Monday, October 26, 2009

Don't Buy a home in the "highlands of branson"

With all due respect! I bet you are so excited to start looking for a first/new home in the Branson Area. Let me tell you about my neighborhood in the Branson Highlands, so you know to turn your car around and speed away from this neighborhood as fast as your car can take you and as far away as a tank of gas can get you!
When I moved in to the Branson Highlands it was peaceful. Everyone minded their own business, kids played in streets, the pool was kept clean...fast forward to today. You have people from the HOA knocking on your door at all hours of the day, leaving notes taped to your door, and erecting ugly boards all over the neighborhood, which will surely be abandoned just like the website created last year.
The problem is that the HOA treats this neighborhood like a private gated community, which it is not. The homes we live in our very inexpensive, average of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, with tiny little yards.
The latest in our neighborhood is that the HOA has been taken over by new owners who wish that the Branson Highlands is something that it is not. Please beware! Don not buy one of the many, many houses for sale in the Branson Highlands. The HOA has arranged for our pets to be taken by animal control who now does sweeps looking for pets that may have gotten out and are found laying in your yard without being chained down. There was even a recent drugging of pets with poison meatballs, and animals found with cigarette burns, I'm not saying that the HOA did this, but it so happens it occurred when the HOA decided to crack down on our pets, one of the many wondrous creations of GOD!
Also, you will get fined or towed if you park you car in the street! Beware, many our the driveways in this neighborhood are too short for 2 cars and not wide enough to parks 2 cars side by side. So if you have kids coming of age to drive or you happen to have more than one vehicle, and you park in the street you will be towed or fined!
In this economy I know that many people have lost jobs, lost medical coverage, lost life saving...don't worry about paying your HOA fees! If you fall behind on your dues the HOA will just put a lien on your home and then foreclose on it. Yep, that's right, the are starting foreclosure on homes with dues that are delinquent. So if it comes down to going to the doctor, buying food for the week, or putting gas in your car the HOA would rather you pay your dues. Who needs medication anyway?
Also, I must warn you of the mowing situation. The amount spent on mowing fees is outrageous. If the money is needed so badly that the HOA foreclosures are needed, why don't not stop the mowing and reduce the HOA fees so more people can pay them? Hire a neighbor to mow or mow your yards yourself. Last month over $5000 were paid to the mowers, who happen to live in the neighborhood. There is many complaints of broken windows and chewed up siding damage. Also I must warn you about the mowers who have been know to look into windows, and who are creepy, creepy men who are very inappropriate when it comes to how they behave around the opposite sex. I have heard several neighbors complain, not just one!
The pool is an added bonus when moving in, but it didn't even open until midway through summer, its always paked and dirty! Who knows what infections you will pick up in there! Did I mention it had dozens of frogs living in it until a week before it opened? GROSS!
Beware! Please I am warning you, do not buy a home in the Branson Highlands! If my house would sell I would be out of here already! With all due respect!

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you 100%. If it wasn't for the hoa this place would be a nice place to live. My daughter's car just got towed today. She works and goes to school full time. Her car is only parked on the street over night while she's home sleeping. I hate these people. Its unfortunate because I really like my neighbors.

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  2. Gosh is it still this bad?? was looking to rent a house in there!

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  3. I would like to respond to your comments as i did serve on the board and I am your neighbor. First the highland dues are 48.00 a month soon to become annual and the only notes on doors are informational only to advise people of what is going on in the neighborhood which is now all mailed. The main objection I see is that the covenants are being informed and people are being made responsible to maintain their property and keep their pets in their own yards.As far as I know there has been no poisoning of pets or otherwise harm. The pool had some issues that needed addressing and is 100% in compliance with state regulations. In the winter time there is a cover on the pool and people allowed their children to use the pool as a trampoline and it was torn ,basketball goal was broken by adults playing basketball with rocks. This has all changed since 2010 and lawn mowing is done at least 2 times a month and the mowers are licensed and bonded so if you can prove they caused damage to your home they have insurance. I would caution you to read the covenants to this HOA and be willing to obey them as they are our laws. I don't always agree with everything the board does but the Highlands is a great area to live in and it is an HOA that is getting better every day because it is being maintained. No brown down cars sitting on the street no trash sitting in the front yard and homes are being maintained according to HOA guidelines

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