Saddle Lake Farms Community Page
Life in Saddle Lake Farms - Culture, Background, & History

This Page is intended to serve as an Welcome/Orientation Point for New Neighbors, as well as an ongoing reference for us "Old Timers". This page is NOT behind a password (though some linked documents may be), and also may be used as a Reference/Fact-Sheet for agents and prospective buyers. Any links that require a password will be marked with [PW]. For password, or general website assistance, Click here to contact the Webmaster
And for details on passwords, click: Password Usage Notes

This Page is by no means complete, as even if it ever were, it wouldn't be for long, as things, they keep a'changing! - so, any suggestions, updates, additions, corrections are welcomed, as are any substantial content contributions (like a history of SLF, etc), that would best have their own page (and linked to from here).

For a general description of Saddle Lake Farms and a list of services in the surrounding area, click: www.SaddleLakeFarms.com/WelcomeCD/ to view the "Welcome to Saddle Lake Farms" package.

 Below are some documents which also may be helpful:
      Notes for Prospective Home Owners (major rules, use-restrictions, & amenities)
      Lake Rules (as of Summer 2017)
      Portable Building Policy (as of Spring 2016)
      COVENANTS, and other Governing Documents (as of December 2015)

Below is a link to the "Annual Assessment Amount" page,
      which shows the annual amount for current and past years,
      along with more details regarding Assessments:
        www.SaddleLakeFarms.com/Assessments/

Members' Private Data Use - only for Association Business:
      Privacy & Ethics Pledge (for association leaders and others with access to members' private data)
      (to be completed by each Board Member, Officer, etc. after each election and posted on the Election Results page)

Documents relative to the City of Alabaster and/or Shelby County:
      Alabaster Zoning Plan for SLF (per losing county zoning upon becoming part of the city)


FOR REALTY & CLOSING AGENTS:
While not exhaustive, the following is a summary of key points for Realty and Closing Agents regarding handling a property closing in Saddle Lake Farms (SLF) -
    
  • The SLF homeowners' association (HOA) Name & Mailing Address is:
             Saddle Lake Farms Association, Inc.
             P.O. Box 161
             Saginaw, AL 35137
  • SLF is a "Land Condominium" - note that it is NOT a condo in the usual sense (of multiple dwellings in a single building) - When property is purchased in SLF, it is purchased by the "Unit" and a Unit consists of a pro-rated share of the Common Areas (Lake, Roads, Entrance Areas, Nature Trail, etc), as well as a separately plated lot. Each such plated lot is to contain at most 1 single family dwelling (lots may be vacant, but if not vacant, may only have a single house, for 1 family). It is this pro-rated share of common areas where the "condo" aspect comes in - The HOA insurance and upkeep responsibilities are only for the common areas, and it is the responsibility of each homeowner (unit owner) to maintain their own home & property insurance, as well as to maintain their property according to the requirements and use-restrictions of the SLF covenants (such as mowing lawn, type of fencing allowed, and other items covered in the covenants).
  • HOA Assessments are due on an annual basis, according to the following:
             >>   Assessments cover the Calendar Year (1/1 thru 12/31)
             >>   Assessments are due in first part of year, and are deliquent after March 15th.
                         (courtesy notices are sent in Jan or early Feb to each Unit Owner, showing the amount they owed as of Jan 1st, including any balances or credits from prior years)
             >>   Assessment Payments (Checks, Money Orders, etc) are to be made payable to and mailed to the HOA
                         (see the HOA's Name & Mailing Address above) - Also, we cannot accept cash, and all payments must be made payable to the association.
  • Note that it is legally required for the seller to furnish the buyer with a copy of the SLF Covenants and a professionally printed & bound hard copy can be purchased from the HOA. The covenants are also available online on this website (from homepage, click on "Covenants" link, then scroll-down to Probate Records). The online version is spread across several different documents (declaration, bylaws, amendments, etc), whereas the hard copy (available from the HOA) is in a single bound document (see "Closing Fee Schedule" below for cost of bound & printed hard copy).
  • Certain documents are required from the HOA for closing, including a basic HOA Assessment & Compliance Letter - See the below "Closing Fee Schedule" for info and fees for these documents. This basic HOA letter will contain much of the info included here, as well as specific data for the unit/property in question, such as assessments (and closing document fees) due, as well as any covenant violations that may need to be corrected prior to closing.
  • Please provide the following when requesting HOA closing documents:
             >>   Street Address of Property
             >>   Date of Closing (and when need letter by)
             >>   Names of Buyer & Seller
             >>   HOA Documents Needed:
                         (Basic HOA Letter only, or other documents listed in the "Closing Fee Schedule" below)
        And to request such HOA documents, please contact the SLF Treasurer at:      Email to Treasurer
    		•
    For more information on Assessments - particularly the Annual Amounts for various years - please see the Annual Assessment Amount page (link also appears above on this page)

