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New Luxury Carriage Home Community
Lower Gynwedd Township, Montgomery County PA
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you mean by maintenance free?
What maintenance am I responsible for?
What kind of warranty comes with my home?
What if a tree dies on my lot or some shingles blow off my roof?
How much is the community fee?
What kind of insurance do I need?
What about trash removal?
What will I actually own?
May I fence my lot or put up a shed?
What am I allowed to do in my yard?
What does "to be dedicated" mean on the plot plan?
May I make changes to my home after settlement?
Who runs the Association?
Can I have pets?
Who will own the streets?
Can I park on the street?
Will there be streetlights?
What kind of heat will my home have?
What should I budget for utility costs on my home?
Do I get a deck with my home?
Where is the closest shopping?
How much are the taxes?
How much cash will I need to purchase a home?
Is there any special financing available?
What does the $185 community fee cover?
The protective covenants included in these documents were created to insure that your
community continues to be maintained in a consistent manner at a minimum of expense and
bother for you. While the Association is controlled by a Board of Directors that will
eventually be made up of residents of the community, a professional management company
hired by the builder performs most of the services. This company keeps a list of
appropriate contractors and inspects their work. The management company is experienced in
bidding and buying these services for the best price and quality. And, they have full
time trained staff available to handle your questions.
Knowing that the association will step in and make sure that appropriate repairs are done
to every home in the neighborhood gives you the assurance that no home will be allowed to
deteriorate, become an eyesore and devalue your own home.
These documents also contain rules and regulations that have been effective in protecting
property values and promoting the quiet enjoyment of the residents in many other fine
communities. For example, you cannot make any changes to the exterior of your home without
first obtaining the permission of the Association. This protects you from the possibility
that one of your neighbors might decide their home might look better with pink siding or
that they would like to put a swing set in their backyard where you would see it from your
deck.
Some of the association provided services are immediate, like mowing your lawn or saving
you money on your homeowner's insurance. Some are required by the municipality, like
maintaining the private streets. Others are more long-term. For example, a part of your
$185 is put into a reserve fund, which, as it matures, will provide the funds for major
expenses like replacing the roof on your entire building, or re-paving the streets and
driveways in your community.
The list below is provided to further illustrate the services the Association will provide.
It is not meant as a substitute to Declaration of Protective Covenants, Easements and
Restrictions for Penllyn Greene and the By Laws of the Penllyn Greene Homeowners
Association, but rather to help explain the content of those documents.
Your $185 monthly community fee includes:
In turn you are responsible for the following items:
Please note that any changes to the exterior of your home, other than those specifically
permitted in the documents, must be approved by the Association.
At Penllyn Greene, a monthly community fee will take care of mowing the lawn, raking the
leaves, maintaining the landscaping planted by the builder and plowing the snow on the
common areas. In addition, the association will take care of most of the exterior
maintenance on your home, including cleaning your gutters and periodically painting your
front and garage doors, and the wood trim on your home. In addition, a portion of the
monthly fee is put into a reserve fund for the eventual replacement of your roof,
repaving the streets and other long-term planned maintenance items. Other maintenance
services can be provided for a fee after the warranty period by the association, such as
replacing a concrete stoop.
A chart that shows the responsibilities of the association and those of the homeowner will
be provided to you. For example, the association will remove the snow from the street,
public sidewalks and your driveway, but you will be responsible to shovel the snow and
remove the ice on the walkway to your front door and on your deck.
A detailed description of the warranty coverage which Michael Anthony Homes provides is in
the Homeowner's Manual, which you will receive when you put a deposit on a new home at
Penllyn Greene.
If your home is still under the builder's warranty, you will send a letter, fax or e-mail
to the Michael Anthony Homes Warranty Department. After the warranty period, you will
contact the association management company. They will arrange to have the repair done.
If the item is an association item on the responsibility chart, there will be no charge to
you. If it is a shared responsibility on the chart, the association management firm will
bill you for the service provided. Either way, they will take care of hiring the
appropriate contractor and, because they work with these contractors on a regular basis,
they will be able to get the work done quickly and at a good price.
The initial fee is $185, which covers both this exterior maintenance and insurance on the
building. There is also a one-time $500 fee when you make settlement on your new home
which goes into the Homeowners Association reserve account.
You will need to obtain an HO6 policy from your insurance agent. Some insurance agents
will call this condominium insurance. Penllyn Greene is not a condominium, but this policy
will cover the contents of your home and other components that the Association's insurance
cannot cover, such as some upgraded items in your home. Having the Association cover the
insurance on the structure of your new home saves you approximately $60 per year in
premiums and gives you the protection that every home in your community is covered by
insurance, protecting your property values and allowing a quick response to rebuilding
compared to each individual owner needing to resolve their own insurance settlement.
Curbside trash removal is included in your monthly community fee.
Each homeowner at Penllyn Greene will own their own home, which is described to the center
of the common walls, and a legally described lot, which is slightly larger than the
footprint of your home. The Association documents provide cross easements between lots so
that every homeowner in the community is permitted to freely cross every other lot in the
community should they need to, as well as describe the restrictions on the lots. Your
sales counselor will provide you with a metes and bounds plan and the dimensions of the
home site you select.
