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We moved to Austin in the fall of 2011 and found this forum to be a wonderful asset when house-hunting.
After a search around Austin, we ended up in Avery Ranch. It has a wonderful community feel, sidewalks, parks, pools, tennis courts, and restaurants within walking distance. And, hopefully more restaurant choices soon!
Be careful when searching if you want to be in LISD vs RRISD. They dividing areas can be a little odd sometimes. I like the LISD schools we are currently districted to; I know nothing of the RRISD schools in the area. I pretty sure either choice is a good one.
Ultimately, we made the choice to move to this area due to the proximity to everything we needed and couldn't be happier with our decision.
Thank you very much for all of the info. We are looking forward to a house to our liking popping up.
In driving through Davis Spring today, I found quite a few more lease/rent signs than 'for sale'. Even though the 'market is hot', as they say, renting for a year might not be a bad idea.
We've been in Avery since last summer and love the amenities, particularly the awesome pool/clubhouse on the east side.
It's also a great location to get almost anywhere from, be it Lakeline Mall, the Outlets on I35, the commuter rail, schools, grocery shopping, restaurants, walking trails, Brushy Creek Park, etc. and we can be in Hyde Park in under 25 minutes. The neighbors are nice, and other than the road noise from the chip seal the city put on Avery Ranch BLVD, it's fairly quiet.
On the Con side, the HOA is the most ridiculously strict one I've ever ever seen. When we moved in, the property management company hadn't cut the grass or trimmed the bushes in a few weeks and got a notice, then a fine within the first week we were here. Over the rest of the summer, we got roughly five notices from them about the grass or the bushes, or weeds in the expansion joints, while the HOA's landscaping company let the greenspace next to our house get severely overgrown and down right ratty three or four times. At no point was the grass on our lot overgrown, but it was just beyond that "perfectly manicured" stage a time or two and sure enough, each time it didn't look like it was just mowed/trimmed that day, we got a notice.
A week or so ago we got a message from the HOA saying that in 2013, they wouldn't be as lenient as they were in 2012.
Since we've owned homes and rented homes in roughly ten HOA communities over the last 20 years, some less 'fancy pants' than AR, some more so, and had more ridiculous warnings from Avery's HOA than all the others combined, you can imagine this warning of new strictness was met with an utter lack of warm and fuzzies.
Apparently, just to prove that they mean business, we now have two small weeds growing up in the expansion joints in our driveway, the larger of which is maybe 3" across, and got a warning about them yesterday with a notice that we would be fined if we did not correct the situation immediately.
In driving around the neighborhood, there are numerous yards that are always in far worse shape than ours has ever been since we've lived here, so I can't even imagine how often people who aren't militant about their yard maintenance get notified/fined. But, I guess the HOA wants the yards to look perfect at all times, regardless of how the common areas are maintained.
So, if you have the time and/or money to have your yard manicured at bare minimum every other week, year round and weekly in the high growth season, you'll love all the amenities, neighbors and proximity to everything you could need in day to day life.
We've been in Avery since last summer and love the amenities, particularly the awesome pool/clubhouse on the east side.
It's also a great location to get almost anywhere from, be it Lakeline Mall, the Outlets on I35, the commuter rail, schools, grocery shopping, restaurants, walking trails, Brushy Creek Park, etc. and we can be in Hyde Park in under 25 minutes. The neighbors are nice, and other than the road noise from the chip seal the city put on Avery Ranch BLVD, it's fairly quiet.
On the Con side, the HOA is the most ridiculously strict one I've ever ever seen. When we moved in, the property management company hadn't cut the grass or trimmed the bushes in a few weeks and got a notice, then a fine within the first week we were here. Over the rest of the summer, we got roughly five notices from them about the grass or the bushes, or weeds in the expansion joints, while the HOA's landscaping company let the greenspace next to our house get severely overgrown and down right ratty three or four times. At no point was the grass on our lot overgrown, but it was just beyond that "perfectly manicured" stage a time or two and sure enough, each time it didn't look like it was just mowed/trimmed that day, we got a notice.
A week or so ago we got a message from the HOA saying that in 2013, they wouldn't be as lenient as they were in 2012.
