What does HOA offers for your community? (Houston, Dallas: sale, for rent)

[30_miles]

Okay, so I've come to the realization that It will difficult to escape HOA's so I'm trying to make the best of it.

We will be in Texas (Dallas & Houston) in early March and will be scoping out some neighborhoods in Sugar Land when in Houston. We rather not drive around the city without having a plan so we would like to narrow down neighborhoods that meets our interest.

Interest:
-We will need activities for kids (3 yr old and 10 month old)
- Family friendly.
-Area with great schools
-Maybe even activities for adults -a gym maybe but not as important as kid friendly activities.

What are some cool things that your community/HOA offer? Example: my aunt's community has lakes where residents can fish (catch and release.) They are also able to rent equipment to fish, sail, and swim in their lakes. They also offer after school program and plenty of summer activities for the kiddo's. Anyway, this is in Orlando, I'm not sure if such thing exist in Texas/Houston area.

For those of you who live in Sugar Land or are familiar with Sugar Land and it's neighborhoods can you please give me the following info:

1. What does your HOA offer and what area is it in?
2. How much are your HOA fees?
3. What are the pro's and con's of the community?
4. Have you experienced HOA cost increase? If so, by how much?

-Our budget is $350-$400,000.

Please add anything else if needed. Advice is welcomed and appreciated.


Thank you so much

Also, I will be posting this question in the DFW forum as we will be scoping out the area as well.

[ToyYot]

So your basing a $400k home buying decision based on whether or not the $400 HOA fee gets you a nice pool ? What about all the other factors? This just seems a bit outlandish.

[PedroMartinez]

1. What does your HOA offer and what area is it in?
It offers a pool, boat launch, club house and constable patrol. It's in Crosby/Huffman.

2. How much are your HOA fees?
$25 per year is the amount you must pay. Paying extra is optional.

3. What are the pro's and con's of the community?
It's on the lake. It's in the sticks. It's filled with country folk (less and less over time though). It's 35 minutes from the driveway to the streets of downtown on a Saturday.

4. Have you experienced HOA cost increase? If so, by how much?
No.

[ipuck]

First Colony Community Association - Welcome to Your Community Online

This is the main HOA for Sugar Land area in First Colony with the better ranked schools.

They do manage 11 pools and HOA usually run around 1k annually.

Beside using their pool, there usually is not much dealing with them unless you have neighbor issues or neighbor complain on you.

I have my own pool so I don't even go there.

The budget you mention is possible for an older home in that area.

Even with the older neighborhoods, there are bunch of kids as everybody move down there for the school.

[CDeb]

1. We live in New Territory, which is on the west side of Sugar Land. The community has numerous well-landscaped common areas in addition to hike/bike trails, four pools, numerous tennis courts, several large parks with playgrounds and "pocket parks." There are several lakes with catch and release fishing allowed as well as non-motorized boating but no swimming and no equipment available for rental. There are sports leagues for adults and children with relatively low fees. Several other random events such as fall harvest festival, car show, evening movie at the pool, etc. The Club has an indoor basketball/volleyball court and a fitness center with cardio and strength equipment. I'm probably leaving some stuff out, the community has a ton to offer, but.....

2. ....the annual dues are $1,150/yr.

3. Pros: all of the above, relative proximity to Sugar Land, all your typical suburban MPC pros. Cons: No new construction (newest houses are getting to be about 15 y/o or so) if you're looking for a new house. Train/highway noise is an issue for some. HOA is very active which is a pro for some but a con for those who don't like the "cut your grass / pull your weeds" letters.

4. When we moved to NT in 2009, the HOA dues were $950, now they're $1,150. A lot of that is due to preparations for being annexed by Sugar Land (it is currently in unincorporated Fort Bend County), as the HOA is starting to pay City rates for water for irrigation and lake filling. The developer had originally set up a sweetheart deal where the neighborhood only paid $1 per meter connection, regardless of use, and now that's going away. The neighborhood is about to start construction on a plant to pump effluent from the wastewater plant for irrigation and lake fill, which will help control future cost increases.

With your budget, all but a few sections of NT are within your range.

[mikeyyc]

We're in Sienna Plantation which is down TX 6 from Sugar Land, and at the end of the Ft. Bend County toll rd.

