Pros and Cons of living in Sun City Georgetown (Austin: appointed, fit in)

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Retire Mike

thanks to that type of thinking we got Ted Cruz, Rick Perry George W. Bush

Beats being organized like Chicago was.

[JPS1]

Thinking about moving to Sun City Texas? Live in Sun City? Watch out for hidden fees. They tend to sneak up on unaware residents. And in many instances they have grown exponentially. Here is an example.

In 1998 the community association implemented a transfer fee on residents selling their house. It was $50, and it is payable to the community association. Since most sellers are leaving the community, they derive no benefit from the fee.

In 2013 the community association changed the fee from $200 per sale to .0025 per cent of the sale price of the house. After deducting typical broker fees and other charges associated with selling a house in Sun City, the fee was approximately .0027 to .0029 per cent of the sale proceeds realized by the seller.

Had the original fee been adjusted for inflation, it would have been approximately $73 in 2014. Instead it grew to average $670 per house sold in 2014. This is an increase of 1,240 per cent over the original fee of $50.

Because the fee is buried in a relatively large amount of money, i.e. the sale proceeds from their house, many if not most of those selling their house don't understand how the fee has grown or what it is used for.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by JPS1

Thinking about moving to Sun City Texas? Live in Sun City? Watch out for hidden fees. They tend to sneak up on unaware residents. And in many instances they have grown exponentially. Here is an example.

In 1998 the community association implemented a transfer fee on residents selling their house. It was $50, and it is payable to the community association. Since most sellers are leaving the community, they derive no benefit from the fee.

In 2013 the community association changed the fee from $200 per sale to .0025 per cent of the sale price of the house. After deducting typical broker fees and other charges associated with selling a house in Sun City, the fee was approximately .0027 to .0029 per cent of the sale proceeds realized by the seller.

Had the original fee been adjusted for inflation, it would have been approximately $73 in 2014. Instead it grew to average $670 per house sold in 2014. This is an increase of 1,240 per cent over the original fee of $50.

Because the fee is buried in a relatively large amount of money, i.e. the sale proceeds from their house, many if not most of those selling their house don't understand how the fee has grown or what it is used for.

This is good to know. It is in fact happening at almost all HOA communities though, not just Sun City. Just another reason to avoid HOAs if possible, though I don't know of ANY new neighborhoods being built in metro areas that don't have an HOA.

Steve

[Aquitaine]

Mueller in Austin has this - a quarter of a percent on all sales. It goes to a fund that subsidizes the affordable housing portion of Mueller.

In Circle C there is a transfer fee but I don't think it's a percentage - it's not a heck of a lot. That doesn't bother me too much...

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

Mueller in Austin has this - a quarter of a percent on all sales. It goes to a fund that subsidizes the affordable housing portion of Mueller.

In Circle C there is a transfer fee but I don't think it's a percentage - it's not a heck of a lot. That doesn't bother me too much...

Careful, don't give the city of Austin ideas.

People wonder why the real estate industry fights so hard to keep Texas one of the few remaining non-disclosure states for real estate sales. It's because once a sold price becomes mandatory reportable to the government, that opens the door to the kind of transaction fees currently limited mainly to HOAs.

Steve

[JPS1]

The developer of Sun City has announced an expansion of the community from 7,500 to 10,000 houses.

Some of the people who moved to Sun City were told that the community would top out at 5,000 houses. Then it was 7,500 houses! Now it is 10,000! The details concerning the right of the developer to expand the community are contained in the small print. The developer can expand the community to whatever extent he chooses, although I believe that he must be done by 2045.

The developer controls the Sun City Texas Community Association (SCTXCA) Board of Directors. If the interests of the residents clash with the interests of the developer, the developer can out vote the resident board members.

The developer can control the board until 95 per cent of the planned houses are sold. Since he can move the goal posts at his whim, many if not most of the current residents could be dead before the developer is required to turn over control of the home owners association to the residents.

When asked for the root source that empowers the developer to retain control of SCTXCA until 95 per cent of the houses are sold, his representative said that it was baked into the bylaws of the community association. That's wrong. The bylaws simply reflect the root source.

The root source for the developer to control the homeowners association until 95 per cent of the planned houses are sold probably sits in Texas property law or contract law. If anyone participating in these forums knows, I would appreciate your responding.

[JPS1]

Originally Posted by AustinTexan

Oh, one more thing. They're about to build a huge community next to Sun City which is going to affect home prices there. The traffic is going to get ugly in the next few years and a lot of the beauty of being able to look out into open grassland will be gone.

One aspect of the traffic near Sun City has already gotten ugly. Sun City Texas is bounded roughly on the north by State Highway 195 and on the northwest by Ronald Reagan Blvd.

Just north of SH 195 are large open-pit gravel digs. The mining creates dust and, furthermore, when mining is complete, the operators, most of whom are grandfathered-in, will not be required to reclaim the land that they have spoiled. The pits will remain as open scares on the landscape.

The gravel is shipped to various locations in Central Texas in large trucks. It appears that some of the trucks are overloaded, as per the gravel that is spilled on the shoulders of the SH 195 and Ronald Reagan. Moreover, it appears that some of them are not maintained propery, as evidenced by the remnants of truck tires that dot the shoulders.

People considering a home in Sun City are not likely to be told about the gravel pits by the real estate agents or the community association.

[centralaustinite]

It is probably in the CC&Rs not the bylaws. Don't know if it is in state law, but CC&Rs that allow the development to maintain control of the HOA until x% of homes have sold is very typical.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

It is probably in the CC&Rs not the bylaws. Don't know if it is in state law, but CC&Rs that allow the development to maintain control of the HOA until x% of homes have sold is very typical.

Correct, unlikely to be a state law; however, the percentages that I have seen before are lower than 95%. I think ours was 80%, but then again, the developer had more votes per property than a homeowner, so I guess the same difference :P. OTOH, it was bound by the original development boundaries and I don't think they could expand that based on what was originally submitted. Would be interesting to know. Most developers are glad to bail out on a development when it is completely (or near completely) sold out, Sun City type developments may be an exception.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by JPS1

One aspect of the traffic near Sun City has already gotten ugly. Sun City Texas is bounded roughly on the north by State Highway 195 and on the northwest by Ronald Reagan Blvd.

Just north of SH 195 are large open-pit gravel digs. The mining creates dust and, furthermore, when mining is complete, the operators, most of whom are grandfathered-in, will not be required to reclaim the land that they have spoiled. The pits will remain as open scares on the landscape.

The gravel is shipped to various locations in Central Texas in large trucks. It appears that some of the trucks are overloaded, as per the gravel that is spilled on the shoulders of the SH 195 and Ronald Reagan. Moreover, it appears that some of them are not maintained propery, as evidenced by the remnants of truck tires that dot the shoulders.

People considering a home in Sun City are not likely to be told about the gravel pits by the real estate agents or the community association.

If there is nuisance dust, report it to the TCEQ, Region 11 (Austin Region). Get a copy of their air permit, read it, then find a good vantage point to monitor their operations. Should be some retired people out there with the time .

Open quarries are a fact of life, though, reclaim is really only driven by the landowner (who usually has contracted the mineral rights to the mining operation).

Does the mining operation own the trucks? It isn't likely, but if they do, then you have a discrete entity to go after. Independent truckers are much more difficult. There should be a log (with weight) of every truck that leaves the property. You won't have access to these, but the TCEQ will if there are issues that result in an investigation. If spilled gravel really is a problem (and truck tires), the sheriffs dept. should be notified.

And finally, there is really no need to notify anyone that there is a quarry across the street - it is visible and at some level the prospective buyers are still responsible for vetting their purchase.