Flags over Lakes of Las Colinas

Project Kicks Off with a Show of Patriotism

Are you looking for a great way to give residents a way to show community pride, and great patriotic spirit?

The Lakes of Las Colinas HOA, a gated community of 136 homes (expected to be 265 when development is finished) found a project that helped community groups and the neighborhood.  Homeowner Marlee Zane chaired a committee, and worked with the Irving-Las Colinas Rotary Club and  volunteer Kathy Howard to make this happen. 

The Rotary Club and Boy Scouts sell a subscription per flag and then collaborate on the project and split profits to fund projects for both groups.  Boy Scout Troup 316 delivered and installed the flags to The Lakes of Las Colinas.  Rotary Club members put permanent sleeves in yards (or common areas) and Boy Scouts deliver, set up and remove flags for 5 holidays.

“As this is our first year kicking off Flags Over The Lakes Of  Las Colinas program, I am thrilled with my neighbors’ enthusiasm and support,” said Zane, homeowner and chairman for Flags over Lakes of Las Colinas. ”I anticipate even more homeowners joining as the community continues to develop."

The community had 87 flags flying as of July 4.  More homeowners are expected to participate and should have some good photos available for Labor Day.

“It looks really breathtaking when you see the flags as you drive through the neighborhood,” said manager Anita Handy.  “Many of the homeowners generously purchased subscriptions to decorate the common areas as well as their homes.”

For the Irving project, home flags are $35 a year.  Veteran and senior flags are $30.  Common area flags are $25 for the year.  100% of the proceeds are used to support Rotary Scholarships and youth programs of Irving.

HOA members should read their covenants for guidelines about what is allowed in common areas and yards and check to see if other Scout and Rotary clubs offer the service in their cities.

We’d love to post photos of many neighborhoods flying flags on Labor Day.  Submit them to mdunsworth@cmamanagement.com

Kids at Play

Summer is in full swing, and for many of our youngest residents that means they have the freedom to play outside to their heart’s content (or at least until mom or dad call them back inside). While we encourage kids to enjoy summer to the fullest, we also want everyone to stay safe. Here are a few guidelines to make sure these school-free months go smoothly:

• Make sure your children are proactive about their safety. Whether they’re playing at a park, swimming at a pool or riding their bikes around the neighborhood, it’s important that kids understand what types of injuries could occur during these activities and how they can best avoid them. If an injury does occur, your kids need to know what actions to take—such as alerting a trusted adult or, in the case of a true emergency, calling 911.

• Supervise your kids at the pool. While it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your kids, it’s particularly important to make sure your children have adult supervision while they’re in the water. It only takes a second for even good swimmers to find themselves in a dangerous situation, so it’s vital that kids are supervised by someone who knows the signs of a distressed swimmer. To learn about how you can keep your family safe at the pool, visit www.poolsafety.gov.

• Slow down while driving through the neighborhood. All residents should take note of this rule. With children out and about in full-force during the summer, you’re more likely than ever to see a distracted kid chasing after a run-away baseball or skateboarding on the streets. So slow down, be extra aware of what’s going on around you, and be prepared to stop suddenly if a child runs out into the road. Parents should remind kids that they have a responsibility to be aware of oncoming cars as well, and to be extra careful when they are on the street.

• Remind older kids to check in with you when they’re playing without adult supervision. When kids are out on their own, it’s easy for them to forget to let their parents know they’re okay. So establish a set of rules, such as checking in every few hours or whenever they change locations, and be firm about enforcing them. If your child has a hard time remembering to give you a call every so often, it might be helpful to have them set an alarm on their cell phone or watch so they don’t forget. It’s a great way for kids to build a sense of independence and for you to know they’re safe even when they’re not within sight. 

While the summer can present many hazards, there’s no reason your kids can’t come out of it unscathed (notwithstanding a few minor scrapes, bruises and bug bites, of course). To learn more about how you can keep your kids from getting hurt this summer, visit www.cdc.gov/features/KidsSafety/ for a list of great articles. Stay safe and enjoy this wonderful season.

