Dear Willow Park Greens neighbors,
Since being elected to the Willow Park Greens HOA Board there has been a rise in the number of rental units within the community. This has been discussed during several HOA meetings since March 2022 with a view toward trying to limit the total number of rentals. There are a total of 149 homes within the WPG Community. Texas State law does not prohibit an HOA from placing a limit on the number of rental units and with the aid of the Sterling Management Company legal consultants, a document has been drafted for consideration (CLICK HERE for a summary).
There are several reasons limiting the number of rental units is beneficial to the Community, and please feel free to do your own research, but some of those reasons are:
- At the end of the day, a renter does not own the property and will generally not look after it as a homeowner would
- There is a “tipping point” in a community when too many rental units reduce the property values for the actual homeowners in the community & bear in-mind, WPG only has 149 homes
- The primary purpose of being willing to submit to an HOA is to keep property values as high as possible – too many rental units can undercut this purpose
- Too many rental units can increase the cost of Liability insurance rates the HOA will pay
- Home ownership fosters neighborhood stability & controls frequent resident turnover
- Renters often do not follow the HOA rules resulting in violations lodged against an often absentee owner
- Lenders become reluctant to lend for home purchases if the community is saturated with rentals
- Limiting the number of rentals serves to protect the integrity of the community, maintain the community standards & keep property values high
There are approximately 21 rental units in the community at this time and the proposed change would limit the total number to 15% (23 units). Per the governing HOA documents and Texas State law, at least 67% of the eligible voters (100 owners) must cast a vote and it also takes 67% (100) “YES” votes for it to be passed. Information for the voting procedure will be forthcoming but given the small number of homes in the Willow Park Greens Community, if the rental “tipping point” is reached, it might be a point of no return and the Willow Park Greens Community could become a transient community in the future with the number of rental units being more than homeowners. Please consider the stakes involved and keep what is best for the community in mind.
Sincerely,
Charles W. Bush, Traci Bortz, Carolyn Foley
Willow Park Greens HOA