Our home lasted 3-4 days on the market and now we need to find a home. We have picked Bridgeland as the neighborhood so I am wondering if any of you have any insight if this is a good subdivision.
tia

Great neighborhood. Go to their information center and they can give you a guided virtual tour of all of the things planned for the community. Schools zoned to the neighborhood are great as well.

Great neighborhood but be ready to pay to live in the nice part of town.
http://cyfairrealestate.com/blog/towne-lake-bridgeland-cypress-communities-with-creative-hoa-fees/
In addition to the HOA fees, there are "transaction fees" when you buy/sell. You can probably negotiate a part of that in the deal when you make your offer; just be clear about it up front.

Aggs03,

I have a good friend who is very informed in the area. I would love to help you myself, but I do not have any experience out there. This person has been working in Bridgelands and the surroundin areas for awhile and would be a great asset in helping you find information and a new home.

Feel free to PM me or email me directly at chris at chrisgrizzaffi dot com. I would be glad to do anything I can to help.

We love Bridgeland. Lots of great parks, trails, the pool, etc. They are building a town center in the next year.

and 290 is such a breeze to drive!

I have lived in the Cypress area (Coles Crossing) since '99 and am thinking about moving to Bridgeland myself. It is a gorgeous community.

The link that agracer posted came from my Cypress area real estate blog. Here are some likes / dislike videos I also did about Bridgeland.

http://cyfairrealestate.com/blog/tag/bridgeland+video/

In short:

Likes:
* Amenities
* Events
* No above ground power lines
* Awesome pool
* Very family friendly

Dislikes:
* High taxes
* Narrow streets
* Hidden HOA fees to sell your house
* All driveways get narrow near the street (I have had clients complain about this "feature"

Link fail...

http://cyfairrealestate.com/blog/tag/bridgeland+video/

quote:

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Dislikes:
* High taxes
* Narrow streets
* Hidden HOA fees to sell your house
* All driveways get narrow near the street (I have had clients complain about this "feature"

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I agree with all of your likes and dislikes - however here is my take on the dislikes:


Taxes aren't significantly higher and I think you get more house for the buck in Bridgeland than comparable neighborhoods.

Side streets are narrow, but the neighborhood is designed to minimize traffic on those streets.

Hidden fees are a pain, but they are offset by HOA fees that are in line with those of Coles, Fairfield, Cypress Creek, etc.

Narrow driveway sucks. I hate it. It's stupid.

One you mentioned on your website that was not mentioned here is the commute time to 290. It sucks right now from the back of the subdivision (thankfully i'm in the front), but the back will be close to the Grand Parkway when that is complete in a few years. Additionally, the county is measuring traffic on House-Hahl, Spring-Cypress, etc and should be considering extending Mueschke or Mason in the near future. Both of these are years off, but will still help in the future.

[This message has been edited by cgh1999 (edited 12/7/2011 2:50p).]

How does the neighborhood perform during flooding events? Can anyone give a personal brief experience from the April 2009 flood? My concern would be the amount of property that is located in close proximity to Cypress Creek, even though they have detention facilities throughout the neighborhood.

There was 2-3 feet left before the water reached the tops of the lakes. Even then, houses were set back sufficiently from the lakes that the water would have had to rise another 4-5 feet to get into any houses.

No significant standing water on my street as the water drained quickly to the ponds.

Sorry folks, I totally lost track of this thread. We were lucky enough to find a home the day we found out ours sold. We went with Perry due to their construction quality and more bang for your buck. We got a 3300 sqft home for 91 sqft. 4 beds/3.5 baths/3 car garage along with a media room and game room. We are doing a double close on the 13th so I hope everything goes without a hitch. We fell on love with Bridgeland the moment we drove through the main entrance. The lakes, parks, green spaces, fields for sports and hiking trails sealed the deal. The taxes are a bit high, $1.00 MUD and $0.50 for a WCID. But I feel that this along with a high HOA will keep the neighborhood on the up and up.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Thanks! We will be in Moonlight Haven.

Congrats on your new home, aggs03!

Regarding taxes, they are comparable to other newer neighborhoods in the area, but much higher than older ones such as Coles Crossing and Longwood Village.

Another interesting point is that even though taxes are a bit higher than the newer sections of Cinco Ranch (3.7 vs 3.5), your after-homestead exemption tax rate in Bridgeland is actually lower due to Cy-Fair ISD giving an extra 20% deduction on top of the standard $15k deduction.

I did not mention traffic since all of Cypress has to fight Hwy 290, but, yes, the back parts of Bridgeland are quite a hike. It is actually a bit quicker to take House Haul to go to and from the back sections of the community versus the main entrance on Fry.

Flooding should not be an issue in Bridgeland. Here is a good interactive Harris County flood plain map:

http://www.harriscountyfemt.org/

House Hahl is VERY congested in the evenings. It's not bad in the morning rush hour, but for whatever reason, you do NOT want to be heading to 290 from Bridgeland at 5pm. Both House-Hahl and Fry are backed up to the Shell Station from hempstead hwy.

We take Tuckerton to Barker Cypress to 290 in the evenings.

We're looking in Bridgeland now as well hoping that we find something prior to the start of school. I'm curious how the flood control design performed after last week's rain which had Cypress Creek in the news a lot. I think it was said to have had 16-19" of rain over there.

Just signed off on one in arbor haven. I'll be joining the neighborhood in December/January.

My fiance and I fell in love with Bridgeland right away.

Wife and I are looking at homes in Bridgeland.

Is everyone still happy here? School districts still good?

We loved it and will likely have kids in the next couple of years. We're ready to move on from our starter home.

Thanks!


Also - My research shows tax rates to be about 2.7%, HOA fee ~ $900/year. Looks like Cy Fair 20% on top of the homestead exemption may be going away to pay for budget issues? Any truth to this happening?

How long does a typical MUD tax apply to the property? Do these eventually phase out or likely be there for all time?

Following, may be moving out there with the wife next year..

We all make bad life decisions. Why make one getting taxed 3.7% of value each year ?

Around 1200 HOA, forgot the exact amount. Taxes suck. Neighborhood elected board members are idiots.

V8Aggie said:

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How long does a typical MUD tax apply to the property? Do these eventually phase out or likely be there for all time?

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For a reference point, the MUD I'm in is about 14 years old. The total MUD tax rate is $1.09. I think it was around $1.15-1.20 when we bought 10 years ago. I know of a MUD in Katy, nearly 40 years old that has a rate of $0.67

It is very safe to say that if you move to Bridgeland, or any master-planned community in the Houston area, you will always pay a MUD tax. Forever.

MUD tax has 2 components: debt service and maintenance. At the beginning, when the MUD's facilities are new, it's not paying much, relatively, toward maintenance. But w/ a massive development like Bridgeland the MUD will be paying off debt for decades. The more property owners paying tax, the faster the debt can be paid off (MUD can also issue bonds in the future and take on more debt). Over time the tax % going toward debt should decrease.