Article courtesy of CAI, Community Associations Institute.

What Does a Utility Management Company Do?

Kilowatt Partners, Inc., a Texas corporation, was formed in 2007 with the mission of saving its clients on their energy bills.   If you have looked at bills from different energy providers, it is very difficult to tell what you are paying for electricity. 

If you have tried to shop for rates, you soon discover a wide range of rates and terms that are confusing.  Kilowatt makes it easy for clients to understand the utility cost structure, so you know the real electricity rates.  The service includes data gathering, monitoring, analysis, recommendations, and negotiations. 

Since deregulation, the way power is generated and delivered has been broken down into three components:

Generation is producing energy through various sources, whether it be fossil-fueled, nuclear or solar power plants.

Transmission and Delivery (TDSP) is getting the power delivered to your home or business.  Companies, such as Centerpoint and Oncor, make sure you are getting power delivered to your home.  The TDSP takes care of you when you have a service problem.  They do not care who you buy your power from.

Retail Electric Provider  (REP's) are the "gas stations" you buy your power from.  Most people do not know that the company who maintains the power lines is not the company they buy power from.  There is no added physical safety or reliability by staying with the old REP.

The company has negotiated rate reductions that can reduce a homeowner’s energy bill by 20% to 30%. With a 20% savings in a home using 3000 KWH per month; the homeowner should save $100 per month ($1200 annually). 

Kilowatt Partners has brokerage agreements with multiple Retail Electric Providers (“REP’s) that bid on clients' accounts.  Kilowatt is PUCT licensed to aggregate businesses, homeowners, municipalities, and homeowners associations.

Kilowatt offers energy bill reviews for commercial customers and has recovered over $2,000,000 for its clients.

You can turn your energy bill from something that is frustrating every month to something that is saving you money.

Stewart Masterson, president and CEO of Kilowatt Partners understands the deregulated energy market in Texas, and how to save consumers money on their electric bills.  

What’s not to like about these reliable blooms?

Yards and common areas beg for a pop of color as the seasons change.  Let perennials do the honors and they’ll keep coming back for encores!   Perennial plants are those that endure year to year from the same root part.  There are both herbaceous  perennials, which die back to the root, and evergreen perennials that remain in leaf throughout the  year.

Most perennials are propagated by division, seed or cuttings.  Division is the primary technique, as it not  only creates new plants, but is also important in maintaining the continued vigor of the plant. Perennials have the permanence of traditional shrub plantings, but provide attractive annual flowers.   Cut flowers are also a favored use of perennials in the home.

Like all plants, perennials benefit from proper soil preparation.  In the clay soils of North Texas; amending beds prior to planting is essential.   Tilling a mixture of compost and expanded shale is the  preferred amendment technique.  Importantly, expanded shale needs to me amended into the soil at a depth of 6 to 8 inches.  Top dressing the beds after planting with a mulch completes the planting process.

One of many past winners  named Perennial of  the Year,
Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' has proven viable in Texas.

One of the great things about perennials is that there seems to be several for all the different conditions one finds in their garden.  Salvia ‘May Night’ and Texas Skullcap have low water requirements once established.  Coral Bells, Columbine and Turks Cap will perform well in shade, while long-time favorites Mexican Bush Sage, Salvia Greggi and Blackeyed Susan thrive in direct sun.

Insure the beds you plant perennials in drain well, as saturated soil conditions are the major culprit in perennial loss.  A weekly deep watering of perennials is the best course of action.  This encourages deeper root growth.  As mentioned previously, mulching the beds will help retain moisture in the soil and reduces water evaporation from the soil surface.

Gardeners will find great rewards with the planting of perennials as they are attractive, adaptive and typically long-lived.  Begin with a planting of the tried and true varieties, prepare the soil well, perform prudent watering techniques, and take joy in the return each Spring of your perennial plantings.

