About Oak Brook's Saddle Brook

Well spring is in the air. Matt and I will be driving next week and will be doing fines. We waited on fines the last couple of months for the snow to clear and now is the time to get things done outside. Good news on the real estate front- I see only one short sale (priced extremely well) and no foreclosures. Prices have stabilized and with a little economic pick up it is possible we might finally get an upward trend in pricing. As I mentioned at the last homeowners meeting it is up to us to stabilize prices with keeping the neighborhood in top shape and keeping up with our upgrades. I still think you can not build new houses like we have for the prices they are selling at.

The village just cut down 20 parkway trees and will be replanting with a variety of trees. This is keeping with our game plan to replace older trees with more variety and keeping our parkways in top shape.

I will also bring up at the next board meeting replacing the monument on 38th street with a nicer one. The flowers this year at the entrances should be even better than last year since we increased the budget by about 10%. This was done without raising our annual assessment.

As my neighbors know. This is the best subdivision for the money in Oak Brook in our opinion.

Mark Karambelas

Vice President Saddlebrook Subdivision Oak Brook

Matt and I from the management company did the rounds the other day and we are looking good. We have decided to give residents a few more days to get the Christmas decorations down. Hopefully, we will get some warm days soon.

At our last board meeting we discussed our prized trees once again and met with the village this week for a game plan on the Emerald Ash Borer. We Will start an aggressive plan in the spring and the fall of replacing trees to get ahead of any problems if they happen to occur. This will keep us at the top of great subdivisions in Oak Brook. We are going to be proactive and creating more diversity in our parkway trees as we replace them. We have around 400 trees and will be doing around 30 a year at this point. This way we keep the beauty and prepare for a great looking future.

Also, Mike Long has done a great job on the new web site. Please take a look and add it as a link.

Mark Karambelas

Vice President

Saddlebrook

Friends,

Walking the dog today on the bike path was breath taking. Leaves falling, people out doing projects, more dog walkers and sunshine!

It is good to see additional construction projects to beautify homes and fall flowers looking good in the front yards. As I mentioned before, not many violations, so we as a premier subdivision look great.

I also noticed the village is getting ready to plant trees to replace the trees that were taken down in poor health. As you know we on the board are working hard to keep our parkway trees looking good and healthy. It's our trees that make us special- as well as great neighbors.

I am still seeing home prices that are too reasonable. This is one of the best areas to live in and you can not build houses like these for what some of them are selling for - keep that in mind when pricing them. The economy seems to be stabilizing and our house prices should reflect that.

Mark Karambelas

Vice President

Saddlebrook Subdivision

Today I did the drive around Saddlebrook and things are looking quite good. Thanks to all for keeping your houses and landscaping looking great. I am still seeing some projects and lots of fall flowers in the yards. These types of things will keep us one of the premier subdivisions in Oak Brook. I encourage everyone to keep their homes updated and looking great in order to help keep real estate prices here on a steady to upward trend. The village has cut down some of the parkway trees that were not up to par and will be planting new replacement trees soon. Most of them should be Maple's.

Mark Karambelas

Vice President Saddlebrook Homeowners Association

Saddlebrook is looking good and thanks to all for keeping the neighborhood in such great condition. We on the board are committed in keeping our subdivision the best looking and most people friendly in the Village of Oak Brook. I hope you all had a chance to attend the "Concert in the Park" and are enjoying the walking paths. I can see many beautification projects and updates to homes- keep up the great work! As you can see the village have cut some of the weaker parkway trees and will be replacing them with maples. Also, the park district will be doing some cleanup work and painting in the park during the fall. As of today I see 7 homes under contract in Oak Brook and have not really seen any additional supply come on. It still is hard to believe you can get an updated home under $1,000,000 here and hopefully that won't last too long. I will be going out with the management company in late September checking on any violation of rules, so get ahead of any violations and do what is necessary to keep your homes up to standard and looking great.

Mark Karambelas

Vice-President

Saddlebrook Subdivision Board