Georgetown 'hoods with no HOA? (Austin, Round Rock: foreclosed, mortgage, home)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by IC_deLight

Because the real estate agent needs to "close deals" to get paid. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a real estate agent in Austin. If HOA housing is off the list then they have little or no inventory of other people's property to sell. The agent gets paid when the deal closes. No closing, no pay.




Yup ... and private "fining" is heavily promoted by the management company. When they have a contract that provides for $$ for every letter threatening a violation, it doesn't take long for them to flood subdivisions with tacky letters making accusations for profit. They also try to create a "late fee" scheme which diverts your assessments to generate "late fees" which all go to the management company. They also try to impose "transfer fees" for the sole benefit of the management company - the list of fee pyramiding schemes is always evolving. Those 50 page documents? They often insist upon $100 - $200 or more for those documents as well - all off the books of the HOA corp.

Some management companies engage in very deceptive insurance practices as well. They will "recommend" an entity to provide/secure insurance without revealing the entity is an affiliate of the management company which is only going to recommend coverage under policies owned by the management company or its parent. The board thinks they are purchasing an insurance policy. Instead they are "purchasing" coverage under a policy owned by the management company or its parent. The same coverage is sold to other HOA corps with none of them aware of all the other HOAs sharing the same coverage.

Hope you are able to find non-HOA housing.

IC_delight, I know that any thread about HOAs tweaks your hobbyhorse, but you really have NO idea about how real estate actually works. One closing is just that, one closing. An agent who focuses solely on that one closing, no matter whether or not they're doing the right thing by their customer, is most likely going to be in the 90% who can't make it in the industry over a year or so. All other considerations aside, it's just bad business to push a client into a house that isn't suited for them just to make ONE closing, when by helping that client find the kind of house in the kind of neighborhood that is going to make them happy and closing it with the least amount of hassle possible to them, you're likely to get several closings (and in some cases, dozens, with the right happy client). So any agent who truly cares about their OWN bottom line isn't going to behave as you would, in service to your own pretty obvious agenda, like to think they do. It doesn't make financial sense to behave as you describe.

Maybe you are that shortsighted, or maybe your HOA hobbyhorse gets in the way of your vision, but successful real estate agents can't afford to be.

[Aquitaine]

Any real estate agent who knows what he or she is doing isn't going be so shortsighted as to get anybody into a home that isn't what the buyer wants.

That's not to say that there aren't buyers out there whose idea of what they want changes afterwards - but that's not the agent's fault. If you look at the market like 'gotta plug these holes, need a warm body' you'll never get the referrals you need. I've never met a realtor in Austin that preferred even a juicy individual sale to counting on referrals down the line.

Ours did a good job three years ago and since then has closed on eight houses through friends and family we've sent their way. We've given them a hard time on a few occasions, too, but they play ball with us because they'd rather keep coming back to the table than lose business over this or that piece of any one deal.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by curmudgette

Thank you, IC_deLight! Yes, I have *always* avoided HOAs, and it's the first thing I've always specified to a realtor.

Why would a real estate agent steer a client toward an HOA neighborhood? Does it somehow benefit the agent ??

The only way that it benefits the agent is to actually be able to find a house for you. From what I can see, there are currently only 11 active single family home listings in Georgetown in your price range under $180K. Just glancing over the list, at least half of those 11 listings look like they are probably in an HOA neighborhood and one listing is a run-down manufactured home on 2+ acres. So, you're looking at a total of maybe 5 or 6 active listings in your price range that fit your wants in the entire city of Georgetown.

So, you can either wait a couple months for Inventory to increase in the Spring when hopefully more listings will pop up on the market, or you might need to expand your search to other places outside of Georgetown to find what you're looking for. A couple years ago, you could get what you are looking for in Georgetown Village where there is no involuntary HOA, however, since the homes are so close together, even there you would get neighbors complaining to you or the city about yard issues, etc. But now, it looks like the sub-$180K listings just aren't there anymore.

[curmudgette]

Thank you for replying, Mark311.

That's is exactly the problem I am having -- lack of affordable inventory in Georgetown. I've been looking on and off for nearly two years. There are generally only one or two at a time that are worth doing a drive-by. I probably need to find a town other than Georgetown. I just really like that town.

[TexasHorseLady]

Don't give up, unless you have to move right away. While there are other towns, if you have all your ducks in a row and are ready to make your move when the right house comes on the market, it can be done.

What is it about Georgetown that speaks to you? If you DO have to look at other towns, maybe some of us can point you in the right direction if we know what that is.

[curmudgette]

Thank you, TexasHorseLady!

I don't *have* to move to Georgetown, and I'm not in a hurry.

I would love other suggestions as to good places to live.

I am an about-to-retire teacher, so I will be poor.

I am interested in a town whose population is somewhere between 80K'ish and under 300K'ish. I like Georgetown because of the community activities, the Square, the friendliness of the residents, etc. I like places with senior centers (Georgetown does *not* have one), such as the two in College Station and the BACA center in Round Rock. In sum, I want an inexpensive, but safe town with some community life.

I lived in Austin proper for 20 years, but at my age now, the traffic and busyness is too much.

I'd love to live in Sun City, but could never survive their HOA (!). They'd kick me out before I even got unpacked. They don't even allow privacy fences -- how am I going to sneak chickens in? But I really like being around old people and would love to live among older folks. Of course, that could just be in any quieter neighborhood in any nice town.

Oh -- one more thing -- I want to be *accessible* to Austin, so not farther away than College Station'ish.

[TexasHorseLady]

Have you investigated San Marcos?

[curmudgette]

Nope. I'd like to hear from anyone who might be familiar with Temple, Waco, College Station, Bryan, or other spots I might not be thinking of ...

[TexasHorseLady]

You might want to look at Belton. I've been spending a bit more time there lately and the town has quite surprised me. In fact, I head north almost as often as I head south to Georgetown for groceries these days.

[curmudgette]

Now that sounds interesting. Can you tell me more about it?