The Pemberley HOA monthly assessments are carefully considered every year to determine not only how much will be needed to cover your monthly budgetary expenses (such as landscaping, insurance, fence maintenance, etc.), but also how much we’ll need to put into our savings or “reserve” for the repair or replacement of common area amenities.

With few exceptions, everything on the property outside of our doors and windows comprise the “common areas” of our community. Each part of our common areas must be maintained at a cost shared by each unit. As a general rule, we don’t budget monthly for the major repair or replacement of the various parts of the common areas because it’s impossible to foresee exactly when the pool heater will need to be replaced, a tree will die or the roof will need to be replaced. So for major maintenance expenses such as these, we draw funds from our reserve account.

It’s difficult to predict how much money we should have on hand for such expenses, so we look to the experts who have provided us a Reserve Study as a road map to adequate long term savings. This reserve study, which recommends that the HOA be saving a minimum of $4,800 per month, can be obtained by any Pemberley owner by clicking here. While are not financially able to meet this savings goal in 2009, we are hoping to make big strides in building a healthy reserve savings.

We also incur many “smaller” expenses every year, like tree trimming and electrical issues, but also recognize that we have substantial expenses ahead like re-roofing the buildings and resurfacing our parking lots. To ensure fairness to all, every owner at Pemberley: past, present and future contributes to the reserve account for the maintenance of each part of the common area through their monthly assessments.

Additionally in 2008, Federal Lending changes were announced by Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac / FHA stating that every condominium community which desires to qualify for these Federally backed loans, must be actively saving at least 10% of their annual/monthly income. If our HOA was to not meet these criteria, then the vast majority of the loans in the country would not be available to Pemberley Owners looking to refinance and prospective buyers. This could dramatically hurt the property values at Pemberley.

A few years back a smaller, older 24-unit complex in Utah County had a portion of their roof collapse. Without the necessary reserve funds to cover the repairs, the management board took out a loan and then imposed a $600 special assessment on each unit to repay the debt. Though the $600 assessment was spread out over six months, many owners simply didn’t have the ability to pay the extra $100 per month in addition to their regular monthly dues. As a result the HOA defaulted on their loan. With careful planning and money management, Pemberley is trying to learn from the misfortunes of others and we’re doing our best to plan for a financially healthy tomorrow.

After a complete review of the foreseen expenses for 2009, we have determined that the monthly HOA fees must increase to $173.50 per month effective January 1, 2009. Please download the proposed budget here for more details of the expected expenditures. There will be a final opportunity for homeowner input at the December board meeting scheduled to take place on Friday, December 12 at 6pm in the clubhouse. An official letter announcing the increase is expected to be mailed via USPS the following Monday.

Please note that accounting books for the Pemberley operating account are open for review by any owner that desires. If you wish to review those reports, please call the Advantage Management offices at 801-235-7368 to schedule an appointment.

Lastly we remind you that this decision is not made lightly, without serious consideration. Please know that we spent many hours discussing items that could be eliminated from the budget to avoid the necessity of increasing dues. In our continuing efforts to serve the community, we will continue to look for ways to improve the community and cut costs, while maintaining the long term values of your property.

Because of ongoing scheduling conflicts among the members of the Management Committee, there will NOT be an October meeting of the HOA. However, the November meeting will be held next Friday November 7 at 6:00pm in the clubhouse. As usual all members of the community are invited to attend.

A major topic of discussion at this board meeting will be the 2009 budget and the size of a needed increase to the monthly dues. If you have questions or feedback about the HOA finances, please plan to attend the meeting as it will be open to homeowner feedback.

The agenda for next Friday's meeting can be found here. The agenda will change between now and the 7th. Refer back to this link for the most up-to-date version.

Finally, in years past the December meeting of the HOA has been cancelled due to the fact that our meetings are usually held at the end of the month. That will not be the case this year. There will be a meeting of the HOA Board of Directors in early December. A specific date and time will be announced soon.

The monthly board meeting for September will be held Monday September 29th at 6:00pm in the clubhouse.  Going forward board meetings will be held on the fourth Monday of the month at 6:00pm.

The meeting agenda can be found here.  The agenda will change between now and the 29th.  Refer back to this link for the most up-to-date version.

The Annual Homeowner Meeting and Elections for the Board of Directors will be held on August 26th at 7pm in the clubhouse. Official meeting notices will be mailed out to all homeowners before August 16th. We hope to see everyone there.

The deadline for those wishing to run for the board of directors to declare their intention to run is this Wednesday, August 13. Simply send an email to and we will get you further instructions. More details are also available in the newsletter.

The monthly board meeting for July will be postponed one week.  The new meeting time is July 29 at 7:00pm in the clubhouse.

The meeting agenda can be found here.  The meeting agenda can be found here.  Since the agenda will probably change between now and next Tuesday, please refer back to this link for the most up-to-date version.

Please note that the discussion of an increase to the HOA dues is scheduled to begin at 8:00pm.  At that time we will jump from wherever we are in the agenda to that item.  There will be time allotted during that discussion for homeowner questions and feedback.