“What you will find in Eastern Parker County is typically more square footage for your money, great schools and a more rural lifestyle than the bigger cities to the east. You can find homes on city water and sewer, or septic and well, or any combination of these. You can find homes on small lots or homes on several acres. There are a significant number of new homes being built and land being developed into new communities, meeting the demand more closely than that in other areas. That coupled with the location and commute times has kept the prices lower than many residential properties within Loop 820.” We wrote this paragraph a few years ago! While much of it is still true, times have changed a bit since then, especially in regards to prices and finding a home!
Current prices as of March 2022 have Parker County median prices at $85,000 more than Tarrant County! Now, the average size and age have a lot to do with this number as well, but as the lack of inventory and increased work-from-home opportunities has pushed some buyers to move further from the big city, the price of land and homes alike has increased dramatically. There were more than 5 times as many homes listed in Tarrant over Parker County; there is a lot more to choose from to the east.
There are some cities, like the Annettas that have no ad valorem taxes and there are many properties located in unincorporated Parker County, but may be in the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of one of the various municipalities and may be annexed in the future. If 50 percent plus 1 of your neighbors want to be annexed, you could be too. Having no additional city taxes on your property has some definite appeal, but may not always be guaranteed to last!
There are positives and negatives to consider when buying a rural property. Is your property in an HOA? What are the responsibilities of the HOA, how much does it cost and will the HOA be able to meet its duties in the long run? Many rural HOAs are responsible for the roads in the subdivision, and roads can be a very expensive item for an HOA to maintain, especially if they were not of great quality to begin with. What are the HOA rules and regulations? Check carefully to make sure what you would like to do with your property does not violate any of these rules.
When looking at a property that adjoins undeveloped ranch or farm land you need to ask what that may be developed into. Is it within city limits and therefore must conform to city zoning and development guidelines, or is it unincorporated with no deed restrictions and could be developed into anything? There are often deed restrictions, but sometimes even these can be removed, and enforcing them may prove to be expensive and time consuming as well. You may love the view now, but if you don’t own all that you see, all that you see may change!
The pace of change will be closely tied to the economy; we saw very little building and development during the “great recession”, but now we see it at an almost unprecedented pace. With unchecked development and no planning for areas not in a city (or even in a city with poor planning), we can see the natural landscape quickly swallowed up. Poorly planned subdivisions may sell now because of pent up demand, but the homes in them may not appreciate like other areas, and in an economic downturn may actually depreciate more quickly and have more foreclosures as owners get upside down. Now we once again see quite a bit of building, but much of it is very high priced and out of reach for many.
As always, when making one of, if not THE biggest purchase of your life, carefully consider what the future may bring to the area and which areas may be best situated in the long term. What we’ve written about here considers just some of the many questions and issues regarding purchase of real estate. Of course, we always recommend obtaining the services of an experienced REALTOR® that knows the area and can advise you on many of these issues.
