Eagles Nest Subdivision vs. Capstone Ranch Developments (Austin, Marble Falls: HOA, appliances)

[founder]

Please provide us any information you can about Eagles Nest Subdivision (west Burnet) and Capstone Ranch (south Marble Falls). We're moving to Marble Falls or Burnet and we need help on making the decision.

Thanks for the help.

[IC_deLight]

Are you moving from in state?
Have you ever lived in a subdivision burdened by an HOA before?

If the answer to either one of these is "no", you really need to research some more about HOAs. For example, they are often marketed as having restrictive covenants for your protection. If the restrictive covenants are so great, why aren't they posted on the website?

Both appear to be gated communities and are under declarant control. You might want to think why you want a gated community. Selling a home in a gated community is more difficult than selling one that is not in a gated community. The gates do not offer security and often don't really offer privacy. Gates in these situations are often used to route prospective purchasers to a developer "sales office". Although you might think the gate offers privacy, you may feel differently when you see all the traffic associated with building new homes.

In this geographic area there are a number of issues that bear more research. For example, in some newer subdivisions, the developers have implemented restrictive covenants mandating the use of propane appliances. They will then use the HOA to force you to purchase propane from vendors designated by the declarant. Propane is economically unregulated which means you have to pay whatever price the declarant's vendor demands. Can't say whether that is going on in these subdivisions since they are suppressing publication of the restrictive covenants. However this is a problem with many Austin area subdivisions.

Another problem is that many of the subdivisions have their own "public water supply". Don't confuse such systems with municipal water supplies. Often these are investor-owned utilities controlled by the developer or its affiliates. Similar to the propane restrictions - look for restrictive covenant provisions that operate to prevent you from being able to drill a well. If such a provision exists, then the developer will use the HOA to force you to be a mandatory customer of their water company. This means the habitability and marketability of your home will be at the mercy of the water company. That's when you find out that the restrictive covenants were there to protect the developer's interests and not yours. These utilities are poorly regulated at best. You should also be aware that an investor owned water utility can force the customers to pay for modifications and improvements to the water system. This may sound reasonable at first, however, it means that a developer can sell you a lot at a price that "includes infrastructure" and then force the existing customers to pay for the infrastructure as the developer puts in additional phases. In such cases, the burden falls disproportionately on the existing customers and you have no way to "opt out" by installing a well.

I suspect that a 40,000 gallon storage tank may not be sufficient to meet the needs of that subdivision once built out, however, it depends upon the production capabilities of the water supply as well as the consumption. You will also want to find out if the developer is using that system to irrigate "common areas", fill ponds, creeks, etc. These developers will obligate the HOA for which the homeowners are the mandatory funders to pay to purchase the water! Again, however, without more information it is difficult to say whether this is a concern in these subdivisions. You should research to find out what the nature of the water supply is, whether it is an investor owned utility, a municipal water supply, a water supply corporation, or other entity, and whether they have implemented restrictive covenants to prevent you from drilling a well.

Also, you need to find out whether the restrictive covenants purport to prohibit satellite dishes. This has been unlawful since 1996, but that doesn't prevent the developers and cable companies from trying to prevent competition to cable. You may want satellite if there isn't or even if there is cable. Also, in some areas microwave or satellite antennas might be your only route for internet access.

Here are the websites:
Eagles Nest Home Page
Capstone Site Map Prices

[founder]

IC_deLight, you are amazing.

Thanks for the outstanding information - I will check things out as you've suggested.