canyon gate community (Houston, Conroe, Spring: HOA, insurance, house)

[ilovbearc]

Originally Posted by jlocc619

I am moving to Houston from San Diego later this year. Originally I thought I was going to move to Legends Ranch, but after visiting the place twice...it just didn't have the feel of a nice gated community that I was expecting. I ended up opting for Spring Trails, where I am building a Lennar home. It has that great "woodsy" feel and beautiful landscaping. One thing I didn't like in Legends Ranch were that there were townhomes and a bunch of For Rent signs too.

Yes, there are a lot of homes that are for sale or for rent. The community has a lot of HUD housing and $1 down people who got mortganges very easily. Now that interest rates are climbing, they have to move or forclose.

Others who move in are investors buying the houses and duplexes for investment, but of course, they are the only ones enjoying themselves. Everybody else who has to live next to the for sale signs has to suffer while these houses stay on the market for months and months. For instance, the house next store to me right now has been for sale by over 3 companies in the past 2 years, and of those transactions, two were investors who just flipped it again. HELLO!!! There is actually real people living next store to this house!

On the decision to move to Spring Trails... Very good choice. The only reservation I had when checking Spring Trails out was flooding and flood zoning. Check to see what flood plain your on. A 100 year flood plane in tiddlywinks. Remember, even if its a 100 year flood plain, that just means its guarrenteed to flood at least once within 100 years. The best flood plain to be in is none at all. FEMA has just redone the flood plain mapping this year and last year from Rita and Allison (two major tropical storms and hurricanes that changed the landscape and drainage).

No matter what they tell you. YOU MUST BUY FLOOD INSURANCE. No exceptions. Trust me, I have lived in the area for nearly 18 years. I have survived hurricanes and monsoons, and you need to have flood insurance. It saved me twice in the last 5 years. Be prepared to bring a boat when you come, but I am sure you are prepared and intelligent to handle anything.

Good luck. I hope I have been of help to someone out there!

[jlocc619]

Originally Posted by ilovbearc

Yes, there are a lot of homes that are for sale or for rent. The community has a lot of HUD housing and $1 down people who got mortganges very easily. Now that interest rates are climbing, they have to move or forclose.

Others who move in are investors buying the houses and duplexes for investment, but of course, they are the only ones enjoying themselves. Everybody else who has to live next to the for sale signs has to suffer while these houses stay on the market for months and months. For instance, the house next store to me right now has been for sale by over 3 companies in the past 2 years, and of those transactions, two were investors who just flipped it again. HELLO!!! There is actually real people living next store to this house!

On the decision to move to Spring Trails... Very good choice. The only reservation I had when checking Spring Trails out was flooding and flood zoning. Check to see what flood plain your on. A 100 year flood plane in tiddlywinks. Remember, even if its a 100 year flood plain, that just means its guarrenteed to flood at least once within 100 years. The best flood plain to be in is none at all. FEMA has just redone the flood plain mapping this year and last year from Rita and Allison (two major tropical storms and hurricanes that changed the landscape and drainage).

No matter what they tell you. YOU MUST BUY FLOOD INSURANCE. No exceptions. Trust me, I have lived in the area for nearly 18 years. I have survived hurricanes and monsoons, and you need to have flood insurance. It saved me twice in the last 5 years. Be prepared to bring a boat when you come, but I am sure you are prepared and intelligent to handle anything.

Good luck. I hope I have been of help to someone out there!

Interesting! I am told that we are not in a flood plain, but just because I'm curious, how much does flood insurance run on average? Is it by your home/lot square footage?

[Sincere08]

We put a contract on a home in Stonegate off 290/Barker Cypress. Does anyone live out there? Any pros/cons you have for the community?

My husband will have a great commute b/c he works near the energy corridor (I-10/Eldridge). I work in the inner loop, so does anyone have any commute advice for me?

[Mr. Football]

I know its zoned to Cy-Fair HS which is very good. Lots of great golf in the area. There's a new Big HEB going up in front of Coles Crossing that will be a welcome development in Cypress. Cypress is a nice place to live good schools, low crime, high income, etc.

[cwksmkamk]

I realize this thread was started almost a year ago but I thought I would give my insight incase anyone new is looking for a place to live!

We've lived about 1 block away from the Splash pad for 1 1/2 years now. We looked all over before buying here and it seemed to be the best place for our family. One thing that I wish we had here are BIG trees & neighbors that stuck around! We're a family of 3 with a son that's 5 1/2. We don't have any neighbors with kids & right now, we don't have any neighbors at all!!! If you look down our street, just on our side of the street within the first 5 houses (including mine), 3 are for sale, rent or foreclosure.