1. What does your HOA offer and what area is it in?
- Four area pools including a resort style pool, water park and swimming lanes
- Fitness center with available classes
- Baseball/Soccer complex with multiple fields
- Ongoing maintenance and beautification including extensive flowers/plantings changed seasonally
- Bike paths, walking trails
- Public movie nights in the community amphitheater, fireworks displays, Snow day, fishing events for kids along with public license free fishing in the water features in the community, active seniors activities, and probably a bunch of stuff I'm forgetting.

Non HOA related there is a golf course, Ft. Bend County Library and Houston Community College campus in the neighbourhood as well.

2. How much are your HOA fees?
- Just under $1000 a year.

3. What are the pro's and con's of the community?
- Well treed, established, diverse with a lot of amenities including three elementary schools, a middle school (soon to be two) and a high school all located inside the community proper.
- Cons, well it can feel a bit isolated as it's a bit set back from the highway, but personally I feel it's a feature, but some see it as a negative.

4. Have you experienced HOA cost increase? If so, by how much?
- It's gone up about $100 in the seven years I've lived there.

[nisw]

We pay around $800 /year . That's gives us an awesome rec center with pool, tennis court in riverstone . You will be able to get a house with your budget .
Riverstone | Best master-planned communities | Houston Area

[angiesu]

I do not live in Sugarland but I did look at living in Sugarland. To answer one of your questions yes, you can get some pretty great amenities in Houston area communities. We just started building in Katy and we narrowed down the communities based on the school district we wanted to be in. Then I researched those communities. Drove through them to get a feel, calculated distance to husbands office, the area (shopping etc...) Then we looked at the tax rate for the community, how much are the HOA dues, what are the amenities.

Our HOA will be $800 annually. Which is pretty in the middle. One neighborhood we were looking at HOA fee is $1200 with the SAME amenities and they had higher taxes, not to mention the base price for the same house was MUCH higher, and it is the same school district .... Easy choice to NOT live in that community. What was important was a really nice pool for the kids to enjoy, large green area for sports, gym with treadmills and trails for running. We looked at living in Sugarland since it would be slightly closer to office but after moving so much the last 14 years we wanted to build our own house since we plan on staying in it for a very long time. Not sure there is much being build in Sugarland but I do know in research that Fort Bend ISD is good. I think Clements High school is ranked pretty high in the state. We did not want our kids to go to those mega schools so we chose to live in a smaller district in an area zoned to good schools. We prefer more of the country or to be close enough to it to feel like we are (we are West Katy). I imagine in 10 years we will not be close since they are building out in our area. Kids will most likely go to a newly build High school by the time they enter High School.

Pro of living in HOA. If you have kids you have neighbors with kids and parks and pools for them to enjoy and to play outside. I like going to a pool rather than having one we have to take care of. I like to get out of the house (stay at home mom) so taking the kids to the pool gives me an opportunity to relax and meet neighbors. HOA's also have plan community events. Our soon to be community had a really nice Holiday celebration with bounce houses, santa, trains, etc... There is also a swim team with a designated pool. Nice park. The kids LOVE the park! Many of the newer communities have splash pads too which is great for the littler kids.

Our first house did not have an HOA. We got a new neighbor that did not take care of their yard. It was awful. She kept her trash can in her side yard and would not regularly put it curb side so it would over flow and blow trash into our back yard and front yard. Disgusting. Our property value has plummeted and we can not sale that house without taking a huge loss. We had the nicest landscaping and they would not cut their grass, it was about a foot long. The neighbors across the street were surrounded by cops one day. Apparently it was drug related. It was a nice street when we first bought. So that would be a con just from our own personal experience. If you are going to live in a community where you have close neighbors then I'd want an HOA of some type. But..if you live out in the country and you need a golf cart to get to your neighbors then I don't think its necessary.

[DSL_PWR]

Our new HOA is about $700 a year and they don't do jack ****. We have a pool, soccer field, and small playground. Don't use any of it.

Previous was $2500 and we had a fitness center, golf course, lakes to fish in, gated community, trash service, and front yards mowed.

Just depends on what you want in amenities as to what you will spend.

Cost will increase, on what basis will depend on the growth of the HOA and services they incorporate..

[texasroots77]

HOA can help protect your property value. Think about it... your home is probably your largest investment. Do you want your neighbors to have 4 cars in the driveway and work on their cars there? Paint their house bright colors, let their yard get overgrown or grass die? Put up signs in their yard. Yes HOA's can be a pain sometimes. In many communities you have to get permission for home additions or major landscaping. But again this is protecting the values in the area.