2nd Annual Greenhaven Community Garage Sale and Open House Tour

It's time to start planning for our 2^nd Annual Greenhaven Community Garage Sale and Open House Tour!

The tentative date for this event is Saturday, June 28, 2008 from 8am – 2pm

In order to have this event be as successful as possible, I need some help from my fellow Greenhaven neighbors.

I would like to have a preliminary meeting sometime in April, to discuss the details of the Garage Sale and Open House Tour.

Specifically, I need people who are interested in the following activities:

• Obtaining local business sponsorships
  
• Signing up neighbors for the garage sale
  
• Finding adequate advertising avenues
  
• Organizing Day-Of-Event activities in the park
  

I will work with real estate agents regarding the open houses, as well as tying up any other loose ends.

If you can help in any way, please contact Mariana Wagner: 719-570-7715

In Memory of REALTOR John Arends (1947-2008)

John Arends of ReMax Properties was the real estate agent for many homeowners in Greenhaven, when they bought their new Greenhaven John Laing home in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Sadly, John Arends passed away January 26, 2008 - just 6 days after his 61st birthday.

He is survived by his wife (and REALTOR) Judy, 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.

If you wish to pay your respects to one of the most influential and well respected REALTORS in Colorado Springs, there will be a memorial service in memory of John Arends:

Friday, February 1, 2008 at 10:45 a.m.
Woodmen Valley Chapel
250 E Woodmen Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Top 5 Things I Love About Living in Greenhaven

1. The Park. The Greenhaven Park has been such a lifesaver for us, as we have 2 children who LOVE it there! And? That is a whole lot of grassy areas that I don't have to mow! And the pavilion has been home to MANY parties and BBQ's - such great memories!
   
2. The View. I love driving into the neighborhood (from Roxford) and seeing that beautiful mountain in the distance.
   
3. My Neighbors. I have never lived in a neighborhood where so many people were so friendly and willing to chat or help dig out snow bound neighbors!
   
4. My House. John Laing's "base" options were so much better than the other builders that we visited. Even though we did go a little overboard on upgrades, we could have walked in without any upgrades and had an excellent home. (And I love my outdoor fireplace!)
   
5. The Holiday Spirit. Whether it is Halloween or Christmas, I love walking (or driving) around Greenhaven and seeing everyone's Holiday Spirit!

Posted By: Mariana Wagner – Greenhaven Resident and Realtor®

Letter From the Niles Family Regarding Their Mold Issue

Preface: We were able to briefly speak with Stacy Niles regarding the issue that she is having with John Laing Homes and the mold that her family has found in their new home. We asked her to explain her situation to us so that we could share it with the rest of our neighbors, here on this site. It is important to note that this may be a serious situation for these homeowners, but (so far) it seems to be isolated to this particular home. If you notice any kind of excess moisture and/or mold in your home, please get it inspected, tested and treated immediately. Here is the unedited letter and photographs that Stacy and Kevin Niles shared with us:

Derek and Mariana Wagner as well as all Greenhaven residents,

We greatly appreciate your concern and support. I am sure that if you have not seen our truck then you have heard some stories about it. This has been a very long journey for us, and an exhausting one at that. We are not first time John Laing Homeowners. In fact we loved our first John Laing Home so much when we moved back to Colorado from Arizona last year we did not even consider other builders. We actually picked our lot and floor plan while in Arizona without even seeing it, that was the confidence we had in John Laing Homes. Since then our confidence has turned into a nightmare.

On September 26, 2006 we closed on what we thought was our dream home. We planned to raise our three children here. We were so certain this was the home for us, that we purchased almost $80,000 in upgrades. We chose to have the entire main level done with hardwood floors. Once you do over a certain square footage of hardwood flooring John Laing Homes installs a free humidifier onto your furnace. The purpose of the humidifier is to add moisture to the air in your home to avoid damage to your floors. It is our belief that the humidifier was defective from day one. Our "House to Home" paperwork states the humidifier needed to be "adjusted" because of the amount of water draining out of it. We were instructed to keep the humidifier set around 30%.