Since we've owned homes and rented homes in roughly ten HOA communities over the last 20 years, some less 'fancy pants' than AR, some more so, and had more ridiculous warnings from Avery's HOA than all the others combined, you can imagine this warning of new strictness was met with an utter lack of warm and fuzzies.
Apparently, just to prove that they mean business, we now have two small weeds growing up in the expansion joints in our driveway, the larger of which is maybe 3" across, and got a warning about them yesterday with a notice that we would be fined if we did not correct the situation immediately.
In driving around the neighborhood, there are numerous yards that are always in far worse shape than ours has ever been since we've lived here, so I can't even imagine how often people who aren't militant about their yard maintenance get notified/fined. But, I guess the HOA wants the yards to look perfect at all times, regardless of how the common areas are maintained.
So, if you have the time and/or money to have your yard manicured at bare minimum every other week, year round and weekly in the high growth season, you'll love all the amenities, neighbors and proximity to everything you could need in day to day life.
Is it possible you've been 'targeted' by a malicious HOA?
We've been in Avery since last summer and love the amenities, particularly the awesome pool/clubhouse on the east side.
It's also a great location to get almost anywhere from, be it Lakeline Mall, the Outlets on I35, the commuter rail, schools, grocery shopping, restaurants, walking trails, Brushy Creek Park, etc. and we can be in Hyde Park in under 25 minutes. The neighbors are nice, and other than the road noise from the chip seal the city put on Avery Ranch BLVD, it's fairly quiet.
On the Con side, the HOA is the most ridiculously strict one I've ever ever seen. When we moved in, the property management company hadn't cut the grass or trimmed the bushes in a few weeks and got a notice, then a fine within the first week we were here. Over the rest of the summer, we got roughly five notices from them about the grass or the bushes, or weeds in the expansion joints, while the HOA's landscaping company let the greenspace next to our house get severely overgrown and down right ratty three or four times. At no point was the grass on our lot overgrown, but it was just beyond that "perfectly manicured" stage a time or two and sure enough, each time it didn't look like it was just mowed/trimmed that day, we got a notice.
A week or so ago we got a message from the HOA saying that in 2013, they wouldn't be as lenient as they were in 2012.
Since we've owned homes and rented homes in roughly ten HOA communities over the last 20 years, some less 'fancy pants' than AR, some more so, and had more ridiculous warnings from Avery's HOA than all the others combined, you can imagine this warning of new strictness was met with an utter lack of warm and fuzzies.
Apparently, just to prove that they mean business, we now have two small weeds growing up in the expansion joints in our driveway, the larger of which is maybe 3" across, and got a warning about them yesterday with a notice that we would be fined if we did not correct the situation immediately.
In driving around the neighborhood, there are numerous yards that are always in far worse shape than ours has ever been since we've lived here, so I can't even imagine how often people who aren't militant about their yard maintenance get notified/fined. But, I guess the HOA wants the yards to look perfect at all times, regardless of how the common areas are maintained.
So, if you have the time and/or money to have your yard manicured at bare minimum every other week, year round and weekly in the high growth season, you'll love all the amenities, neighbors and proximity to everything you could need in day to day life.
Are you sure it's not a crotchety neighbor continuing to complain to the HOA? We have not ONCE gotten a letter from the HOA and I guarantee I have a few weeds, grass in mulched areas, etc.
In our previous 'hood in ATL, we moved in to our house where the builder had not mowed the lawn (or weeds) since the sod was put in. We hadn't even been there 3 days before we got a letter. I know the feeling!
Is it possible you've been 'targeted' by a malicious HOA?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sloppymeg
Are you sure it's not a crotchety neighbor continuing to complain to the HOA? We have not ONCE gotten a letter from the HOA and I guarantee I have a few weeds, grass in mulched areas, etc.
In our previous 'hood in ATL, we moved in to our house where the builder had not mowed the lawn (or weeds) since the sod was put in. We hadn't even been there 3 days before we got a letter. I know the feeling!
We moved to AR from Atlanta on June 4th, '08. On June 7th, we received a letter from the HOA regarding landscape that needed trimming.(I actually bought a lawnmower the first day we were here). Admittedly, the previous owner was not a Master Gardener; but even the next door neighbors couldn't find landscaping that NEEDED trimming on our property. Never heard another word about it.