The Association documents do not permit any fences or other structures be erected on the
lots. This rule protects your property values by prohibiting your future neighbors from
putting up swing sets, sheds, or pools or fencing animals in the line of sight of your home.
In addition, it allows the landscape contractor to mow the lawn area without obstruction.
You may have lawn furniture on any hard surface like a deck or patio. In addition, you may
plant flowers within six feet of your foundation wall. If you do plant additional flowers
or landscaping around your home, you will be responsible to maintain the entire landscaped
bed.
The area on the plot plan which is outlined in red is to be dedicated to the Wissahickon
Valley Watershed Association (WVWA). We are giving that piece of property to them.
The WVWA is a non-profit organization which works to preserve the natural areas along
the Wissahickon Creek. The WVWA maintains walking trails along the creek and plans to
extend their existing "Green Ribbon Trail" through this piece of property. The Community
Manager can provide you with a more detailed map of the proposed trail or you may find out
more information about the WVWA online at: www.wvwa.org.
No one may make any changes to the exterior of their home without obtaining the permission
of the board of directors of the homeowners association. Communities with associations
that provide architectural control enjoy consistently higher property values and better
relationships between neighbors than those without these protective covenants. The
management company will make regular inspections of the community to make sure that the
lawns, landscaping and exterior of the homes are properly maintained and are in compliance
with the community's by-laws. In addition, they will respond to any complaints of homes
that are violating the associations' protective covenants.
Initially the board of directors who decide all Association matters is made up of people
appointed by the builder, but residents of the community gradually replace these members
as the homes are sold. The board will be made up entirely of residents elected by the
homeowners prior to the completion of the community. The current board of directors has
contracted with Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation of Plymouth Meeting to collect the
monthly community fees, to contract for services and work with homeowners' questions.
Mid-Atlantic Management handles more than 19,000 homes in 120 communities in the
Philadelphia region. The Association gets its authority from a declaration that is
recorded with the plans for the community and by-laws developed to support that declaration.
You will receive a complete set of these documents prior to signing an Agreement of Sale
for a home at Penllyn Greene.
You may have up to two normal household pets. All pets allowed to go outside must be kept
on a leash, and while you may walk your dog anywhere on the property, you must remove and
dispose of any waste.
When all the construction in the community is completed, the builder will top coat the
street and deed it to the association. Lower Gwynedd Township has permission to patrol
and inspect the street. The association will pay the cost of maintaining and plowing the
street as well as mowing the lawn and maintaining the landscaping along the entrance to
the community.
There is no parking permitted on the streets. Every home at Penllyn Greene will have a two
car garage and a driveway large enough to park two additional cars. In addition there will
be 22 guest-parking spaces spread throughout the community.
Yes, there will be four streetlights installed in the community. The charges from the
electric company for the operation of these lights is included in the monthly community fee.
There will also be two fire hydrants installed within Penllyn Greene.
The homes at Penllyn Greene will have natural gas forced hot air heat. Every home in the
community has its own gas and electric meters.
We have estimated what your monthly utilities will be for your new home in Penllyn Greene.
The sewer authority charges $39.00 for the first 12,000 gallons, and an additional $2.60
for each 1,000 gallons, approximately $180.00 per year, which comes to $15.00 a month.
Your PECO bill, for gas and electric, may be $295.00 per month, with water at approximately
$40.00 per month, for a total of $350.00 per month. Please understand that this is just an
estimate. Your individual usage varies depending on many factors, like how long you like to
shower and how high you run your air conditioning in the summer.
Every home gets an approximately 180 square foot deck. Some home sites can accommodate
optional expansions to that deck. Ask your sales counselor to review those options with
you.
The closest shopping center which has a supermarket is about two miles away, on Sumneytown
Pike, just off of Bethlehem Pike in Spring House. It hosts a Clemens and Genuardis
supermarkets, as well as restaurants and services such as banks, dry cleaning and
restaurants. If you travel north or south on Bethlehem Pike, you will find a large variety
of stores. Ask your community manager for a copy of our Community Guide, which gives you
phone numbers of many community services.
The actual taxes are assessed after settlement and are usually based on the purchase price
of the home. We anticipate the taxes on the homes will be approximately $5,160. per year.
At the time you sign an agreement of sale for your new home you will need to pay a deposit
equal to 10% of the cost of the home and the options you have decided to include. When you
go to settlement on your new home, you will need to pay closing costs, which include
transfer taxes, title insurance, real estate taxes, mortgage company charges and the
capital contribution to the Homeowners Association. A detailed listing of these charges
will be included in your Agreement of Sale.
If you have concerns or questions about financing, please talk to our community manager.
Everyone who purchases a home at Penllyn Greene automatically becomes a member of the
Penllyn Greene Homeowners Association. When you place a deposit on a home at Penllyn Greene
you will receive a copy of the Public Offering Statement, which includes the Declaration of
Covenants, the By Laws and a proposed budget for the Penllyn Greene Homeowners Association.
Many items on your home may never need to be repaired or replaced. Or the maintenance they may require is not consistent throughout the community. In these cases the Association will arrange to have the work done when it is needed and will bill you for your proportionate share of the contracted job:
Procedures for Buying Standard Features
Copyright 2002
Michael Anthony Homes
505 1/2 Germantown Pike
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444
800-898-0028