What the recorded documents actually say about Walerko's Whispering Acres in Elkhart — fences, sheds, pools, pets, parking and the rest — with the part of the document each answer comes from.
8 homes have sold here in the last four years, which is why this neighborhood was compiled early.
Before you rely on this page
These answers come from the recorded Protective Covenants for Walerko's Whispering Acres, signed in June 1977 and filed with the Elkhart County Recorder on June 28, 1977 as instrument No. 632735, in Miscellaneous Record 117 at pages 317 and 318. That instrument covers every lot in Walerko's Whispering Acres except Lot 23, and every lot in Walerko's Whispering Acres Second without exception. The original plat is recorded in Plat Book 12 at page 2 and the Second plat in Plat Book 13 at page 38.
A later Amendment to Protective Covenants, signed September 17, 1986 and recorded September 19, 1986 as instrument No. 791729 in Volume 181 at pages 371 to 373, reaches only part of the neighborhood: Lot A, Lot 30, and Lots 35 through 51 of the Second plat. It raises the minimum house size on those lots, allows a modular home there if an architectural control committee approves the design and location in writing first, excludes mobile homes from that allowance, and gives the original developers a time limited right to buy a lot back if no home is started within three years of the sale. None of those changes touch the subjects answered below.
This is a short, old record, and it is genuinely short rather than incomplete. The recorded covenants are ten numbered paragraphs across two pages, and most of the subjects buyers ask about are simply not in them. Where an answer below says the documents do not address something, that reflects the document being silent and not a gap in the copy on file: every page was read in full from the complete scan rather than from a shortened extract, and each paragraph was also read by eye off the images of the scan to make sure nothing had been lost in the machine reading.
One note on the wording quoted below. The scan of the recorded 1977 original is a poor one, and its paragraph about pets came through the machine reading with its lines out of order, so no usable quote could be taken from it. The file also holds a clean typed copy of the same ten covenants, headed for the Second plat, and the pets wording quoted below is taken from that copy after checking it against the recorded original on the images; the two say the same thing. Every other quote below comes from the recorded original itself, which is why several of them carry obvious misreadings of individual letters. Treat that typed copy with some care in general: it differs from the recorded instruments in two places, both about minimum house size and setbacks rather than about the topics below. For anything you plan to rely on, get a current copy of the recorded covenants from the Elkhart County Recorder or from your title company.
Finally, there is no homeowners association here, no common ground, and no dues named in these documents. Enforcement is left to a court action by anyone who wants to bring one.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →The only buildings these covenants allow on a lot are one detached single family dwelling of no more than two and one half stories and a private garage for no more than two cars. A shed, a pole barn or any other separate accessory building is not among them, and the documents create no approval process that could let one in. A second paragraph separately bars using a shack, barn or other outbuilding as a residence, temporarily or permanently. The documents never use the word shed, so how far that building limit would be pushed against a small storage building is not spelled out, and with no association here there is nobody to ask for a ruling. Any building that does go up also has to sit at least 35 feet back from the front lot line and at least 10 feet from an interior lot line.
These covenants do not address parking or storing a camper, boat, travel trailer or motor home on a lot. There is no screening rule, no time limit, no garage requirement, and no outright ban on keeping one. The single place a trailer is mentioned is a paragraph saying that a trailer, or any structure of a temporary character, may not be used on a lot at any time as a residence, either temporarily or permanently. So living in one here is ruled out, while simply keeping one is left unaddressed. The documents do not say a camper may be parked in the open either, so county and zoning rules, and anything written into your own deed, would be the place to check.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →There is no architectural review for ordinary exterior work here and no committee to submit plans to. What the covenants constrain is what a building may become: no building may be erected, altered, placed or left standing on a lot other than one detached single family dwelling of no more than two and one half stories, plus a private garage for no more than two cars. An addition also has to respect the setbacks, at least 35 feet from the front lot line and at least 10 feet from an interior lot line, and the dwelling has to meet the minimum floor area the covenants set, which is 1,200 square feet for a one story home under the 1977 original, and 1,300 square feet for a one story home or 1,800 square feet in total for a taller one on the lots the 1986 amendment reaches. The only written approval requirement anywhere in the file is narrow: on Lot A, Lot 30 and Lots 35 through 51 of the Second plat, the design and location of a modular home must be approved in writing by an architectural control committee first, and mobile homes are excluded from that allowance altogether. Siding, roofing, colors, windows and similar choices are not addressed.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Dogs, cats and other household pets may be kept. Animals, livestock and poultry of any kind are otherwise not to be raised, bred or kept on a lot. The one condition placed on household pets is that they may not be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose. The covenants set no limit on how many pets a household may have, name no breeds, and say nothing about leashes, fencing, noise or cleaning up, so none of that is addressed here. Elkhart County and city animal ordinances would still apply.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →The covenants open by limiting each lot to residential purposes and nothing else, and they allow only one detached single family dwelling and a two car private garage to stand on it. There is no home occupation paragraph, no carve out for a home office, and no definition of what counts as residential use, so the documents do not tell you where the line sits. They also say nothing about business signage, customer traffic or employees, because this record has no sign paragraph at all. A quiet home office with nothing visible from the street is a different practical question from a business that brings customers or trucks to the lot, and these documents do not separate the two. One related restriction: household pets may not be kept, bred or maintained for any commercial purpose.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Rubbish, trash, garbage and other waste have to be kept in sanitary containers, and no lot, or any part of one, may be used as a dumping area for them. Any equipment used to store or dispose of waste has to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. Outdoor incinerators are not permitted on a lot. The documents set no collection day, require no screening or enclosure for containers, and say nothing about where cans may sit between pickups, and there is no association here to set a rule on any of that.
The covenants never mention grills, grilling or cooking outdoors, either way. There is no fires paragraph in this record at all and no ban on open burning as such. The only burning related rule sits inside the trash paragraph and says no outdoor incinerator is permitted on a lot, an incinerator being a device for burning waste rather than anything to do with cooking. On the face of that wording a charcoal or gas grill is not what it is aimed at, but the documents do not say so either way, and local fire and open burning ordinances would apply regardless.
We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →We don’t have this one confirmed yet — we can ask the association and get you an answer before you commit to anything.
We can find out →Tell us the question and we will get you the answer from the recorded documents.