Recent Sendera Ranch opinions? (Saginaw, Howe: for sale, HOA, crime)

[TxBrn&Raised]

Hello! I've done a search on here and I've also googled reviews on Sendera Ranch. Most of them are a few years old, so I thought I'd ask again

We are currently in Saginaw and have really enjoyed it, but are looking for a larger home. That, combined with wanting to move a little closer to family and have more community/HOA involvement, has us looking in SR. We looked at SR when we first moved back to Texas. We came right in time for the housing crash and all of the houses we viewed in SR were trashed and we just didn't have the time to put into that, so we passed. Although, we really liked the common areas, so we checked back over the years with the builders and have driven around to see how the subdivision recovered.

We are probably the odd-balls for wanting a more involved HOA. We are former military and love the structure of the rules of living on post and hoped that we would find that living in a HOA, but the one we currently live in is pretty relaxed and it drives me crazy. Are the rules enforced pretty nicely in Sendera Ranch? How is the management company? I read a forum that had some homeowners refusing to pay their dues until a person from the office was fired.

A lot of the forums I've read about SR speak badly about the crime and those who have moved into the area due to the housing market crash a few years back. Does that still seem to be a problem?

Elementary schools. What I've read, there's a big difference between SR Elementary and a newer one that was recently built. Apparently, the newer one is awful. Your opinion of this? How is the middle school?

A big question I have is those fenced in areas with the gravel and pipes and/or large containers. What are those? There are a few homes for sale right now and all of them are located either next to or across the street from one of those areas. Just curious if it's a coincidence that the homes for sale are by these gravel areas or if it's something's going on and homeowners want to move away from them.

With it being such a large subdivision, do you find the common areas/pools to be overly crowded? We currently live in a HOA that consists of only 7 streets, so trying to decide if that'd be a change we'd be ok with or if we'd be better off in a smaller community.

Thank you in advance for any personal opinions you can give me about this area Everything we've found online has either been drastically one way or another and from years ago, so I'm looking forward to reading some recent experiences!

[Threestep2]

I can only tell you about traffic. It is a problem to get in and out during commute hours as access roads are not laid out for the volume. With the opening of the first segments of the new HS who knows.
What are you looking for in a home and community?

[ChristieP]

The fenced areas are usually a gas well, or a pipeline connection.

[TxBrn&Raised]

Thank you for the replies! We did notice quite a bit of traffic yesterday, when we drove out to the neighborhood. Then took a drive to the new HS to see the drive our son would have in a couple of years and that had me a little concerned. I'm sure the area will grow and the roads will expand as time goes on, though. I hope at least.

As far as what we're looking for in a home and community, we're looking for an area with community involvement. Walking trails, large community pools, a HOA that has yearly events like chili cook-offs or fall picnics. We recently had some friends move out to NWISD and rave about it compared to their experience with EMS ISD. However, our son has always had straight A's and tons of friends here in EMS ISD...he loves it...so that's a big reason to stay put

Thank you for the info on the gas well/pipeline connections. I've never seen a neighborhood with so many of those, so it took me by surprise.