MUD taxes (Houston, Dallas, Austin: real estate, houses, buyers)

[usc619]

I've notice that within your city limits (ie; Frisco, Plano, Allen) you are able to build communities without being slapped with a MUD taxe. Here in Houston that's not the case. What gives???? How is it that folks are use to paying 3.5% taxes within the city and not DWF?

[FalconheadWest]

Each jurisdiction is different. Some have money, while others don't. Some believe they community should grow while others don't. There are many MUDs in the Austin area too, but we're not talking 3.5% taxes. We're talking 2.7-3.1% for most of the areas with MUDs. The cities up in Dallas want to bring home owners to their communities so they front the bill to make it happen.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

Each jurisdiction is different. Some have money, while others don't. Some believe they community should grow while others don't. There are many MUDs in the Austin area too, but we're not talking 3.5% taxes. We're talking 2.7-3.1% for most of the areas with MUDs. The cities up in Dallas want to bring home owners to their communities so they front the bill to make it happen.

Makes sense, I just can't bring myself to buy into a city that wont build the infrastructure. Plano, Frisco, Allen, South Lake, etc .... all are better planed cities than pretty much anything Houston area has to offer, and yet are paying taxes in the low 2's for better services is mind boggling.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by usc619

Makes sense, I just can't bring myself to buy into a city that wont build the infrastructure. Plano, Frisco, Allen, South Lake, etc .... all are better planed cities than pretty much anything Houston area has to offer, and yet are paying taxes in the low 2's for better services is mind boggling.

Houston has poor planning because much of it has no zoning and that scares developers on what the buyers will be scared of if they build in certain areas. Why so many burbs have the MUDs I don't know, as they should have expected Houston to explode out in all directions.

[Johnhw2]

MUDs typically are not in a city limits. Areas hi Houston outside the city limits will use MUDs to perform city duties like build sewer lines and a treatment plant. Also provide drinking water by drilling a well and putting in water lines. The tax rate is high in new nudes when the developer puts up the money to do this work until there is sufficient taxes to pay for a home the mud sells to reimburse the developer.

MUDs can exist within a city but it's very rare.

Dallas is surrounded by smaller cities where Houston is much less so. Hence the need for MUDs in Houston more so than DFW area.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

MUDs can exist within a city but it's very rare.

MUDs are all over the Austin suburbs, within their city limits. I live in the City of Bee Cave and we have a water district instead of city water, but we also have the lowest tax rate in the area, not comparing houses outside "city limits" located in "county". Many of Lakeway's new communities have MUDs and water districts and they are inside the city limits. It varies widely, but you can't say it's rare as it's more common than you would think.

[Johnhw2]

I know it's rare in Houston as stated. I also know Austin takes pride in being weird. Can't say what bee cave is. What city is lakeway in?

I thought OPs question was about Houston and DFW not Austin.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

I know it's rare in Houston as stated. I also know Austin takes pride in being weird. Can't say what bee cave is. What city is lakeway in?

I thought OPs question was about Houston and DFW not Austin.

Lakeway is in the City of Lakeway. It's North and West of the City of Bee Cave. It encompasses Lake Travis ISD, one of the best school districts in the state.

He was comparing Houston to DFW, and since DFW is a HUGE area, I brought in Austin to compare that it's not just Houston that has MUDs, but other areas do too. A very valid comparison.

[Johnhw2]

These small growing towns, bee cave and lakeway are classic cases where a developer used a mud as a new city was sprouting up at least in lakeway I could not find evidence of a mud in the town of bee cave. In the case of Houston, MUDs are formed in the city of Houston ETJ or further out in the case of new MPCs. The city boundary takes in the ETJ land with a mud as population levels rise.

A developer I worked for considered developing some land in the city of Katy and planned to use a mud but the deal on the land fell through.

By the way this is a Dallas forum not an austin one.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

These small growing towns, bee cave and lakeway are classic cases where a developer used a mud as a new city was sprouting up at least in lakeway I could not find evidence of a mud in the town of bee cave. In the case of Houston, MUDs are formed in the city of Houston ETJ or further out in the case of new MPCs. The city boundary takes in the ETJ land with a mud as population levels rise.

A developer I worked for considered developing some land in the city of Katy and planned to use a mud but the deal on the land fell through.

By the way this is a Dallas forum not an austin one.

I lived in Dallas for 25 years and sold real estate up there for almost 9 of those, so I think I'm able to speak with educated information about the area, and I said in my first post, MUDs are very rare in the Dallas area because they plan for their development and growth. Much of Houston, as well as Austin, did not plan well enough for it.

Also, as I stated previously, there is no MUD in Bee Cave, only a water district. Yes, there are MUDs, different MUDs throughout several different sections of Lakeway.