The next several months we were beginning to notice extreme amounts of moisture on all of the windows, walls and floors. In the mornings we would have to clean up puddles of water off of the floors. Moisture had built up on the windows and then had dripped down onto the floors. One morning in December we found ourselves, literally, frozen inside. All of the doors and windows we covered in ice, inside the house! It was also around this time that a gas leak was detected on our furnace (the same one the humidifier was installed on) and the City of Colorado Springs "red tagged" our furnace and shut it down. They told all of us to sleep upstairs because of the carbon monoxide. John Laing Homes not only replaced but also upgraded (at no cost to us) our furnace to a Lennox. Before long the new upgraded furnace would not work. It turned out that a wire from the furnace to the humidifier had shorted out and blew a fuse in the new furnace. To me all of these issues were beginning to point to the humidifier.

Soon we began to notice a dark discoloration of the hardwood floors around the doors, we submitted a warranty request and they told us it was normal. Then we noticed very large cracks around the windows, again I submitted a warranty request and they told me it was a homeowner responsibility, saying "over time the caulking with dry out and shrink" and we (the homeowner) would need to re-caulk it. At this point we had only been in the house for maybe 6 months so to hear that was a shock, to say the least. I decided to document what I had found so I began going one by one to the windows in the house taking pictures of the cracks surrounding the windows. That is when I discovered the mold. I was stunned. How could this be in my new house? So again I submitted a warranty request and that is when it started to go downhill.

We began dealing with Jeff Lamphere, Senior Customer Care Manager and eventually dealt with Zane Wilkerson, Vice President, Customer Care. To our shock not only were they denying any responsibility for the mold they actually blamed us. Stating the following reasons for the high humidity. This is from a letter dated April 26, 2007:

Evidence indicates that the humidity level inside the home is higher than most homes due to:

1. Family lifestyle
2. Family members
3. Indoor Water fountains (2)
4. Indoor plants
5. Indoor pet

So here is our response:

1. We are no different from any other family
2. There is a total of 5, myself, my husband and our 3 children
3. These fountains are very small indoor fountains
4. All of the plants in my home are fake
5. We own a 15 lb. Jack Russell Terrier

Now we have been through "arbitration", Zane Wilkerson and John Laing Homes were generous enough to provide this at no cost to us. It was months later; in fact right after the arbitrator received his check from John Laing Homes that he ruled they were not responsible. Plus, what we received for "arbitration" was a general contractor, not a formal arbitration hearing. We have consulted with an attorney and they are willing to take our case after we provide them with evidence from an Industrial Hygienist. Well, this is not cheap, the cost is $500 for an inspection and two mold samples. Well, as the mother 3 young boys and myself and my husband as full time students, we do not have $500 sitting around. We believe John Laing Homes knows that the vast majority of people do not have the time or money to fight them. However, we also know that it is our job to fight for what we believe is right.

Kevin W. Niles and Stacy L. Niles - 7002 Silverwind Circle - Colorado Springs, CO 80923
(719) 597-4439 or (719) 510-2121

I know this letter is long and please understand there is much more to tell. If you would like to speak with us further you can reach us at the above numbers and address. Please take some time to look at the photos as well. And Fox 21 news will be airing a story on us sometime within the next week or two.

Sincerely, Kevin W. Niles and Stacy L. Niles

Mold in Greenhaven John Laing Homes and Unhappy Homeowners?

We have all seen the truck that belongs to a John Laing homeowner, and I am waiting for the opportunity to speak with them regarding their issue with mold in their John Laing Greenhaven home. I also know that there was a FOX News crew cruising the streets of Greenhaven, talking with some residents about their satisfaction with their John Laing Home.

Personally, I am more than a little concerned. Not only am I a John Laing homeowner in Greenhaven, but I am also a REALTOR® that sells hundreds of new homes in Colorado Springs – several of which are John Laing homes. I need to know exactly what is going on.

First and foremost, I am worried that there is a home in Greenhaven, that was professionally tested for toxic mold… and mold was found. (Or, I hope that it was professionally tested by a licensed and certified EPA approved testing facility. Was it? I won't know until I speak with the affected homeowner…) Also, I am concerned that the family is still living in a home where this mold was found. True toxic mold can cause a multitude of irreversible health issues and the first step in avoiding these issues is to move out of the home that has this mold. I feel for this family and hope that measures were taken to correct this problem and that nothing irreversible has occurred.