    CLOSING FEE SCHEDULE:
        The following document describes the closing fee schedule that the SLF Association now charges for supplying the HOA documents needed for closings (buy/sell, refinance, transfers). This is due to an inordinate amount of work being involved with the preparation of such closing documents and packages per SLF being a Land Condominium. Note that if the closing date changes, these documents are re-published/supplied with applicable dates and/or amount changes, at no additional charge. If, however, there are additional documents needed, then those will be charged additionally according to the fee schedule. As this process is quite laborious, and the association officer must perform thorough verification of facts (as this is a legal document), it is a common practice for homeowners' associations to charge for such closing packages. Many require payment up-front, which can delay and cause undue hardship on both the buyer and seller, so SLF has chosen the more "neighbor friendly" method for such fee collection - these fees are to be collected by the closing attorney (at closing), and then remitted to the association. This info (and all details as to where to send, etc) are included in the HOA closing documents provided.
    NOTE: one of the factors affecting the amount of the closing package fee is the lead-time given: TO ALL HOMEOWNERS, AGENTS, CLOSING ATTYS - Please get the request for a HOA Closing Package to the SLF association AT LEAST 10 BUSINESS DAYS prior to closing (or when needed) to assure availability and avoid rush fees. Thank You.
        Click     HOA FEES to see fee schedule, and click Email to Treasurer to contact the SLF Officer handling HOA Packages (currently the SLF Treasurer). And as closing agents are aware, the association will need the names of the buyer and seller (as will appear on closing documents), as well as date of closing, and of course identification of property (Street Address in SLF is fine, but Parcel # is appreciated). Also, if buyer's have a nickname(s) they wish the association to use, that info will be helpful as well, along with any other info that the buyer might want to provide, so that they can more quickly take advantage of asssociation benefits (such things might be a phone # for our password-protected Community Directory, email addresses for our private email distribution list, and desired password for our website). The buyer is of course free to wait until after closing to contact the Webmaster regarding such matters - the Webmaster can be contacted at: Email to Webmaster




    The Below Info is Outdated for Saddle Lake Farms, now, per the Annexation into the City of Alabaster -
        (still listed here as reference info)

    SCHOOL TRANSITION INFO:
        The following documents describe the "schedule of transition" that the Shelby Co. & Alabaster City Boards of Education have agreed upon. This determines how non-Alabaster-resident students (which previously attended schools that are to be part of the Alabaster City School System) will be transitioned to attending Shelby Co. schools.
        Please Note that the schedules and the information shown in these documents are the result of decisions made and agreed upon by these Boards of Education, and in no way are the actions or decisions of the Board of Directors (or any entity) of the Saddle Lake Farms Association - the information presented here is strictly to inform Saddle Lake Farms residents (and any other interested parties viewing this page) of decisions made by these school boards.
              Description of Transition Schedule  (article from "AL.com" of May 23, 2013)
          Chart showing Transition Schedule  (visual chart, based on info in above article)
    For further questions or suggestions, and to get more detail, you can reach these School Boards at:
          Shelby County Schools:
             Phone: 205-682-7000
             http://www.shelbyed.k12.al.us/
             P.O. Box 1910
             410 East College Street
             Columbiana, AL 35051     		      Alabaster City Schools:
             Phone: 205-624-3105
             http://www.alabasterschools.org/
             P.O. Box 480
             6919 Highway 119, Suite 100
             Alabaster, AL 35007