HOA Fee's (San Antonio, Alamo, Howe: sale, condo, house)

[AirForceDoc]

Originally Posted by lockheed1

I am sure you are talking about the atmosphere in side the gates, outside might be a different story with the Apartments and Commercial mini strip malls going in what will be the future HWY 151 that will right outside you Pulte Gate. Not to mention the Glow in the Sky above your house from the Hundreds of 1000Watt Metal Halide parking Lot lights from Target, BestBuy, JCpenny ETC..
Its kinda early to compare AR to anything right now (especially Stone Oak).
Don't know if you"ve been in the neigborhood across the highway called The Great Northwest, which is rapidly deteriating, not to mention their HOA.
lots of gangs in this area, these are the kids that your kids will be going to school with.
Hate to be a debbie downer, but you really need to do your research before committing not to mention comparing.

Easy there, we're all friends here. My point is that $800 is a good chunk of change that many don't have to fork out year after year, and that is quite enviable. The fact is, we were discussing HOA fees, and one has to decide if what one gets along with the HOA fee is worth it. For me, having wide open spaces, lots of grass, groves of oak trees, green belts behind what seems like every other house, assorted parks, 2 new walking distance schools within my community (and with tens of thousands of homes to be built, you know there are more schools to come), water slides and pools, lower taxes (for now), next door to a huge Dell Webb gangster-free retirement community, and soon with easy 2-minute access to a plethora of good restaurants and churches as well as SuperTarget for grocery shopping, Old Navy, Kohls, Best Buy, and CostCo in a master-planned community that was zoned in advance to comply with covenants that help to maintain beauty for years to come, in addition to the future extension of the other neighboring "ranches" communities with prices into the $500K+ range and the future connection of AR roads with the communities to the south and the west takes the sting out of paying the $800 to the HOA and makes AR, when considering what's good and bad about it, an exciting place to invest; that is, if I had done my research before deciding to buy.

I might also add, when you pay HOA fees at AR, you have to pay double the first year because the HOA uses the first $800 to go into an "emergency fund" in case they run out of money they won't go bankrupt. They take this from every new home buyer. That's something you don't discover until you close.

[wCat]

One thing to consider about any HOA is that it will eventually go up in order to keep up with the cost of repairs to the common grounds. Some of the areas that are older with HOAs that look tired and dilapidated are because the majority of the community didn't vote to cover the cost of the maintenance. Sadly nothing can be done because the city cannot intervene.

HOAs in general can work for or against you. I understand why my attorney has discouraged me from them, but it's hard to avoid them these days. It's best to have a real estate attorney look over any agreement before signing on the dotted line!

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by wCat

One thing to consider about any HOA is that it will eventually go up in order to keep up with the cost of repairs to the common grounds.

I believe this is true; however, there is at least one exception. Our HOA fees have been the same for many years (at least the last 7 years I have been here). We pay $257 a year to maintain two recreation areas. Of course, it helps to have a large HOA (over 2,600 homes) and a paid staff that handles finances well. Oh, we're not a gated community, so that also helps...no road repair costs.

[jjuranko]

Great info! So just to make sure I am understanding, if the community is not gated the city will do road repair?

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Steel Man

I believe this is true; however, there is at least one exception. Our HOA fees have been the same for many years (at least the last 7 years I have been here). We pay $257 a year to maintain two recreation areas. Of course, it helps to have a large HOA (over 2,600 homes) and a paid staff that handles finances well. Oh, we're not a gated community, so that also helps...no road repair costs.

Steel.....thanks for clarifying that. That's good information to share. You make a very good point about what is covered under the HOA...if it's mostly recreational areas and ground keeping, the fees won't escalate like a condo or townhouse community where paint, plumbing, out buildings and exterior repairs get costly. Nice post.

[Twinkle Toes]

Our HOA fees at the Dominion are $170 per month. That does not include the membership in the country club itself. But it's still cheaper than what we were paying in CA.

[940]

Originally Posted by lockheed1

Don't know if you"ve been in the neigborhood across the highway called The Great Northwest, which is rapidly deteriating, not to mention their HOA.
lots of gangs in this area, these are the kids that your kids will be going to school with.
Hate to be a debbie downer, but you really need to do your research before committing not to mention comparing.

Alamo Ranch might share schools with The Great Northwest (TGN) now but that will change soon enough. NISD plans a new elementary and middle school within AR over the next couple years once the population increases...and a new high school south of AR but north of West Creek/Potranco outside of Loop 1604 will make your suggestion of attending Taft High with gang-bangers from TGN a moot point by 2010/2011.

Actually, I agree with AirForceDoc...if I were to ever move back to my hometown, I'd seriously consider Alamo Ranch. During my Christmas visit to my parents, I drove through the development and was very impressed with the trees and green belts throughout each different community. I also like the convenience of being situated right off 1604 and 151 not to mention having Alamo Ranch Marketplace near with all the restaurants/shopping that that will entail.

If paying HOA dues of $800 is what it takes to keep AR an attractive and high quality master-planned development, then I would have no qualms cutting that check.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by jjuranko

Great info! So just to make sure I am understanding, if the community is not gated the city will do road repair?

Yes. If it is in the city boundary. If not in city boundaries then Bexar County will also repair the roads if not in a gated community, though it may take longer as the county is definitely not as rich as the city.

[slaleman]

My wife and I recently moved from Northwest Crossing to the Silent Oaks area across Tezel from NWC. This is a smallish neighborhood, but with better houses in places than NWC and more importantly, NO HOA.

Procomm recently took over the management for Northwest Crossing and the fees became outrageous. We had lived there for about a year before the change happened, but never had any problems. After Procomm took over, we started getting letters about things they thought were wrong with our property. The one that really bugged me was one that said my garage door was, "in need or repair," which I'm assuming meant in need OF repair. My garage door worked, was painted, and there was nothing wrong with it. I called to ask what the problem was and never received a reply.

The worst part was when we went to sell the house. The fees Procomm charged to get an ELECTRONIC copy of the bylaws was almost three times the yearly fees. If you are thinking about moving into a neighborhood that has Procomm management, you may want to think again. It may be more hassle than it's worth.

But the point of this whole rambling this is that there are still areas of San Antonio that don't have HOAs...a lot of the older areas we looked at didn't have them. There is a point for having them, but I think they tend to be better when they're run by the people who live in the neighborhood, and not some outside company.

[cdelena]

Do not confuse HOA fees in a condo with those in a single family home development. The condo monthly usually pays for maintenance, insurance, etc. for the property (usually all units and property) in shared ownership. HOA fees in a housing development are different, not directly aiding individually owned residences and usually covering just a few shared facilities.