In August, several D-49 schools were found to contain mold, and this had to be remediated. Mold is actually very common in many parts of Colorado Springs, especially in newer construction where homes can be improperly ventilated. Derek and I had a serious run-in with toxic mold a few years back, and are well aware of all the damage it can wreck on a human and on a property. Read Our Story Here: Our Colorado Springs Real Estate MOLD Story

However, I also understand that (apparently) John Laing did nothing to help these folks? I guess it depends on the exact reason why the mold occurred and if the liability really did rest on the shoulder of the builder. Unfortunately, post-built environmental issues are usually not a builders' responsibility. Although, I do not know the specifics and am not an attorney of any sort, so my observations are just that: observations based on past experience. However, if it WAS builder responsibility, then John Laing should step up and right these wrongs, regardless of the red tape that will need to be sorted through…

*UPDATE* We just spoke with the homeowner and are expecting some more information from them that we can post, here.

Read Also: Colorado Springs Real Estate Issues: Mold - Part Two (The Facts)

Second, I am concerned about the overall satisfaction of the homeowners in Greenhaven. I know from both personal and professional experiences that there are always unhappy homeowners in every neighborhood. I guess Greenhaven is no exception.

The Fox News crew talked with several people and I am just concerned that all they heard was negativity. (Of course, the news thrives on only negativity, so it really does not surprise me…) However, we all live here in Greenhaven and unnecessary bad-press* is only going to hurt us (and our property values) in the long run, so I hope this report gets tempered with a few happy homeowner stories. (*By "bad-press" I am not speaking about the Greenhaven homeowner that is dealing with a mold issue. If there is a mold issue that needs to be dealt with, public awareness is crucial.)

Now, we have been involved (either directly or indirectly) with lawsuits on almost ALL new home builders in Colorado Springs for various reasons. I guess that when hundreds of new homes are being built every year, there is more room for error.

So, I need to ask:

• What can we do, as a community, to fix the issues that are bothering Greenhaven home owners (us)?
  
• What can I do, as your neighborhood real estate agent, to help YOU, the Greenhaven homeowner, be happy (again) with the home that you once fell in love with?
  

I hope to get the scoop on the mold issue in Greenhaven, and I will post their story here, if they let me. I would also love to hear more about you, the Greenhaven homeowner, regarding your experiences (good or bad) with your John Laing Home.

You can email your stories to: GreenhavenCommunity@gmail.com or you can call us directly at: (719) 570-7715

Sincerely, Your Greenhaven Real Estate Agents through thick and thin: Derek and Mariana Wagner – Wagner iTeam

For the record, all of our personal and professional experiences led us to the decision to buy a John Laing home, as they had the best reputation and highest quality of workmanship compared to the dozens of other builders that "threw homes up" in the Colorado Springs new home boom over the past several years. Of course, every builder has its problems – John Laing just had the least amount of "issues" in our experiences. We were also extremely happy with their customer service and how we were taken care of after the sale.

Halloween in Greenhaven - 10/31/07

Halloween in Greenhaven was a BLAST!

There were Trick-Or-Treaters out for hours! We gave out a lot of candy. And our kids? Well, they made out like bandits. (A trip to the dentist may be high on our lists ...)

We walked around most of the neighborhood, and in my opinion, the BEST streets were Thistlewood and Abbeywood. (Although the haunted house on N.Silverwind was awesome!)

Abbeywood was definitely the best "bang for your buck" - This is where the bulk of our kids' candy was found. Thistlewood, as a whole, had the best decorations and most Halloween spirit!

Here are some more Greenhaven Halloween scenes...

Share YOUR Greenhaven Halloween pictures ... GreenhavenCommunity@Gmail.com.
We will post them HERE!

Posted By: Mariana Wagner - Wagner iTeam at Keller Williams Realty - Greenhaven Neighbor and REALTOR
What's for Sale in Greenhaven? Check out the Greenhaven Real Estate website ... or call us: 570-7715

Community Garage Sale & Open House Tour

Greenhaven Community

Garage Sale and Open House Tour

Saturday - July 28, 2007

Garage Sale: 8am - 2pm

Open House: 11am - 2pm

Grab at Community Map at the East entrance to Greenhaven!

Visit with neighbors at the park throughout the day!

Directions:
From Powers Blvd., head East on Dublin. Left on Black Forest Road and Left on Roxford into the Greenhaven Community.