We're off of Schumann Oaks, which is a main street that takes you from the left side of the neighborhood to the right side, in the middle of the community. The left side of the neighborhood definitely seems to be more quiet, but they are the more expensive homes (Canyon Lakes). Aside from people racing down the street and the occasional people that feel like they MUST blare their music, everything here is fairly quiet. It's the same as you'd get anywhere else, I'm sure.

As far as the HOA, we had to contact them about 2 different neighbors (one moved out & another moved in), both owning a set of drums that they would BANG on in the garage (without dampeners - it makes a difference!). I could never understand how these people didn't find what they were doing rude. (I had better luck contacting the Police Dept. because all the HOA can really do is sent out letters). Since they both moved out & no construction is currently going on (although are there are some lots left for building), all is fairly quiet for now. Another problem we had for a while was the EZ tag lane to get into the neighborhood. Someone hit the arm and it took them quite a while to REALLY fix it. Now it seems back to normal.

The HOA has contacted us for a couple of things - which I thought were pretty dumb, but I can understand. I think it was the timing of when they came to check out the neighborhood. One time my brother - in - law was doing some landscaping and parked his car (with trailer) in front of the house. He spent the night that night & left the next day. A week later we got a letter from the HOA saying that the trailer must be moved. Of course it had been long gone! The 2nd time we had a little patch of "dead" grass in our yard which our gardener had already treated & they complained about that. I was upset because if you look across the street from our house, the Legends Ranch property grass looked worse!!! FYI - our homeowners dues have gone up $75 since last year. I think they're now at $850.

Once the neighborhood gets built out, they're supposed to build an elementary school in the back of the subdivision. There are constantly a ton of homes for sale or lease & traffic on Rayford does get ridiculous - we didn't get the light! The Estates did! One great thing, which is really convenient if you're heading to the Hardy Toll Road is to exit out of the back of the community - it's really convenient.

I would say DON'T buy if you're looking to sell before the neighborhood gets built out. There are TOO many homes for sale or lots left to be built out & I would think that you might break even, but that's about it. We originally looked for homes that were already built in here but it didn't make sense because we could buy a brand new one for the same amount of money.

Good luck!

[CGB]

Originally Posted by breriley

Does anyone live in legends ranch or any canyon gate community what has been your experiences with the upkeep, hoa, maintenance or any thought about living there any info would be appreciated.

I can only speak for the one at the Brazos. The HOA fees are ridiculous. $1,000.00... due right after Christmas. Real nice. And for that fee, you get letters telling you things like, "your mulch is not 6 inches off the ground" or "the bunny sign can't be in your yard 24 hours after Easter." And "gated" is a joke. It is easy as hell to get in there, aside from the fact there are places the gates don't cover. I can't wait to get out of this sh*t-hole.

[icon7]

I have heard negative things from several people that live in the CGC's. Their marketing is great! It used to be that gated communities were where homes were priced from the $500+ range...

CGC cashed in on this. They tried to give people a sense of "security" by building gated communities that were much more affordable. 2 of my co-workers that started out in Stone gate, have since sold (below market) to get out and now feel safer and are happier in a non-gated community. Look into the area, use tools like HAR to see number of homes in the area and foreclosures. Use the HCAD website to see details on the property owners (i.e. how many times it has changed hands, if it is bank owned, etc.)

[jar21]

I am building a First Texas house in Canyon Gate @ Park Lakes in Humble. Is there anyone here with info and advice about either First Texas or the community itself. Thus far everything with First Texas has been good. I came across a lot of bad press and horror stories about First Texas after the fact, but again, so far so good with the building process. Neighbors around the house have been there for approx 2yrs and love it. My only hold up now is trying to get them to contribute more money since homes around the area are selling for less then what I signed for. Any advice good or bad would be helpful. Thanks!

[BunBoHue]

Originally Posted by CGB

I can only speak for the one at the Brazos. The HOA fees are ridiculous. $1,000.00... due right after Christmas. Real nice. And for that fee, you get letters telling you things like, "your mulch is not 6 inches off the ground" or "the bunny sign can't be in your yard 24 hours after Easter." And "gated" is a joke. It is easy as hell to get in there, aside from the fact there are places the gates don't cover. I can't wait to get out of this sh*t-hole.

Ain't that the truth. While I don't live there, I have family that does. The gated security is a joke for real...do those cameras really work or are they just for show? And for $1000 HOA dues, you'd expect more. The community areas are in poor shape and the kiddie pool is always closed. I see lots of homes with tall grass and weeds there, both occupied and unoccupied. Shouldn't the HOA just send in a crew and cut those lawns. Definately not worth the $.

[westres1]

[quote=ilovbearc;753503]
, my home cost 189,000 and taxes are already 179,000. This is with my contesting and appealing every year.


There is no way you should be paying this much in taxes. Have you filed your Homestead exemption? Taxes are at most 4% of your homes value if you file the exemption. Which would be less than $4000 per year