“Garbage carts must be returned to their storage area on private property by 10 p.m. on the designated collection day. They should be placed at the curb by 6:30 a.m. on the collection day, but not prior to 8 p.m. the evening before.”

Yes they can, if it’s written into the bylaws. Most HOAs just say that the can has to be out of view, which means you can also put it in your back yard.

Steve

Anon: I’m not going to share specific sales price amounts or discounts on an ongoing deal where the location and builder are now public on this blog. The buyer is happy and we did better than I think they would have done without good council.

Steve

-Anon

In addition, I remember the salesperson was clear about the fact that Newmark would handle the HOA until they leave the neighborhood.

Investor sales are forbidden and the rules are clear and specific about that, so investors won’t be coming in until resales start happening. Even then, it’s not a purchase I would necessarily recommend for investors.

Finally, I recommend anyone buying in an HOA neighborhood like this to get involved early on in the HOA governance issues as the manner in which the HOA operates can impact property values. The developer isn’t involved at all in this HOA. It’s already set up with a professional management company.

Steve

I almost bought a house at Independence about a year ago; they actually started building it, but I pulled out because Newmark did not deliver what they had promised.

First, when I bought the house, the neighborhood did not have all the neccesary permits. The salesperson (Rhonda) NEVER mentioned the community was a condo; Newmark built a similar neighborhood in north east austin (east of parmer and I-35, i think). Well, they did not have models homes in south austin and based the entire sale process on the previous neighborhood in north austin. I (and my realtor) thought I was buying a house, and after a couple of months, I got a surprise from Rhonda saying the city permits had finally been completed and the designation was for condos. She never said the true reason; the other salesperson told me that the decision was made to accomodate more houses. Rhonda, my salesperson, said the decision was simply made to speed up the process.

A big difference is the width of the streets, which are public up north. The roads are tinny in Independence; it literally looks like a mini-parking lot. In addition, the size of the front-yard is ridiculous; you house is right on the street, which is not the case in north austin, where the front yard is much larger. In addition, the spacing between the houses is very different; the houses are nicely spread up north, while they are almost next to each other down south.

In addition, they changed a lot of components during construction. For example, they changed the roof from a 30-year warranty to a 20-year warranty. I took a friend who is a contractor, and he looked at the size of the beams Newmark used for framing in South Austin, and he was surprised because they were smaller than he uses for construction. He was personally dissatisfied with the support provided by the cheaper frames.

Finally, Newmark kept pushing the date of completion; the house was originally meant to be finished in early september, but they kept making excuses regarding city permits, and the home was slowly pushed all the way to early january.