Trip Report and Question about HOA (Dallas, Austin: for sale, real estate, apartments)

[ny2austin]

Hello. I spent a few days in Austin with my fiancée to see what the city was like, since we are considering relocating to Austin from NYC.

We rented a car and a GPS to give us the opportunity to drive and explore different neighborhoods.

We stayed in a hotel not too far from the airport, and we were surprised that the price was under $100/night for such a large room. A similar sized hotel room in NYC would probably cost 3-4 times as much.

The GPS helped a lot, since the roads were not that easy to navigate (this coming from someone who has lived in NYC their whole life and navigated in some of the most confusing streets in Queens.) However, the GPS sometimes got confused or missed our exit completely, so it was not without fault.

We didn't spend too much time visiting the typical tourist attractions, though we did go to the lake and rent a boat. We also drove a little around the downtown area, and ate dinner on Barton Springs Road.

We looked at different areas in the NW part of town since we both work in the IT field, and I heard that most of the IT companies are located around this area. Our first impressions were that we really couldn't tell the difference between different suburban neighborhoods, they all looked pretty similar. We looked in Cedar Park, Leander, and West Round Rock.

We ended up visiting some houses on the market with a great real estate agent. We saw houses in Avery Ranch, and a few other communities. We couldn't believe how big Avery Ranch was, and how many houses were in the community. The houses we saw were nice, but I thought they were too close to the adjacent houses. This seemed to be a common occurrence in the communities we saw, which was a disappointment as I would like to have some separation between the adjacent houses.

We thought the roads were fine, I couldn't believe how well paved they were and how straight they were. NYC roads are filled with potholes and a traffic light every block, so it was nice to be on an open highway. We didn't experience too much traffic, but that isn't really a concern for us.

I was wondering how strict the HOA's are in most of these communities. I play guitar, and I want to have the freedom to crank my music pretty loud without worrying about disturbing my neighbors. I would also want the freedom to be able to work on my car in/out of the garage, and use air tools. I worry that HOA's might object to these two things, and the close proximity of the houses might also make this disturbing to the neighbors (which I don't want to do).

We enjoyed Austin, and are still interested in relocating there if we can find decent employment. We will probably try to take one more trip in the summer to experience the heat and to see the city one more time.

[HappyTexan]

If you are not only looking for new, then try looking at the older subdivisions that have more land and fuller trees. Did your agent take you to the older parts of Round Rock ?
There are some beautiful neighborhoods there but the homes are not spanking brand new.

Older neighborhoods tend to have more lenient HOA's as well with a more live and let live attitude.

If you plan to visit again try looking in some of the older neighborhoods.

[Trainwreck20]

I was wondering how strict the HOA's are in most of these communities. I play guitar, and I want to have the freedom to crank my music pretty loud without worrying about disturbing my neighbors. I would also want the freedom to be able to work on my car in/out of the garage, and use air tools. I worry that HOA's might object to these two things, and the close proximity of the houses might also make this disturbing to the neighbors (which I don't want to do).

A) Kudos for thinking of your neighbors
B) How much are you looking to spend?
C) There are IT companies all over, but yes, there are a lot of the smaller ones in that area (as well as some big ones).

Personally, depending on your budget, I would look in Angus Valley. That is an HOA-free older neighborhood north of Duval between 183 and MoPac. There are actually a couple 5 acre lots in there, but they will cost you somewhat of a premium, I am sure, if they are for sale (one was a couple of years ago and I think they were asking ~$700k). However, there are quite a few smaller large lots, too. It is a curbless neighborhood (or most of it is) and the houses are mainly late 70s. The lots are noticeable bigger than the new subs and it is definitely more relaxed. I really liked it there (lived in a small house there for years) but you have to not mind some people having pot bellied pigs in the front yard, or the neighbor parking on the grass, etc .

Just checked TravisCAD and there are 18 properties on Mustange Chase (one of the roads in Angus valley with 0a few bigger lots) and the lowest appraisal was ~$215k, the highest was $646, and the average was $323k. The $646k was 2+ acres with a 4,100 sf house, the $215k was 115' x 317' (~3/4 acre) and a 1700 sf house. Of course, these are just appraised values, not market value.

[ny2austin]

Thanks for the information. Our dilemma is that we would prefer a newer home, and it seems that the newer homes are in communities with HOA.