John Vanderpearl is a principal and landscape consultant with Precision LandscapeManagement, LP.  The company provides comprehensive landscape services to commercial clients.  Established in 1979, the firm specializes in the year-round maintenance of commercial properties using modern horticultural practices.  

DFW Housing Shows Signs of Recovery

Good News If You’re Selling Your Home

A strong recovery in housing starts and price of home sales in the DFW market is good news for sellers and owners alike.  Owners in HOAs cite their desire to protect the value of their home investment as a key reason for choosing homes with community associations.

The Dallas Business Journal reported that “Dallas area home prices increased 7.6 percent year-over-year in March, following a national trend of rising home prices.

Nationally, home prices increased 10.5 percent year-over-year in March, according to a CoreLogic report released Tuesday.”

Metrostudy reports the Dallas-Fort Worth new home market continued to expand rapidly during the first quarter of 2013.  

“Homebuilders entered 2013 with the largest backlog of sales in years.  Consequently the year began with a significant jump in home starts,” said David Brown, Regional Director of Metrostudy’s Dallas-Fort Worth office. 

Homebuilders continue to report year-over-year gains in traffic and new contracts.  The start pace was the highest for a first quarter in five years and up 35% over 2012.  

Why More HOAs Are Adopting E-Voting

When my company started providing online voting to HOAs in 2007, only Oregon, Virginia and Delaware allowed community associations to elect their boards through e-voting. More recently, we’ve seen demand growing as a number of states -- Maryland, South Carolina, Minnesota, Washington, Nevada and Texas -- passed bills allowing HOAs to offer electronic voting to their members. California and New Jersey are considering similar bills.

A groundswell of demand has followed these legislative and technology trends. Most of that is because many more people are looking at what technology can do for HOAs. For example, our company website traffic has increased about 1000% when comparing January 1 to March 31 2009 to the same period this year.

As is typical with new technology, board and managers were slow to adopt it, as they just weren’t sure what to do with it yet. This reminds me of the web environment for online applications in 1994, when I started a web design and application company. Business owners regularly asked me:

• Why would we need email, we have a FAX machine? 
• Why would we ever need a website? 
• And now, why should our HOA adopt electronic voting? 

Both board members and managers like using e-voting to conduct business of the association for several reasons:

• E-Voting increases participation and is often the key factor in making quorum. In some cases HOAs that haven’t made quorum in years break that losing streak in their first year. 
• E-Voting saves time. It takes minutes to set up an election and load voter data, but the real time-saver is in counting ballots, because you don’t have to. Results are tabulated as soon as votes are cast. They are 100% accurate; recounting is unnecessary. 
• E-Voting is more secure than conventional voting. Despite what you may have seen in the movies, it’s very difficult for someone to actually hack into a well-protected system and do harm. On the other hand, most HOA ballots or proxy forms are easily duplicated and anybody that can drive to Kinkos could do just that. 

Homeowners really like the convenience of voting online too. They can do it from anywhere, in a car, in a bar, over coffee at Starbucks, at work, home or on vacation and via computer or smart phone, tablet or laptop. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Generally speaking people are expecting more and more services to be available online or by phone app. It’s the world we live in today. It won’t be long before voting online will become the norm. After all, how many people do you know that don’t have an email address?

Scott McKeel is president and CEO of Strateja-XL , Inc., established in 2000. The company offers the Vote HOA Now application for electronic voting, which is being used by HOAs across the country. More information about e-voting can be found on the company’s website.

Free Webinar! Top 10 Ways to Green Your Grounds

Landscape Sustainability for your Community Association.
Take advantage of a free webinar on sustainable practices for landscaping of common areas. 

Presented by Weathertrak
Join a webcast on Wednesday, April 17, 11 am pt / 2 pm et

Click here for more information.