Mello-Roos and Homeowners Fee's (Sacramento, Lincoln: foreclosures, renters, HOA fees) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Lmasters · 11-19-2006, 07:39 AM

My husband and I went to look at a D.R Horton Home yestersday where a 2000 sq ft house was reduce to the lower $300,000.00. And asked about the Mello-Roos there, $241.00 a month she said, and $115.00 a month for Homeowner dues. Remember this is not deductible. The Mello-Roos are pay for city police and the fire department and Libraries, etc. So I would guess that a older home would be best to buy and let the state tax pay for all this.
It's tax deductible. Builders in Sacramento and all over California are killing the good growth of our children. By making there parents stress out to hold a roof over there head. My husband also works with somone who just moved in to one of these homes with these dues. 2 months and already gave up a truck he couldn't keep.

Anyone out there already paying these Taxes and dues? Like to hear your input,

Regards,
Lisa

Guingirl · 11-20-2006, 01:13 AM

Personally, I really dislike DR Horton and wouldn't buy one of their houses. I live out in Natomas Park and we pay no Mello Roos and 69.00 a month for HOA fees. That includes all the parks, community center & pools.

Although you are hard pressed to find much of anything in the area for 300K for any size of home here anymore. Condo prices in our area are going for that.

We are moving to Texas because it is so much more affordable. My Mom just bought a fully upgraded home 1700 sq ft in a great new neighborhood for 165K. That comes with granite, ss appliances, hand scraped floors, hand troweled walls and crown molding. I am hoping that we will be able to find something like that when we get there. All I know is it will definately be a step up from where we are now and half the price.

Good luck to you, but I think that is outrageous...maybe they are taking a portion of the mello roos to compensate for the price of the home??

Lmasters · 11-20-2006, 07:08 AM

Thank You for your input, my husband and I were also thinking of Texas, but I'm starting to think maybe Colorado would be better. Yes the large amount of Mello-Roos would add to the house value, but since this house was located in Lincoln where they had nothing to begin with I would say it's probally to start a city there.
I also believe the builders are tageting Bay area people moving up to Sacramento, and pushing the people out of Sacramento that were already here. They are not rich people.

Guingirl · 11-20-2006, 01:14 PM

I have a few friends that have moved out to Colorado and I have looked there. It is not as economical as Texas, but it doesn't have all the heat. I had an aunt that lived south of Denver. She loved it but she did get snow. We are moving with my Mom (she has her own house) and I wouldn't want to have to deal with the snow and having her driving through it etc.

Texas does have ice, but thinking about having to shovel snow just isn't my cup of tea.

Where we are looking, yes, it is hot like it is here in the summer, maybe a little longer and just a little more humid. In North Texas, its not as humid as say Austin or Houston.

My cousin lives in Lincoln Crossing and not sure what she pays in mello roos or HOA, but the thought of that amount just makes me twitchy.

daddiesgirl · 11-18-2009, 12:17 AM

Lisa, you might want to clear it up with DR Horton. I live in Lincoln, CA and the home we bought has the Mello Roos tax and HOA dues as well. Mello Roos is tied in to the purchase of the home and our mortgage and not a separate payment. My monthly HOA fees are about $225 on top of my mortgage. It makes little to no difference to me and I didn't know about it until our mortgage company brought it up.

JohnnyS999 · 02-19-2010, 03:09 PM

I live in Lincoln Crossing in a Centex home. I was fortunately enough to buy when the builder offered to pay the Mello Roos as an incentive for us to buy. They even gave us the $50K+ in upgrades. I remember the Mello Roos bond was something like $42K at the time. Little did I know since it was in 2006 the housing market was on the skids big time and I thought I was getting a great deal but in reality I shouldn't have moved because my house is worth maybe half for what I paid for it. However, I really feel sorry for the folks that moved in before us, like early 2006 and before. They have to pay the Mello Roos bond monthly on top of the association dues, that is a chunk of change. There is a house plan like ours that we almost bought but lost out (thank god) when someone else got it before us. They paid $585,000 for the house including the kind of upgrades we got for free and they also had to pay the Mello Roos. They are super upside down and no wonder people walked away from their homes. We couldn't because we put too much down otherwise we would have walked as well.