We have a fair number of neighbors who allow their yards to go w-a-y too long between services; but I don't think there are too many warnings being issued. I don't think the HOA dude gets a bee in his bonnet unless there are complaints. Obvious violations such as portable basketball goals and playsets in the front yard would get his attention; but I would think the landscaping would be 'down the list'.
I will say a rental up the street had a dozen or more roofers living in the house(while parking commercial vehicles on the street overnight). The owners were in North Carolina and received and paid some significant fines over the months the home was occupied by the transient roofers. Guess the rental income was great enough to cover the fines since the roofers stayed until the end of the 'hailstorm repair season' passed.
We moved to AR from Atlanta on June 4th, '08. On June 7th, we received a letter from the HOA regarding landscape that needed trimming.(I actually bought a lawnmower the first day we were here). Admittedly, the previous owner was not a Master Gardener; but even the next door neighbors couldn't find landscaping that NEEDED trimming on our property. Never heard another word about it.
We have a fair number of neighbors who allow their yards to go w-a-y too long between services; but I don't think there are too many warnings being issued. I don't think the HOA dude gets a bee in his bonnet unless there are complaints. Obvious violations such as portable basketball goals and playsets in the front yard would get his attention; but I would think the landscaping would be 'down the list'.
I will say a rental up the street had a dozen or more roofers living in the house(while parking commercial vehicles on the street overnight). The owners were in North Carolina and received and paid some significant fines over the months the home was occupied by the transient roofers. Guess the rental income was great enough to cover the fines since the roofers stayed until the end of the 'hailstorm repair season' passed.
I have to agree about the HOA being over the top. I own a rental there and I get pictures sent to me for my renters not having edged the nuisance strip to their liking. If I compare them to my primary HOA neighborhood, it is night and day. And our property values still magically have gone up and we don't have cars on blocks on the lawns.
They even made one of the neighbors on that street remove the potted plants from her yard because they had a limit of 3. Her yard used to regularly win the yard of the month but someone decided that that there opinion was more important. I think the HOA board has changed over the last couple of years in not a good way.
IMHO: Avery Ranch over time seems to be getting more of a pretentious attitude. Avery Ranch is nice but it is nothing super special over the other newer neighborhoods in the area.
I have to agree about the HOA being over the top. I own a rental there and I get pictures sent to me for my renters not having edged the nuisance strip to their liking. If I compare them to my primary HOA neighborhood, it is night and day. And our property values still magically have gone up and we don't have cars on blocks on the lawns.
They even made one of the neighbors on that street remove the potted plants from her yard because they had a limit of 3. Her yard used to regularly win the yard of the month but someone decided that that there opinion was more important. I think the HOA board has changed over the last couple of years in not a good way.
IMHO: Avery Ranch over time seems to be getting more of a pretentious attitude. Avery Ranch is nice but it is nothing super special over the other newer neighborhoods in the area.
It's VERY interesting reading all of these comments! Like I said, I've been here a year, we're still getting a feel for the place, haven't quite grasped the concept of the weather-plants-watering-what-works formula, but I haven't gotten any nastygrams. Guess my neighbors aren't ratting on me yet.
BUT, in regards to the "pretentious attitude", I've actually found the area to be quite lax. There are some AR 'hoods that look pretty unkempt (IMO) and I am surprised by it. Makes me wonder if perhaps my "pretentious" part of AR is the exception...
It's VERY interesting reading all of these comments! Like I said, I've been here a year, we're still getting a feel for the place, haven't quite grasped the concept of the weather-plants-watering-what-works formula, but I haven't gotten any nastygrams. Guess my neighbors aren't ratting on me yet.
BUT, in regards to the "pretentious attitude", I've actually found the area to be quite lax. There are some AR 'hoods that look pretty unkempt (IMO) and I am surprised by it. Makes me wonder if perhaps my "pretentious" part of AR is the exception...
I'll clarify my statement. I'm not trying to throw stones and I can see how it was taken that way. I get it mainly from the people in the older bigger sections of Avery. It is good to be proud of your neighborhood but some take it too far. I may be overgeneralizing the attitude. I'm sure it happens in pockets of the neighborhood.
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