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Old 12-20-2007, 07:47 PM
 
Location: The Miami Of Canada
1,043 posts, read 3,718,896 times
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To b.frank and love roses, are there certain areas/neighborhoods where HOA's are more predominant?

I live in a nice neighborhood now without an HOA and I'm fine with the yard art and the Christmas Inflatables. I don't own any but I don't care if the neighbors do.

Is there any way I can know by driving around a neighborhood in Austin or its suburbs (other than those with a gated community) that it will be "governed" by an HOA or not?
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Old 12-21-2007, 06:28 AM
 
Location: NW Austin
1,133 posts, read 4,186,351 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ITChick View Post
To b.frank and love roses, are there certain areas/neighborhoods where HOA's are more predominant?

I live in a nice neighborhood now without an HOA and I'm fine with the yard art and the Christmas Inflatables. I don't own any but I don't care if the neighbors do.

Is there any way I can know by driving around a neighborhood in Austin or its suburbs (other than those with a gated community) that it will be "governed" by an HOA or not?
Aren't all the newer homes in subdivisions with HOAs? I think you have to get an area with older houses. Also driving around you can see if people have yard art... Christmas is probably a good time to drive around and see!
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Old 12-21-2007, 06:56 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,268 posts, read 35,630,016 times
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We have an HOA, but pretty much anything goes if it is temporary, at least from my observations. Most of the subdivisions built in the last 15-20 years have some sort of HOA, older ones may or may not. I lived in an older neighborhood that had one, technically, but bascially did not regulate anything and the fees were ~$5/yr. The HOA spent its time and money very productively supporting or opposing city projects in the area (roads, parks, ordinances). It was quite refreshing and much more useful than telling people what decorations they could have...
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Old 12-21-2007, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,691,351 times
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Trainwrecked answered your question I've found that to be the case myself. Almost all new neighborhoods will have HOA's. Older ones may or may not. The neighborhood my mom lives in in Houston was built in the early 80's, and it's always had one. Stand alone homes probably don't have them, but master planned and subdivisions I'd think do have them. For example, I'm in Hutto and every neighborhood here has one except for Old town and the farmers and ranchers who live out a little further in the country.
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Old 12-21-2007, 02:25 PM
 
Location: The Miami Of Canada
1,043 posts, read 3,718,896 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atlanta hope View Post
Aren't all the newer homes in subdivisions with HOAs? I think you have to get an area with older houses. Also driving around you can see if people have yard art... Christmas is probably a good time to drive around and see!
LOL! I wish I could be there right now to see this.

I agree that I will probably have to look at an older home if I don't want to deal with HOAs.

Trainwreck, I hope if I find a home I'm really interested in that has an HOA, it is like the one you had for $5.00/yr! That is very reasonable. I was looking at some properties that were no more than 10 years old and many of them were asking for $75-80.00/mo. in assessments!

Love roses, when you mention the "master planned" and "subdivision" communities, are you refering to those home communities that look like they have a special entrance to get into their part of the neighborhood, and are usually walled off with a fence?

I will probably do a lot of driving around neighborhoods and looking at homes. I would hate to bother the Realtor or owner if the property has HOAs so I hope to be able to visually spot them from the locations they are in.
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Old 12-21-2007, 02:46 PM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,691,351 times
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Yes, those are the ones. Like Avery Ranch, Sendero Springs, Circle C, Riverplace,etc...
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Old 12-21-2007, 11:22 PM
 
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Yard art is tacky (imo) but it's subjective. You may think it's cute while someone else thinks pink flamingos and signs that say PEACE ON EARTH are hideous. So I can see why a HOA would say no yard art.
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Old 12-26-2007, 09:45 AM
 
4 posts, read 10,703 times
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Default Hoa

Quote:
Originally Posted by ITChick View Post
Trainwreck, I hope if I find a home I'm really interested in that has an HOA, it is like the one you had for $5.00/yr! That is very reasonable. I was looking at some properties that were no more than 10 years old and many of them were asking for $75-80.00/mo. in assessments!
I wonder what an HOA can do with $5.00 per year... Even if it's a 400 house development, that's only $2k.
Huh.
We have a 3 member board (elected every year), supported by 4 standing committees and an occasional adhoc group for special issues. Our HOA has a budget of ~ 85K/yr and every bit of that gets used up on the community!

The largest chunk goes toward a mowing/landscape contract to keep the common grounds and the small park mowed. Then there is the cleaning of the two park restrooms, along with maintenance on the septic. And the perimeter fencing is always getting hit by some errant motorist...so that costs. There are also maintenance costs for the gates, replacing lights, fixing the sprinkler system, removing dead trees (on common grounds)...twice per year road edging, and erosion repair (The community owns it's 12 miles of road and is very protective of it, and it's road base).

On top of that are utility costs (street lights, water), the common ground property taxes and liability insurance premium. And a monthly fee for the property management company which collects dues, provides legal action for delinquent owners, and otherwise acts as an administrator in filing the proper IRS documents, certificates of resale and maintaining retention files. And representing the community in property tax disputes.

There's probably more that I just can't remember off the top of my head... ...but my point being that $5.00 per year seems hardly worth collecting. It would barely cover mailing costs for annual dues and board election ballots.
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Old 12-26-2007, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,268 posts, read 35,630,016 times
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Quote:
but my point being that $5.00 per year seems hardly worth collecting. It would barely cover mailing costs for annual dues and board election ballots.
That pretty much covers it. It was (is) a curbless neighborhood and there are no neighborhood lights (city does provide some streetlights), sprinklers, or landscaping structures. The city takes care of the public areas (such as roads and drainage area that runs through one part of the neighborhood) and the individuals take care of themselves. It is a very pleasant neighborhood, but some of the newer HOA residents would be shocked....there are a couple of horses on one of the large lots (2 or 3 acres?) and there used to be a pot bellied pig in the yard at another house.
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Old 12-26-2007, 12:39 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,464,288 times
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I'm in a subdivision with an HOA similar to trainwreck20..no amenities to take care of.
Our HOA was formed more to keep the subdivision as single family homes and not have a commericial entity buy a lot and use it in a commercial way. Our HOA payments go towards an annual BBQ for the owners
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