small towns around Austin..tidiness issue? Opinions? (Marble Falls, Horseshoe Bay: HOA, house)

[chris4t4]

Ok, let me preface this by saying we are going with a small town that we love but on a drive recently we noticed some...how do I put this....some strange trash! I'm not being a snob by any means as obviously I am choosing to live in the area where we see some funny stuff on lawns but we have always lived in typical subdivisions with strict HOA's, blah blah blah. (I think the yard police used to measure the grass in the neighborhood, how high/low the mulch was, etc)

So we are driving around to really do our research on our chosen place and we see various lawns in really nice shape, and then a house in kind of disrepair, then a nice lawn, then a trashed out one, but this is some of what we saw... (and here is just a small list)...
old cars
an engine or motor
boat propeller
curtain rod
various toys
furniture

Is this just part of the country charm or is this a red flag. Now my cousins in another state say thats all just various country junk and no need for concern.. So all you country/small town folks on here, what's your opinion?

[DanoTex]

Originally Posted by chris4t4

Ok, let me preface this by saying we are going with a small town that we love but on a drive recently we noticed some...how do I put this....some strange trash! I'm not being a snob by any means as obviously I am choosing to live in the area where we see some funny stuff on lawns but we have always lived in typical subdivisions with strict HOA's, blah blah blah. (I think the yard police used to measure the grass in the neighborhood, how high/low the mulch was, etc)

So we are driving around to really do our research on our chosen place and we see various lawns in really nice shape, and then a house in kind of disrepair, then a nice lawn, then a trashed out one, but this is some of what we saw... (and here is just a small list)...
old cars
an engine or motor
boat propeller
curtain rod
various toys
furniture

Is this just part of the country charm or is this a red flag. Now my cousins in another state say thats all just various country junk and no need for concern.. So all you country/small town folks on here, what's your opinion?

I would say that it's mostly but not entirely neighborhood related. Even in the 'good' ones you get an occasional aberration. If it really bothers you find a neighborhood with a very strong POA/HOA. They take care of correcting the 'occasional aberration'. Horseshoe Bay by Marble Falls comes to mind.

Dano

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Was the furniture on the porch? Ok, sorry, I'm being facetious. My question to you is did you like the HOA? If so, why are you going to move somewhere where the "stuff" is already bothering you?

Where we live now and where we lived before are very different. I do miss my junky yard for sure. I'm anal now.

[chris4t4]

We're moving out to the "country". I don't know if the stuff out is bothering me necessarily. I grew up in a very large city where some things were the norm where suburban people would stick their nose up at....like staking out your spot in the winter with a bucket and chair, the streets were lined w/junk all winter long, some people had junk in their backyard but it was meaningful junk, great people but frugal, do it yourselfers, see what I mean? Now once we moved out to the suburbs we saw how bad the city could look to some people. So now we are country bound and we are just seeing what might be the "norm" and I don't know if its really the norm.

Does this make sense? Anyway, to answer your question, the furniture was on the porch, on the lawn,in the back and on the driveway just tousled about. By the way this neighborhood has an HOA, maybe not a tightly run one?!

I don't want to name the town on here, as it in no way needs to be offensive as thats not my point. Aside from some of the junk we saw on our last drive out there we also saw awesome properties. We LOVE the people, the space, the way of life, the schools,etc.

Country folk let me know, is this a negative, a positive or doesn't matter either way??

[HappyTexan]

HOA's in the country are not the same as in the city.
Livestock per acre, where you can dump the manure, where you can put the barn are more along the lines of country HOA's. Also many acreage subdivisions with HOA's have them just to protect the "single family residence" of the subdivision. You'd be surprised how many commercial entities come out to the country and buy a home on acreage and turn that acreage into a massive parking lot for all their service vans. I've seen it done in some acreage subdivisions and there's nothing to protect the homeowners.

[mark311]

I guess the fact that it was enough to make you post a thread on here might be a red flag. If it's affecting your view of the neighborhood, then my guess is that it would affect others as well. Does the neighborhood look different than other neighborhoods or small towns around it? If it does, then I do think if nothing else, it could hurt the future resale value. More and more of the future buyers very well could be city folk like yourself.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by chris4t4

Ok, let me preface this by saying we are going with a small town that we love but on a drive recently we noticed some...how do I put this....some strange trash! ... (and here is just a small list)...
old cars
an engine or motor
boat propeller
curtain rod
various toys
furniture

Is this just part of the country charm or is this a red flag. Now my cousins in another state say thats all just various country junk and no need for concern.. So all you country/small town folks on here, what's your opinion?

That sounds like pretty common trash to me.

[chris4t4]

Originally Posted by mark311

I guess the fact that it was enough to make you post a thread on here might be a red flag. If it's affecting your view of the neighborhood, then my guess is that it would affect others as well. Does the neighborhood look different than other neighborhoods or small towns around it? If it does, then I do think if nothing else, it could hurt the future resale value. More and more of the future buyers very well could be city folk like yourself.

Good point. The neighborhood looks like many in the area and many surrounding towns. There is also lots of new building going on and city planning/development.

[tchap]

Chris,

You are going to have a hard time finding what you want in the coutry unless youa re in a subdivision with an HOA but you still will not find Cable TV from Time Warner. I live in a subdivision out in the coutry with no HOA's etc. and you can do pretty much do what you want. You do not even need a permit to build a house or building in the county. But you do have to make certain sacrifices when you live outside of the city such as no Cable TV, but we do have DSL internet.

All the homes here are on 5 - 30 acre tracts. And I can honestly say I have some of the best neighbors I have ever had. Yes some do not keep thier yards cut all the time or they have thier goats and horses running around, but they are great non the less. And with the neighbors I have I never have to worry about someone breaking in my home or if there is an emergency not having someone who may offer assistance when needed.

We are really going to miss our neighbors when we get our house sold.

Unless you want an HOA sticking thier nose in your business and telling you how to cut your grass, or neighbors who do not care if your house is getting robbed then you are going to have to learn to and make some sacrifices. Welcome to country life.

[chickenfry]

i agree with tchap. you choose the perfect neighborhoods if you like to live the cookie cutter life (and i don't mean that in a bad way....to each his own). I live in the county too. every home/yard is different, some junk some spectacular. we bought/built here because we wanted to build a unique house that would have never met code elsewhere. we are very much live/let live and our neighborhood maybe offensive to some but were are all a bit quirky and we all love being right where we are.