Wildhorse - A personal experience (San Antonio, Alamo: for sale, rent, HOA)

[anjaleyes]

I've occasionally read this forum and it has been very helpful in teaching this newbie about San Antonio. My husband and I moved here a year ago. I've seen a lot of heresay posted here regarding the Wildhorse subdivision. So I thought I would share our personal experience with building our home and living in this subdivision. Hopefully, this information helps someone who is interested in this development.

Our home was built in 6 1/2 months. During that time, there was a one month period where we noticed nothing much was occurring during the build process. Basically, it seemed that everything went to a standstill. Turned out that the building superintendent for our particular area of Wildhorse (there are more than a few superintendents) was not performing and was fired. We then got a new super by the name of Andrew who was absolutely awesome. He wasn't just great at making sure the house was done on time but he stayed on his workers. He answered his cell and personally answered any questions and/or concerns that we had and in a couple of cases, actually dropped whatever he was doing and met us at our home.

Although Andrew was great, we hired an inspector who inspected the home during the framing and during the final walkthrough. DR Horton not only provides a 3rd party inspector, but also has 2 energy star inspections where they seal the house to make sure there are no leaks. With all that, we still chose to hire our own inspector. Regarding the energy star stuff...we pay less in electricity than our friends who have similar size homes (just did a comparison at a party recently).

Needless to say, we have not had any leaks. We did have to contact DR Horton's warranty folks because our microwave wouldn't work properly. They replaced it in 2 days.

Now, I do know of 2 of my neighbors that had the improper flashing, which caused water leakage in their garages. However, in both of these instances, they were out of state buyers who did not have the home inspected by a private inspector and just showed up at the final walkthrough (1 actually waived the final walkthrough).

I guess my point is that you cannot trust any builder...not even the custom ones (my sister has a custom built home in Sonoma Ranch...they've got problems too). No matter what the builder says about providing their own inspectors...definitely get your own, particularly during the framing.

Another point I wanted to make regarding this development is in regards to traffic. Traffic was pretty bad at the light on Braun Rd/1604 even when I left at 6:45am. However, that problem has since been resolved since they opened the road connecting Wildhorse with Shaenfield (Wildhorse Parkway). Combining this change with access to 1560 and other alternate routes, the traffic thing is nonexistent.

Lastly, if you do look on mysa.com you will see that quite a few homes are for sale in Wildhorse. But, what you don't see is that only a couple of the homes are the premier or premier plus homes (higherend). The other 66 or so homes are all legacy homes (low end). There are three types of homes in Wildhorse: Premier Plus, Premier and Legacy. If you plan on purchasing an existing home here, you may want to ask about this.

Oh, and before I forget, there is an elementary school (Krueger) in the development and it is not capped...but is definitely getting to that point. To make sure your children are able to attend, you have to submit the home contract to NISD. The middle school kids will be attending a new school this upcoming year (Jefferson), it is almost to capacity and hasn't even been opened yet. The high school is Taft, and although we have heard mixed reviews about this high school, primarily centered around it being an older school, it does have the Communications Magnet program which we have heard nothing but good stuff.

Okay, that's about it! Again, I hope this post assists someone looking for info regarding Wildhorse.

P.S. Our kids love the two community pools! I would prefer a pool in my backyard.

[missudpat]

Anjaleyes- Be vigilant about your one year comprehensive and ten year structural warranties. Moderator cut: consumer complaint

[vmoore311]

Re: Wildhorse or Alamo Ranch can anyone tell me about HOA or Association fees, etc?

[majormadmax]

In Wildhorse the HOA is $62.50 a quarter, according to the lady who has all the money and pays all the bills (a.k.a. SWMBO*).

Since Wildhorse is outside of the city limits, there are no city taxes but that does mean you have to pay for garbage pickup. Tiger Sanitation is the most popular choice, and it runs about $20/month.

Also, Braun has been widened to four lanes since the OP's original post, so traffic on that road is no longer an issue. They have also installed a traffic light at the entrance to Wildhorse, thus that intersection is a lot safer now.

Cheers! M2

* - A reference to the novel She by H. Rider Haggard from Rumpole of the Bailey

[NJTransplant2008]

Originally Posted by vmoore311

Re: Wildhorse or Alamo Ranch can anyone tell me about HOA or Association fees, etc?

Riverstone @ AR is about $220/year

[Dararea]

Does anyone know what the website is for WildHorse Subdivision , so I can look at the up coming pool hours?

[majormadmax]

Wildhorse HOA Home

But good luck finding any pool hours! Our HOA management company sucks, you'll probably have to call them to find out when the pool's suppose to be open. But don't count on them knowing, our's was suppose to be open when the kids were out of school late last month, but it was locked up. My wife called and the morons told her it was open. She told them it wasn't, and they didn't know why. They are pretty clueless...

[Ali Marsch]

What happens if you buy in the Wildhorse Subdivision and have to move before selling your house, can you rent your house until you sell?

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by Ali Marsch

What happens if you buy in the Wildhorse Subdivision and have to move before selling your house, can you rent your house until you sell?

Rent which house? The one you're selling elsewhere? Or the one you're buying? You can try to negotiate whatever you want. That's a question for your Realtor to handle, as they're more privy to your deal and know the ins and outs.

[majormadmax]

You can rent it out, but as the owner you remain responsible for the property...