sorry to hear about your troubles with neighbors across the street. A driveway extension with plywood is not a good thing. Since you say they are friends, wouldn't it be better to let then know in a neighborly way that they are in violation of the ccr's and it's only a matter of time before someone makes a complaint and they receive a terse letter quoting your hoa's rules and regs? They would probably appreciate hearing it from a friend first and might be more likely to respond in a positive manner. Just trying to help........
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Posted By DeborahC on 01/07/2007 10:53 AM

This is a question for RonaldW: Sorry to hear about your troubles with neighbors across the street. A driveway extension with plywood is not a good thing. Since you say they are friends, wouldn't it be better to let then know in a neighborly way that they are in violation of the ccr's and it's only a matter of time before someone makes a complaint and they receive a terse letter quoting your hoa's rules and regs? They would probably appreciate hearing it from a friend first and might be more likely to respond in a positive manner. Just trying to help........


I asked ny wife to talk to them and found they were planning to replace the plywood with gravel!

I sent her back to let them know that they couldn't do that either, that they needed to request permission to widen it with concrete if they wanted it wider. I offered to write the request for them.

My next door neighbors are trying to sell their hause and had an open house today. She went over to ask them to clean up the mud and put the children's toys away but nobody was home.

In an ideal world, we wouldn't have these problems. In the real world however, we sometimes find ourselves living in close proximity to people with different expectations.

Ron
SC

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