January News from Your HOA
MONTHLY MEETINGS
The Copper Village Community Association Board of Directors is pleased to announce the resumption of in person monthly meetings. Until further notice, the monthly meetings will be held at the West Houston Church of Christ, 17100 West Road. We will be meeting at the church for the next few months to allow homeowners space for comfortable social distancing.
We will have signage showing the exact meeting room. These meetings will be held on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30 PM and we hope that many of you will choose to attend.
2022 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
January
Please note that due to the Martin Luther King holiday our monthly HOA meeting will be on January 24th (the 4th Monday of the month) instead of the 17th. Meetings are still being held at the West Houston Church of Christ, 17100 West Road and begin at 6:30 PM. This change is for January only. Meeting will return to the 3rd Monday of the month in February.
TRASH
The MUD District’s contract with Best Trash has changed.
**Our new garbage days will now be TUESDAY AND FRIDAY.**
**Recyclables will be picked up on FRIDAY only.**
Please make sure trashcans are out by 7AM on Tuesday and Friday. They should be removed from view by the end of the day. Any cans left longer will be subject to a potential deed restriction violation by the Homeowners Association.
If trash from yard clippings and other sources are placed on the curb after these days, they will need to be moved to the side/back of your house, out of view from the street. Lawn companies should be reminded of this as well.
As a note, Best Trash is being paid to empty your trashcans from your garage door. Unless you desire, there isn’t any need to put your cans on the curb. They will be emptied from the front of your garage door.
On FRIDAYS, recyclables will still have to be placed at the curb; bins will not be emptied from the front of the garage door.
If you have any issues with trash pickup, please do not call Inframark. Contact Best Trash directly at:
Telephone: 281-313-2378 Fax: 281-313-2379
HOME RENTALS
Homes in the subdivision can only be leased for a MINIMUM of 6 months. Anyone who leases/rents their homes MUST provide the first page of the Rental Agreement to Inframark. Additional details about the process to provide this information can be found on TownSquare.
It is a Deed Restriction Violation if homeowners do not provide the proper documentation. If your home is already leased or rented, please provide rental information to Inframark at your earliest convenience so that you will not be in any violation.
COMMUNITY PARKING
We have had numerous complaints lately about the number of cars being parked at certain houses. Society has evolved over the years from one car to multiple-car households; unfortunately, the developers of the subdivisions didn’t allocate enough space for parking. Associations are at a loss about how to control parking; it is an issue that is fraught with challenges and abuses.
The streets belong to the County; the HOA is unable to enforce traffic laws as there is nothing in the covenants that limit the number of personal vehicles a Resident may have. If a resident feels there is an issue with parking, i.e., location of vehicle, blocking site lines, parking in front of fire hydrants, etc., you may call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on the non-emergency line, which is 713-221-6000. As much as we would like to do something about this issue, our hands are really tied on it. Therefore, your best course of action would be to call the Sheriff’s office directly.
HOMEOWNER WEBSITE
Inframark, our Property Management Company, has a website that homeowners can log into to access current Association information. The website is townsquare.nabrnetwork.com; the site is constantly being updated to provide the latest association news. You are also able to see all pertinent governing documents related to the association.
All homeowners will need to register to access this website. Currently there are less than one-half of the homeowners registered. Please register to be able to access this website so that you can stay abreast of neighborhood happenings.
HOWDY NEIGHBOR! IMPORTANT NOTE:
Thank you to those who have cleaned your bronze street number plate on your home exterior. PLEASE make sure your house number is visible from the street. You might need to lower the shrubs that are blocking the visibility of your house numbers. Or polish/clean the plate. This is very important because in the event an emergency vehicle needs to find you and can’t, it might be critical in time lost.
A TOOL FOR YOU
Go to www.smarteraboutwater.org and set up your yard watering. Did you know landscape irrigation can account for up to 50% of annual household water use? The great tool will help you set your watering stations to conserve you water. Do it today.
HOMEOWNERS RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP COPPER VILLAGE BEAUTIFUL
-
To mow and edge your yard on a regular basis during the growing season. No grass should be growing onto the driveway, curb or sidewalk.
- To kill or pull weeds growing in the expansion joints of your driveway, sidewalk or in your flower beds.
- To prune and groom all shrubs and trees on your property.
