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Looking for anyone who bought property in Unit73 on Owenville Drive or Arapavista Drive ?This whole land was scam that my mother bought and has passed and I to have to pay fees which i cant afford.I'm looking to get rid of 5 units of land that i believe will never be of any use.
This post is old, but I figured it was worth replying to for the benefit of other readers:
If it doesn't have running water, I think your options are as follows:
(1) Let the Horizon Communities Improvement Association take it to add to their jigsaw puzzles (I mean, the tracts of land they're putting together lot by lot to sell to developers who have the money to put in the water and sewer lines that will be needed for the property to be salable under Texas state law). If the HCIA is interested. Right now, they're only looking to acquire land near the El Paso and Horizon City city limits. If it's farther out, like near the Hudspeth County line, they may be approaching your kids or your grandkids (or your great-grandkids?) to acquire the property, not you. Depending on when development reaches the property. El Paso and Horizon City are both steadily moving eastward but east El Paso County is a very big place. It may be decades.
(2) Start ignoring the tax bills and eventually El Paso County will take this land off your hands.
(3) Suck it up. Keep paying the taxes (which are ridiculously low, anyway) and hang on to the property. Once the urban sprawl reaches your property, you (or your descendants) might even come out ahead on the deal after all.
Because if your land doesn't have access to potable water (from wells or water mains), under Texas state law you're basically stuck with it: under the Colonia Act it can't be sold for residential purposes.
And I think your only legal obligation here is to pay property taxes, not fees to any other entity for services you didn't ask to be rendered.
Last edited by atrabilius; 04-01-2012 at 10:10 AM..
This post is old, but I figured it was worth replying to for the benefit of other readers:
If it doesn't have running water, I think your options are as follows:
(1) Let the Horizon Communities Improvement Association take it to add to their jigsaw puzzles (I mean, the tracts of land they're putting together lot by lot to sell to developers who have the money to put in the water and sewer lines that will be needed for the property to be salable under Texas state law). If the HCIA is interested. Right now, they're only looking to acquire land near the El Paso and Horizon City city limits. If it's farther out, like near the Hudspeth County line, they may be approaching your kids or your grandkids (or your great-grandkids?) to acquire the property, not you. Depending on when development reaches the property. El Paso and Horizon City are both steadily moving eastward but east El Paso County is a very big place. It may be decades.
(2) Start ignoring the tax bills and eventually El Paso County will take this land off your hands.
(3) Suck it up. Keep paying the taxes (which are ridiculously low, anyway) and hang on to the property. Once the urban sprawl reaches your property, you (or your descendants) might even come out ahead on the deal after all.
Because if your land doesn't have access to potable water (from wells or water mains), under Texas state law you're basically stuck with it: under the Colonia Act it can't be sold for residential purposes.
And I think your only legal obligation here is to pay property taxes, not fees to any other entity for services you didn't ask to be rendered.
I called the homeowners assn a few years ago...what I was told was that when these lots were purchased there was a 25 year obligation to pay the homeowner assessment fees...and what that assn essentially does is keep your property on a list for potential developers, people interested in buying...but due to the 1994 I don't see how even that is possible, but it appears they are trying to "bundle" the properties...
OUR 25 year obligation has ended so I told them to pound sand (but I would have never known had I not called) ...JMHO paying them fees for keeping your name on a list is worthless...if someone wants your property they can find you through the tax assessors office...so best to check with those folks, as they don't tell you when your 25 year obligation is up, but with all these properties being sold at about the same time, I'd imagine many people can stop paying those fees...I no longer have the phone number to contact them :-( but there is a # on this news article if u happen to know the area code there...the number is at the bottom of the article
I am really confused about the development out that way...a few years ago I was told that there are houses being built and military folks are the most common residents (maybe inside city limits? I have no clue) and we happen to own a commercial property that I thought was near a school there...so seems to me if there is a school, there is water and utilities, yet tax value for that property is about $300...
I'm having a hard time pinning down any kind of map that would even show me where our two parcels are --anyone know of a way to find out exactly where your parcels are located?-- ...Thank heavens the taxes don't amount to much...
I think the whole thing was a big rip off, and wish something could be done about it...I would never consider living there...and the sooner I could dump these properties the happier I would be...me and who knows how many other thousands of people who got ripped off...and like me, have inherited this "beast"...
I have one property that even supposedly has a street address of Cross Ave according to the tax assessors site, but mapquest says that street doesn't exist...
I called the homeowners assn a few years ago...what I was told was that when these lots were purchased there was a 25 year obligation to pay the homeowner assessment fees...and what that assn essentially does is keep your property on a list for potential developers, people interested in buying...but due to the 1994 I don't see how even that is possible, but it appears they are trying to "bundle" the properties...