After living in apartments my whole life, it doesn't sit well with me that my first house would have community rules that I would have to follow that I might not agree with. I don't mind paying common charges to pay for community shared amenities, but I don't want someone telling me how many trees my lawn has to have or that my car can't be parked in my driveway and such.

I assume some HOA have rules that are stricter than others, but the strictness of the rules would definitely factor into our decision. We would keep our property in good shape, and there won't be any cars up on cement blocks on the front lawn

We are looking for a house around 2000 sq ft 3/4 beds 2 bath. We don't want a huge house, and we prefer to keep the price under 250,000.

I was thinking of soundproofing a bedroom to make it into a music room, or play music in the garage. I wouldn't be working on my cars all that often, but I do like to perform my own maintenance from time to time and I might want to buy a compressor to use air tools.

I've spent my whole life having to play my music at low volumes due to thin apartment walls, so I would really like to be able to raise the volume in a house. I wonder how other people deal with not disturbing their neighbors when playing drums, guitars, etc. since Austin has a lot of musicians.

[jwb123]

We have neighbors across the street whose teens are in a band. They practice during the day in the garage, and as far as I know, no one cares. I think people would generally only care if you were playing late into the night. At least where I live.... I am on the east side of Round Rock - in Forest Creek. Very close to Dell, Samsung, IBM, National Instruments etc....

I don't know about the more stuffy neighborhoods (Steiner ) though - they might care regardless of the time.

[traceyr13]

The HOA in Avery Ranch is pretty vigilant - I lived there last year, and we actually got a couple notices - once was after we let our lawn go a few weeks without mowing (honestly, it was NOT that bad, it was literally a few weeks) and once because they felt that the tree in our front yard was dead...even though it had green leaves sprouting on it.

I know our neighbors were similarly cited for things - one of our neighbors liked to park his car on the side of the road since his kids played in the driveway, and usually didn't move it back in. It didn't bother any of us, but he got a letter about parking his car in the street too much.

[stephr]

We live in a brand new subdivision in Cedar Park. Our HOA is VERY active. Even if music was played during the day, I think it would cause an uproar. Our HOA also does not allow vehicles to be worked on outside the garage. They fine you if your garbage can is put out too early or if it sits out too long or beside your house. I really don't mind the HOA, our neighborhood, pool, and park are immaculate and it is quiet and relaxing. I think you get a good idea about a neighborhood if you take time to drive through during different times of the day.

[ny2austin]

Thanks for the information about the HOA's you mentioned.
Since I've never owned a house, I assumed a newer house would be better for us since it shouldn't need that much work/maintenance for a few years and it would probably be more energy efficient and built with "the latest and greatest" materials and such.

What would be the other major differences between a 20/30 yr old house and a house built within the last 5 yrs that we should consider? Is it even possible to find a newer home in a non-HOA area or a voluntary/lenient HOA?

Thanks.

[art_teacher_mom]

Originally Posted by ny2austin

I assumed a newer house would be better for us since it shouldn't need that much work/maintenance for a few years and it would probably be more energy efficient and built with "the latest and greatest" materials and such.

What would be the other major differences between a 20/30 yr old house and a house built within the last 5 yrs that we should consider? Is it even possible to find a newer home in a non-HOA area or a voluntary/lenient HOA?

Thanks.

Well....newer isn't always better, in my opinion. We've had everything from newer homes to a 1940's bungalow. Some of the latest and greatest materials you mention in newer houses we've had were mdf cabinets (as opposed to solid wood), laminate or vinyl floors (once again, had solid wood in our 1940's house) styrofoam mouldings and other cheap ways builders figured how to save money. Don't rule out looking at an older home that someone else has already done all the major reno on.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes a brand spanking new home can be great. It all depends on your builder. In your case, I would either move to an older neighborhood with spread out lots and a sleepy HOA (or none at all) OR build a house and put extra insulation in your guitar room.

One thing that was very telling for us when we moved up to Dallas was looking at a list of foreclosures - half of them in one particular neighborhood were owned by the HOA! Yikes. We did NOT move to that neighborhood.

[Rose Red]

Yes - newer isn't always better. We have a new construction and it had numerous problems. All covered under warranty but taking time out for repair people and having people in and out of your house repairing something every couple of months is a pain. We previously owned a 10 year old house and had no problems in the 8 years that we owned it.

Haven't had any problems with our HOA in Sonoma and it's been over 1 1/2 years since we purchased.