For more information, call Mariana Wagner: 719-570-7715

Greenhaven Community Garage Sale & Open House Tour

Save the Date!

Saturday, July 28 2007 Greenhaven will have its First Annual Community Garage Sale and Open House Tour.
There will be a 3-day ad in the Gazette promoting the event, and a community map that will direct people to the Featured Open Houses and Featured Garage Sales.
To be a Featured Garage Sale, please call Mariana Wagner (your Greenhaven Neighbor) for details on how to register. 719-650-3952
To be a Featured Open House, please have your real estate agent call for registration information. The Featured Open Houses will have exclusive advertising and visitors to these Open Houses will have the opportunity to win some awesome prizes!

Open House Tour will be advertised from 11-2pm.
Community Garage Sale will have signs and directionals from 8am-2pm.

We also plan on having a LIVE RADIO REMOTE in the Greenhaven Park from 9-10am, and hot dogs for lunch! Stop by and say Hi!!

There are flyers on the mailboxes that offer additional information.

Greenhaven Father's Day BBQ and Potluck - June 16, 2007

Last Saturday (June 16) was the Greenhaven Neighborhood BBQ. There was about 60 people who arrived - bringing food and fun!
We fired up the grill at about Noon and Derek (the chef and grill-master ... AND the mastermind behind the gunbo ... ) started BBQ-ing hotdogs, hamburgers, brats and chicken. Sidedishes were brought by all those who attended and included pasta salads, lettuce salads, deserts and all kinds of delicious foods!
There were name stickers and pens – for many of the folks to get to know eachother better.
Everyone who brought Diet Coke (as asked in the invitation), was instructed to leave it on the picnic table in the sun, as WARM Diet Coke shoots much higher in the air than cold Diet Coke.

First, we gathered all the kids together and did a water relay. We split the kids into 2 teams and had them dunk a sponge into a bucket of water, run across the field to an empty bucket and wring the water into that bucket. The first team to fill the bucket was the winner. Winners received 2 raffle tickets. Those who did not win still received one raffle ticket. From there, the kids ran to the playground and the grassy areas playing with the balls and Frisbees that were available.

Next up was the M&M Guessing Game. See, the night before, I had filled a canister with M&M’s. I counted how many I had put in there. Yes. A lot of work! … But well worth it! After the water relay, people were asked to guess how many M&M’s were in the cannister. The prize for the person who guessed the closest, was to take home all the M&M’s. Needless to say, there was a lot of competitive interest in this game. There were so many fun strategies that people used in coming up with their guess! There were 728 M&M’s in the canister and the winner was the young lady who guessed 758. She was VERY excited!

From here, all the folks who brought Diet Coke went out onto the field with a roll of Mentos. Countdown … 3-2-1 … There were Explosions of Diet Coke went everywhere! Some as high as 20 feet into the air! How exciting!

After this event, everyone was handed a raffle ticket. After everyone had at least one (some of the kids had 2 or 3), we gathered everyone under the pavilion and started raffling off the bouncy balls, gift cards and a Longaberger latte mug (brought by our neighbor Deb!). (When this was first organized, people were asked if they wanted to help “sponsor” gifts for the raffle.)

Throughout the 2+ hours that we were there, everyone was talking, laughing and making new friends. This was such a fun time and we can't wait to do it again!

Posted By: Mariana Wagner - Greenhaven Neighbor

Greenhaven Father's Day BBQ and Potluck

Saturday - June 16th, 2007 - Greenhaven Park Pavilion - Noon

Contests - Prizes - Fun - Food - Friends

The Greenhaven Community is getting together to celebrate "Dad"!
Everyone is Welcome!

Please bring:

• Something to Grill
• A Dish to Share
• A 2-Liter Bottle of Diet Coke

We will supply the paper products, drinks, Mentos, and the grills!

(Why Diet Coke and Mentos? Click HERE for a video explaination ...)

We hope to see you there!

