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...and a large supply of green decals that the mysterious night-parking-monitor places on cars that aren't parked in driveways.

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I hate those green stickers. We never have a problem with it since we never park on the street, but there has to be a better way.

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Just curious.... Is this a gated community ? If not the HOA has absolutely ZERO authority over ANYTHING or activity in the street.
We have HOA restrictions regarding parking on the street , no commercial vehicles, no more than 24 hrs... etc that the HOA nazis attempted to enforce. On one occasion they tried to call a wrecker to move a guys company supplied plumbing van and ended up damn near getting the wrecker driver arrested for theft.
You see REGARDLESS of some HOA bilge ONLY the city or county or state ( if you live on a statehwy) have ANY authority over your streets and roads. The HOA was warned by the sheriff to NOT TOUCH ANY CAR/TRUCK on the public right of way.
We finally had a rep of the sheriff dept come down and carefully explain the LAW. ONLY a cop may enforce the LAW and it is fairly open and " liberal" regarding parking in the street. There are a few minor regs regarding 18 wheelers , they really can't park in a residential area because of width and length issues. A non functioning vehicle CAN be removed from a clear residential area after a set amount of time ( varies from county to county) BUT only after a COP has flagged it and tracked it. It may be possible that a county or city MAY empower an HOA but I have never heard of this.
HOA's are a valuable tool to help keep up hoods BUT they are out of control in a lot of areas. There are already some new bills being considered for the next session to de-fang the nazis a bit more. I HOPE that you guys contact your reps and get on board.
One of the things I am spearheading is a bill to stop these idiots from demanding certain landscaping functions in direct contradiction to horticultural norms or even just plain common sense.
In my hood we had a freeze a few years ago. Killed a lot of palm fronds( sp) and a few trees. Right on course the HOA nazis started to send out the demand that we cut off the dead stuff. Right in the middle of winter with more freezes possible. I tried to explain that it is VITAL that these be left as-is until the spring as they provide cover that MIGHT save the entire tree and allow for new growth. To obey their idiot order could KILL the tree. Presented them with a letter from an A&M arborist and the county BUT no avail..CUT THEM. I told them in no uncertain terms to KISS MY.. I will see you in court.
Next year during the drought and under MANDATORY water restrictions they started sending out , YOUR LAWN IS DEAD ..FIX IT LETTERS..that did it. We are going to defang these morons.

My HOA fee = $0 per year. To be safe, we budget $0 per month. I also don't have any neighborhood Nazis sending letters because my grass is 1/8" too high this week.

If you feel strongly enough about the problems you have with your hoa, get involved by doing things such as going to meetings, getting elected, etc. It's an unpaid, thankless, volunteer job, but it has to be done.

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Half the time, the two smaller fountains don't even work.

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There you go. The money goes towards monthly repair fees for the fountains.

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They have a $3,500 Lake Maintenance line item in the budget. Not to mention other line items such as lawn maintenance and irrigation repairs.

If they are always having issues with the pump, surely you would think they could buy a couple at a few grand a piece and have a manufacturer's warranty that lasted for a few years.

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Most of the repairs are caused by plastic bags or other trash being sucked into the pumps. Manufacturer's warranty wouldn't cover those things.

60 houses paying $600 a year comes out to $36k. After paying for pond maintenance, mowing, someone to collect the HOA fees, and have a lawyer on retainer for adding liens to houses for people that don't pay, that seems reasonable. Too few houses to get the fees any lower than that unless residents start mowing and maintaining everything. Good luck with that...

I live in Bryan because here we can be a**holes to each other for free.

$250.00 in Pebble Creek. Plus we get a magazine!

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60 houses paying $600 a year comes out to $36k. After paying for pond maintenance, mowing, someone to collect the HOA fees, and have a lawyer on retainer for adding liens to houses for people that don't pay, that seems reasonable. Too few houses to get the fees any lower than that unless residents start mowing and maintaining everything. Good luck with that...

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What I'm getting at is they already have landscape maintenance in the budget. And there is very little landscaping that has to be done as there isn't much green space in the neighborhood. When $15k of that $36k budget is simply put as just "Reserves", yes it makes me want to try and do something about it.

HOA dues in the Cove were originally set fairly high ($600) because there were few homes to support the costs. I know the one of the original officers who loaned the HOA almost $15,000 to keep it afloat in the early days. The new board a couple of years ago refused to pay the loan back and also refused to reduce the fees once a large profit was being generated, so you are correct that a large amount of the dues go to reserves with little plan as to what to use that money for. We sold our property so I'm no longer involved, but was during the earlier years.

