New home developers and their lack of access

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang..
Does anyone have any experience with new home subdivisions and the transition from a developer controlled situation to that of an established homeowner's association. I'm a firm believer in homeowner associations, especially here in the Harris County/Houston area because there is no zoning in the city.  This stinks for you can have some dude with his Taqueria truck and his relatives vehicles all parked in the front yard and there's not a dang thing you can do about it and hence, your property value, which you work very hard to maintain and increase, goes to Hell... But, that's another story in itself.

My question is why do developers of new home subdivisions keep themselves at arm's length and the only access you have to them is indirect and through a management company? Is it they could care less about the residence? Is it because they are spineless? We have plenty of unsold lots in our quaint little subdivision, so the likelihood of a resident-controlled association is far into the future.. There are concerns we have about the contract crews who work for the home builders and their total lack of attention to messes they create (nails all over the road is one example).

I would like to take an active roll in the policy-making of MY neighborhood along with the like-minded residents and not leave things to a single entity who never, as far as I know, comes by the subdivision to see how things are...........

In our new neighborhood, there's the main developer of the subdivision and the two home builders....

Troy

[Todd Wilson]

Dont have a clue about home owner associations and how they work. I did try and do some work for a developer once. I used to mow fields and he wanted his entire area cleaned up. He had already had some show houses up. He was floored at the price I gave him after I walked around about a 6 block area looking at everything I had to mow. We drove around in his fancy SUV for 30 minutes as he told me what he wanted done. His cell phone rang about 50 times. Listening to his talks gave me the impression that he wanted to put as little $$ as possible out and get houses buiilt and sold as fast as he can. I didnt get the job after I told him my price.  I also had an uncle that built houses. He was a nice guy but a slimeball when it came to doing business. You did business with him you got screwed and he got the $$$$.  Your developer may not even be there. He may just be someone putting up the cash to build and lives in Florida. Going by my experience your developer probably could care less about nails in the road. Get the house built and sold fast is all they are concerned with.


Todd

[hemigeno]

Troy,

Developers can be a tough crowd to deal with, and they are all different.  My subdivision is fairly small (25 lots), and the developer only built one display home himself - the rest were all built by other contractors with no affiliation to the developer.   One nice thing he did was to establish the rules for a homeowner's association before any of the lots were sold - he even incorporated the initial set of property rules/restrictions into each lot's deed.  Among other things, those rules stipulated that once over half of the lots were sold, the lot/homeowners could form the association.  The developer still got one vote for each unsold lot he owned, so it took a nearly unanimous vote on almost anything there for a while.

I started building my house about the same time that the homeowner's association was formed, and it was not a smooth transition.  The developer was nickel-and-diming everything, and we had to force his hand more than once to get him to live up to the very rules he had written himself.  This particular fella didn't have the best reputation before he started this subdivision, and the way he handled things with us didn't help him in that regard.  One of my fellow neighbors has an awful lot of time on his hands (was injured on the job and got some huge work comp settlement), so he took it upon himself to bug the living daylights out of the developer.  That got more things done than any other tactic, to be honest.  Maybe the first action of your homeowner's association should be to collect money to subsidize some young lawyer's home purchase...   

Take a look at your deed and see if there are any rules already established.  To be honest, unless the restrictions are already present it'll be difficult to get everyone in your subdivision to agree on things later.  I served on the Architectural Control Committee of my subdivision for 5 years, and it is a thankless job that produced more than it's share of headaches.  It was still worth the effort though.

I'm not surprised that you can't get ahold of the developer directly.  That's by design, trust me.  If he hired a property management company, he wants them to field all of the complaints.  If there are problems with jobsite debris being spread outside the property, it might be time to give the building department's office a call.  Happens all the time.

Good luck,

Geno

[68RT4ME]

Your a rabble rouser Troy 

[472 R/T SE]

I think the toughest aspect of a new HA is getting someone to take charge to promote all the benefits of one.  Troy, you sound like just the right person to be a prez or someone in charge, just think, this could be your political spring board. 

I agree completely with Geno on it being by design the lack of communication with the developer.  I couldn't get any attention shortly after we moved here.  I eventually had to burst in the salesladys office w/ my blood boiling while she was with prospective buyers to get any action.  Immature but effective. 

Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[hemi68charger]

Geno and Mike..
You're very insightful............  I was afraid of the distancing... But that's ok, I know how to squeak....  As far as the construction crews go, there are two builders and it's the proverbial finger pointing.....  But, alas, I have a camera and know exactly who's building what on any given lot............. I do plan on being an active member of the board to help maintain the "niceness" of our new subdivision and to make sure my own agenda is heard......  There is a lady who has already spearheaded a residential-style  committee and doing a decent job of it......

Andy, you're still a putz....