Are you a Small or Local Business Owner? Are you Self-Employed? Do you Run a Home-Based Business? Here is a great (inexpensive) opportunity to let over 200 households know about your business! There will be contests and prizes all afternoon, at the Greenhaven Father's Day BBQ. We are looking for people to donate prizes on behalf of their businesses. Now, this is nothing major – just a $10-$20 father’s day related gift. Here are some ideas:
· Gift cards – restaurants, sporting good stores, Blockbuster, golf courses, Home Depot/Lowe’s/Sears, movie theaters …
· Coffee mugs or to-go coffee cups
· Grilling Utensils
· Of course … a gift certificate for YOUR business!
· Or, if you are too busy, we can get something on your behalf – (just make sure you have the money to us by Monday, June 11, 2007)

When we hand out the prizes, we will announce who donated it, so make sure that you affix your business card and/or a small piece of marketing material for your business. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please let us know by Wednesday, June 13, so we can coordinate all the prizes.
570-7715 (Derek or Mariana Wagner) or email us at: greenhavencommunity@gmail.com.

Greenhaven Community - Why I Love It Here!

Greenhaven was built by John Laing, and consists of about 230 homes. It is located in the northern part of "Ridgeview at Stetson Hills" - in the northeast part of Colorado Springs - nestled at the northwest corner of Black Forest Drive and Dublin Boulevard.

I love living here because I am far enough to the east to really appreciate the sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak, yet not too far from all that Colorado Springs has to offer. We are also just minutes from the shopping, entertainment and restaurants found on the Powers Corridor.

Our neighborhood has been referred to as the Crayola Neighborhood because of our vibrant house colors - particularly the "Cottage-Series" homes on the South half of the neighborhood. Deep blue, rich turquoise, burnt orange, vibrant red, bright yellow and energetic green were among the colors available to new home owners. The northern half of the neighborhood (the Windchime-Series) has more subtle colors - but not without a splash of blue, yellow, red and orange every few houses. A drive through our neighborhood is nice reminder that we are not living in Edward Scissorhands Land (where every home looks the same).

John Laing started building homes in Greenhaven in the Summer of 2004. With the model homes all for sale or moved into - our neighborhood is now finished - no more construction, as of Spring 2007. New homes were available in the high $100k´s to mid $200k´s when they started in 2004, and now, you can find resale homes, here, priced and selling from the high $200k´s to the mid 300k´s! People love living here and the pride of ownership is prevalent. A drive down any of our streets will show this.

Yards are not too big, so they are easy to maintain. The Windchime homes (in northern Greenhaven) all come with nice front porches - and many of the homes also have really nice side or front patios - some with outdoor fireplaces! The Cottage homes (in Southern Greenhaven) come with a variety of front porches, upper balconies or side courtyards. Each home is unique and boasts tons of character.

Eventually we will have more neighborhoods to the west and north of us, but Greenhaven was not built on a grid: Silverwind Circle "circles" the entire neighborhood and only 2 streets (and 2 more eventually) lead in or out. One leads to Black Forest Road and one lead to Westbound Dublin. For now, Greenhaven is destination-only.

One of the nicest features of Greenhaven is the neighborhood park. John Laing was smart- they finished the park before building any homes. What a great attraction! It sure was for us. We have 2 children and wound up buying a home right on the park. I could not ASK for better! When talking with other homeowners in Greenhaven, I have found that the park was the motivating factor for many of them.

Besides the fact that the park is like a huge yard that I do not have to maintain, it offers a lot to our neighborhood. There is a play structure with slides, games and a bunch of things to climb on. There's also a large field for football or red rover, kite flying (Colorado Springs DOES get its fair share of wind...) or anything else that may require a huge grassy area. In the middle of the park is a huge covered pavilion with picnic tables where we have had plenty of neighborhood BBQ´s and birthday parties.

Which brings me to my favorite part of Greenhaven: The people. I love my neighbors. I have the best neighbors ever - all 230 of them! Everyone is friendly and you can´t go too far without seeing neighbors helping each other in a yard, chatting on a front porch or corner or playing with their kids and dogs in the park.

I love this neighborhood, and am happy to live here, surrounded by my friends and neighbors who call Greenhaven ... Home.

Posted by: Mariana Wagner - Greenhaven Homeowner

Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday (February 4, 2007) proved to be a big event, here in Greenhaven. Several homes were open to neighbors and food and football fans. What was the outcome?

• Food and drink were enjoyed.
• Kids played all evening.
• We all got to enjoy the company of our friends and neighbors.
• The Colts won.