OUR 25 year obligation has ended so I told them to pound sand (but I would have never known had I not called) ...JMHO paying them fees for keeping your name on a list is worthless...if someone wants your property they can find you through the tax assessors office...so best to check with those folks, as they don't tell you when your 25 year obligation is up, but with all these properties being sold at about the same time, I'd imagine many people can stop paying those fees...
Yeah, okay. The FTC shut down the Horizon Corporation on this in 1981, and according to the article the lots were sold from 1962 to 1975, so it's likely that everyone's obligation to pay these fees expired years ago. A lawyer might be able to tell you for sure. A lot of people are flatly refusing to pay, according to the article, and nothing seems to be happening to them.
Quote:
I am really confused about the development out that way...a few years ago I was told that there are houses being built and military folks are the most common residents (maybe inside city limits? I have no clue) and we happen to own a commercial property that I thought was near a school there...so seems to me if there is a school, there is water and utilities, yet tax value for that property is about $300...
I think they were talking about Horizon City, just outside, and in Montana Vista. On land where there are no problems with the title or utilities and the parcels are big enough to develop.
Quote:
I'm having a hard time pinning down any kind of map that would even show me where our two parcels are --anyone know of a way to find out exactly where your parcels are located?--
You would probably need the latitude and longitude of the property and Google Maps.
Last edited by atrabilius; 06-10-2012 at 05:51 PM..
Yeah, okay. The FTC shut down the Horizon Corporation on this in 1981, and according to the article the lots were sold from 1962 to 1975, so it's likely that everyone's obligation to pay these fees expired years ago. A lawyer might be able to tell you for sure. A lot of people are flatly refusing to pay, according to the article, and nothing seems to be happening to them.
I think they were talking about Horizon City, just outside, and in Montana Vista. On land where there are no problems with the title or utilities and the parcels are big enough to develop.
You would probably need the latitude and longitude of the property and Google Maps.
Thanks for the heads up on the assessment fee info.I checked the orig. paperwork & you are correct.Thanks once again.
I have not paid the taxes in over 15 years. I have not recived a tax bill in that amount of time or I would have paid the tax. The tax is less than the postage and fees it takes to process the taxes. I have 3 lots in Shadow Ridge Estates. They are worth almost nothing. I had a call from someone who claims to have a buyer. I will not pay any listing charges so my guess is that they will not bother to call again.
I have not paid the taxes in over 15 years. I have not recived a tax bill in that amount of time or I would have paid the tax. The tax is less than the postage and fees it takes to process the taxes. I have 3 lots in Shadow Ridge Estates. They are worth almost nothing. I had a call from someone who claims to have a buyer. I will not pay any listing charges so my guess is that they will not bother to call again.
Maybe the HCIA (the Horizon homeowners' association) will decide someday to make your land part of the tracts that they're assembling piece by piece to hand over to developers and go to the county and have them foreclose. If you've got any plans to do anything with the land yourself, you might want to get up to date on the taxes. Otherwise, you could just let it ride without it hurting anything.
I'm interested in purchasing Horizon land, for more than the cheap assessed value. I do the paper work & pay. contact me if interested thank you, rawdirt123@gmail.com
Quote:
Originally Posted by wldgrdnr
I called the homeowners assn a few years ago...what I was told was that when these lots were purchased there was a 25 year obligation to pay the homeowner assessment fees...and what that assn essentially does is keep your property on a list for potential developers, people interested in buying...but due to the 1994 I don't see how even that is possible, but it appears they are trying to "bundle" the properties...
OUR 25 year obligation has ended so I told them to pound sand (but I would have never known had I not called) ...JMHO paying them fees for keeping your name on a list is worthless...if someone wants your property they can find you through the tax assessors office...so best to check with those folks, as they don't tell you when your 25 year obligation is up, but with all these properties being sold at about the same time, I'd imagine many people can stop paying those fees...I no longer have the phone number to contact them :-( but there is a # on this news article if u happen to know the area code there...the number is at the bottom of the article
I am really confused about the development out that way...a few years ago I was told that there are houses being built and military folks are the most common residents (maybe inside city limits? I have no clue) and we happen to own a commercial property that I thought was near a school there...so seems to me if there is a school, there is water and utilities, yet tax value for that property is about $300...
I'm having a hard time pinning down any kind of map that would even show me where our two parcels are --anyone know of a way to find out exactly where your parcels are located?-- ...Thank heavens the taxes don't amount to much...
I think the whole thing was a big rip off, and wish something could be done about it...I would never consider living there...and the sooner I could dump these properties the happier I would be...me and who knows how many other thousands of people who got ripped off...and like me, have inherited this "beast"...
I have one property that even supposedly has a street address of Cross Ave according to the tax assessors site, but mapquest says that street doesn't exist...
Not much info out there on the net either :-(
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Horizon View Estates Unit 25
