Welcome to California

I have a friend , retired civil engineer, who lives in a Dell Webb community (commune?) called Sun City just north of Austin, Texas. He seems to like it. He cannot park his car on the street and cannot have more than 1 (visitor) car in his driveway. He cannot plant trees in his back yard without approval. He cannot have a table saw in his garage. If he wants to cut wood he must drive to the community wood shop in his golf cart because he's not allowed to park his pickup truck at that community center. He'd sure as hell NOT practice his saxophone any time of day. Actually I play the saxophone, he doesn't. He paid $380,000 for his house. It will likely be worth that much when he dies. Personally, I think he's already there. At MY house I do what I please. If it disturbs the neighbors they will say so but I have good neighbors. This is Texas. Live free or fight.

What's the problem? Just do the modern thing and pitch a tent on a street in Skid Row LA. Lice, fleas, typhus, rats, even human waste in your quarters? Well, sure. But the commute is a dream! Also, since greenhouse gases will necessarily increase with the introduction of even one living human body to Newhall Ranch people will have to be kept out altogether. Which, come to think of it, will be a Godsend to consumers for pricing purposes.

When William Mulholland's St. Francis dam collapsed in 1928, it was just north of Santa Clarita and followed the Santa Clara river all the way to the ocean 54 miles away. These houses may very well have been built on that path.

We have lived for twenty-five years in one of the largest planned communities in the nation. It is beautiful, with two highly rated golf courses, many parks, multiple private swimming facilities, tennis courts, soccer fields, etc. Our restrictions are reasonable and are enforced. The restrictions #1 mentioned in the Dell City community north of Austin sound ridiculously excessive. Over the years a few situations have come up in our immediate portion that were completely corrected by HOA enforcement. The most recent in our immediate neighborhood was the chronic parking of a dilapidated vehicle in front of a neighbor's house. The owner of the vehicle lived the next street over and, not wanting it as an eyesore front of his house, simply parked it literally fifty yards around the corner. This went on for a good while, no one knowing really who owned it or if it were abandoned or if it were even drivable. Eventually the HOA identified the owner and required the owner to put the junkmobile in his own parking spaces. I attribute our HOA rules for keeping a check on a house in our neighborhood which was leased or rented rather than owned. The person who actually owned the house just abandoned the care of it, and the yard became a constant eyesore until the HOA made the landlord understand that the ultimate responsibility in keeping his property healthy and presentable was his. Our neighborhood is a pleasure and our property values are stable. When a house goes on the market in our neighborhood, which is pretty rare, it will sell very rapidly. If you want to live in our neighborhoods of this community, you will not let your fences fall down. You will see to it that your yard does not become a junkpile or a jungle. And anyone who doesn't want to comply with the basic matter of responsible home ownership can move on down the road.

The Sun City restrictions are requirements of the HOA, not the state of Texas. Over the years, I have had occasion to sell a residential lot or two. The first question from potential buyers is almost always "Is there a homeowner's association." For some, an HOA is a comfort. For others, an HOA is a potential nightmare.