- To trim any tree branches that hang low over your sidewalk or into the street.
- To add mulch around trees and in the flower beds at least once a year or whenever needed. (if the tree roots are showing, either apply mulch or dirt and new sod)
- To remove mildew or mold from any brick or siding or concrete
WE ARE COPPER VILLAGE PROUD! THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR PART!
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Homeowners - NOTE: If you have a manhole on your property that has major cracks or you feel is unsafe due to the uneven surface, this is what you need to know. If the sidewalk is sinking around SANITARY sewer manholes contact H 2 O at 281-861-6215 (this number is on the water bill). If it says City of Houston STORM SEWER, that is the responsibility of the county. Please call Tracy McKay, who works for County Precinct #3. Her number is: 281-463-8703. If the damage is caused by tree roots in your yard, it is your responsibility to have the sidewalk repaired. Thank you for your careful attention.
DO US A BIG FAVOR!
Copper Village homeowners, would you go outside sometime in the next month to make sure your streetlights are working on your block? If they are dim or blinking or out, you can help us by going online to: http://centerpointenergy.com/outage or call 713-659-2111. The online form will ask you to give them the vertical numbers listed on the pole and a nearby address and then DONE! Centerpoint will come out within 5 days to replace the light. This helps keep our blocks totally lit up. Thank you CV - you are the BEST NEIGHBORS.
INSURANCE TIPS
If you have a car, a house or a business, it is very likely that you have to deal with insurance. Sometimes we see insurance premiums as a burden, but when we have a problem and we are able to transfer the financial cost to the insurance company, then we see the value of having paid for it.
Besides, our hometown is actually subject to risks that some cities do not face: floods, hurricanes and now it seems like freezes may need to be on the radar as well. So, we better make sure we have the right coverage at the right price. And although there is no magic one-size-fits-all solution, I would like to share some valuable hints for you to take advantage of your insurance policies.
Before we get into the matter, let me just remind you that flood is not included in your regular homeowner insurance (HO3), landlord insurance (DP3) or renter’s insurance (HO4) and until this year, most home insurance policies in our city did not include water damage. So you may need to review what you actually have in force as of today.
Now, I would like to talk about a concept called Reconstruction Cost Estimate (RCE), which is the value to re-build your house in the case of an event (or peril). This figure should be something you would like to take a look at. This figure is usually at the very top of your policy (also found as Coverage A) and is the base for the whole arrangement of concepts (Coverage B, C and D) as most of them are calculated as a percentage of the RCE.
As inflation and construction prices have gone high lately, you need to make sure this amount is updated and most insurance companies have the proper tools to find out what value makes sense for you and your property. Any major aesthetic and expensive upgrade should be reflected in that number, as it will be the base for the carrier to pay when something happens. Watch out! If it is too low, you may have to face high out-of-pocket amounts. But what if it is too high? Well, insurance companies have good statistics on the real reconstruction costs and they know the value to re-build a specific type of property, so an RCE way above the actual cost will never be claimed; it may look sexy in your policy, but it is not a real benefit.
You also want to let your carrier know of any non-aesthetic renovation, such as roof, plumbing, electrical and even smart-home devices. These improvements can help lower your premiums because insurance companies have seen risks go down when homes go through those types of renovations.
Other items that you must be aware of are the deductibles. Deductibles are the amounts you would absorb out of the total peril covered by your policy. Let us assume that in a fire, the damage adds up to $250,000 (and your RCE is 325,000). If your deductible is $5,000, then after all the due process (claim, review, adjustment, settlement, etc.), you will be paying $5,000 and the insurance company would be responsible for the remaining $245,000. Please note that there are several deductibles according to the type of event and they can be stated in a specific amount or as a percentage.
There are combinations you may want to look at. For instance, if an update of the RCE increases the premium considerably, you could then raise the deductible to try and compensate the additional cost. It all depends on the value of your property and your out-of-pocket capabilities.
And finally, the liability coverage. There are items that you should take into consideration when defining it: how many visitors you have and how close they are, their ages, if there are risks in your property (pools, trampolines or dogs). If you have lots of people coming in every weekend, two dogs, one cat and a trampoline, I can tell you: $100,000 can be a little too low.
Submitted by Copper Village resident Javier Tapia