I think you ought to look at homes build in mid 2006 in the Lincoln Crossing area because theres a good chance the Mello Roos bond was paid for by the builder. I would stay away from the high end JTS homes because that neighborhood is even more ghetto than what some parts of ours is turning into. The JTS homes were all bought out before they were built in 2005 and they were friggen expensive. Come to find out most were bought out by a big group of orientals expecting to flip them for a big profit-never happened because the housing market collapsed. Furthermore, the spec homes they bought were base homes without any upgrades so you buy a big high end home with cheap carpet and cheap white tile. A buddy of mine bought one for a good price, 4,200 sq ft but it had all no upgrades and the cheap white tile was everywhere. His master bath was hugh with expansive tile, but it was all the cheap stuff. Looked like crap. He eventually walked away from the house as well. The neighborhood is trashed with foreclosures, renters and few owners. Really too bad because the homes are really nice looking on the outside.

Speaking of the association we have here in Lincoln Crossing, its a joke. They don't enforce anthing as far as landscaping standards are concerned. Thats all I care about, whether a neighbor takes care of his front yard. But I knew coming in here there was a chance the neighborhood would be iffy because of the type of people coming in under questionable loans, they really couldn't afford the place. The association is supposed to protect your home values by enforcing the landscaping ccrs, but take a look around and its obvious they look the other way.

Curmudgeon · 02-20-2010, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyS999

Speaking of the association we have here in Lincoln Crossing, its a joke. They don't enforce anthing as far as landscaping standards are concerned. Thats all I care about, whether a neighbor takes care of his front yard. But I knew coming in here there was a chance the neighborhood would be iffy because of the type of people coming in under questionable loans, they really couldn't afford the place. The association is supposed to protect your home values by enforcing the landscaping ccrs, but take a look around and its obvious they look the other way.

I really think that association dues in most of CA are a joke. The rates are high and "enforcement" can become really intrusive. In our lakeside community of 212 homes we have a Property Owners Assoc. The dues are a walloping $120 a year and cover all our water usage, road clearing, and a lovely association center with pool and spa. The "rules" are few and far between and primarily cover construction in a very....dare I say it.... constructive manner.

LivingLawge · 02-23-2010, 11:55 AM

I posted a thread, but haven't received responses yet--hoping someone who lives in Lincoln would be able to tell me about utility bills? I've been told (not by someone who lives there) that they are super high and ridiculous. I'm just trying to get a feel for this is we move out there, thanks!

Newhome2010 · 04-09-2010, 10:02 AM

Found a house in Lincoln Crossing and considering making an offer but the $216 Mello Roos and the $115 HOA dues are frightening. If someone want to share the utilities costs, appreciate it.

webdev · 04-25-2010, 07:14 PM

I kind of think its a bit ridiculous that so many places have an HOA AND Melo roos. I know people that live in areas with HOA and a lot of things are not enforced. Houses are still being rented out etc. You pay Melo Roos, you pay property tax and for some of you pay an HOA as well. This just makes it more apparent how miserably money is being managed by the state and city agencies. CA is in a world of hurt if it seriously does not begin to manage its money better. I would only consider buying in an area with an HOA if there was no melo roos or vice versa.

Also remember if you buy in an area with an HOA, that fee can be increased at anytime. HOA's can be worth the cost if you are in an area where they are strictly being enforced. Gold River has high HOA's but they are enforced and it shows. The neighborhood is kept up well and you dont see rentals all over the place. Still I've seen other neighborhoods with an HOA and there are rentals. there are houses with overgrown yards, unmaintained streets etc. Add the melo roos to that and its a joke.