$120/year in Austin's Colony.

Austin's Colony Park is owned and maintained by the city of Bryan.

I own a couple of properties.

College Hills $35.00 / year.
Sun Meadows $150.00 / year.
I now live in Austin and have to pay $1,800.00 a year. (I miss College Station)

$1,800 a year? I hope they do all your landscaping, clean your house and wipe your @$$ for you!

Get on the hoa board of directors.
They need -- and would welcome -- conscientious, problem solving people like you.
Your neighbors will shower you with gratitude and praise.

I live in a master planned community in the Houston area.

Ours our $850ish..... For that we get two pools, a splash pad, workout center - all access controlled, tennis courts, two small lakes, fountains galore (4 small alligators), park access to Lake Houston, a couple of miles of walking trails, neighborhood parks and contracted service with the Harris Co. Constable's Office to have a dedicated officer patrolling 24/7 (that's 3 shifts). They also maintain the common areas. We complain about the cost, but we've got good amenities, especially since we don't have city services. We do have a City of Houston fire station inside the neighborhood as well as an elementary and a middle school. Our HS is just outside the neighborhood - the HOA doesn't cover those, but the developer got them there.

TxElsie-

This looks the place we looked 9 years ago. Is this atascocita off west lake Houston ave? Lake Anne?=

$125.00, at Oakhaven Townhomes, in Bryan. Really do not get much as there is no park/pool/etc.. Mostly the dues pay for lawn maintenance.

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We complain about the cost, but we've got good amenities, especially since we don't have city services.

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What city services don't you have? That sounds like a utopia...minus the Houston part.

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$125.00, at Oakhaven Townhomes, in Bryan. Really do not get much as there is no park/pool/etc.. Mostly the dues pay for lawn maintenance.

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That's cheap. When I owned a townhouse in Bryan on Oakside, it was $125 a month.

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TxElsie-

This looks the place we looked 9 years ago. Is this atascocita off west lake Houston ave? Lake Anne?=

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Yup. Summerwood

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We complain about the cost, but we've got good amenities, especially since we don't have city services.

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What city services don't you have? That sounds like a utopia...minus the Houston part.

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We're a mud so we pay mud taxes instead of city taxes, so no city water, sewer or trash. Kids go to Humble ISD, which is better than Houstons. And unlike Blinn, Lone Star College is a taxing entity, so taxes are a little higher, but we, through the HOA maintain our parks and pools and we pay to contract the dedicated constables.
We're on the NE side of Houston, so the City is convenient but not on top of us.

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$1,800 a year? I hope they do all your landscaping, clean your house and wipe your @$$ for you!

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That's $150 per month. On the low end for most all HOA charges.

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$1,800 a year? I hope they do all your landscaping, clean your house and wipe your @$$ for you!

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That's $150 per month. On the low end for most all HOA charges.

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In Austin maybe, but all of the prices quoted above are per year.

Copperfield is $90/yr

Blinn is most certainly a taxing entity.

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Blinn is most certainly a taxing entity.

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At roughly $0.06 per $100, in Washington Co.

And it would come way down if we could take Brazos County into the district.

Actually it wouldn't. The tax is a maintenance tax and can only be used for maintenance of the Brenham campus. Those funds can not be used anywhere else. All you would do is cut your nose off to spite your face. Just like the roll back election a couple of years ago.

I think .02 per 100 out of all of Washington and Brazos counties would more than cover maintenance on the Brenham campus. And that would definitely cut my tax rate.

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Blinn is most certainly a taxing entity.

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Not in Brazos County though, right? I didn't realize it was (a taxing entity) in Washington Co.
That's kind of interesting.

150/mo Villiage on the Creek Condos just north of campus near F&B/Wellborn

Castlegate- $300/yr
These funds do not pay for the castle, maintenance AROUND the front three ponds, or the park with tennis and b-ball court

Castlegate 2 funds do not pay for the park around the pond also.

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$125.00, at Oakhaven Townhomes, in Bryan. Really do not get much as there is no park/pool/etc.. Mostly the dues pay for lawn maintenance.

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That's cheap. When I owned a townhouse in Bryan on Oakside, it was $125 a month.

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Still is $125.00 per month....I have been trying to get on the board since July but there is something holding it up.