No MUD in Houston area?

[cfc]

Does anyone know if there are areas in Ft. Bend County with no MUDs? I've been looking around for a bigger house, but taxes are what's stopping us, and MUDs are a big chunk! I thought they were supposed to dissapear after infrastructure is paid for. :SM045: Any ideas would be appreciated!

Joe

[dealmaker]

I would think that some of the "city limits" places like Missouri City wouldn't. It's not the fact that it is a MUD, it's the (mis)management generally.

There are three things that affect the tax rate

Total cost of the infrastructure

Prevailing (borrowing) bond rates at the time of the initial issue

Number of properties among which the cost is divided.

You can't affect the first or third, unfortunately the second should drop with borrowing rates BUT the bonds are usually held by insiders, who make up the board and they're not going to vote to REDUCE their income.

Have a Realtor check the tax rate for any subdivisions in which you have interest. I can't speak for that area but I lived in the Bear Creek/Copperfield area for most of my 25 years in Houston and within about 10 subdivisions there the rate varied from $0.42 in Deerfield to about $1.70 (close to the state maximum) in Chimney Hill. That $1.30/$100 can make a huge difference in your annual tax hit.

dealmaker

[cfc]

In looking around, it seems like new subdivisions almost always have MUDs. Thanks for the tip about looking at different subdivisions that may be close together. I thought it was a city or location specific thing, but I guess I didn't really understand what a MUD tax is for in the first place.

Joe