Robson Ranch
- Thread starter Tailgate
- Start date
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
Watch out for property taxes at Sun City Georgetown.
DW's brother and his wife (both retired) moved to Georgetown three years ago, buying a house a couple of miles from Sun City. In those three years he tells me housing prices - and more importantly, property taxes - have increased significantly with no slowdown in sight. It seems Williamson County has the highest debt load per taxpayer in the state, and tax rates have nowhere to go but up.
You can check local public debt loads in Texas here: Local Debt Explorer | The Texas Tribune
No knowledge of Robson Ranch.
Edit: For comparison, the ratio of outstanding debt to property tax base for Williamson County is 2.29%. That didn't seem all that bad until I compared it to my county and discovered Williamson county's 2.29% number is 38X higher. Yikes! No wonder my BIL wishes they had bought elsewhere...
DW's brother and his wife (both retired) moved to Georgetown three years ago, buying a house a couple of miles from Sun City. In those three years he tells me housing prices - and more importantly, property taxes - have increased significantly with no slowdown in sight. It seems Williamson County has the highest debt load per taxpayer in the state, and tax rates have nowhere to go but up.
You can check local public debt loads in Texas here: Local Debt Explorer | The Texas Tribune
No knowledge of Robson Ranch.
Edit: For comparison, the ratio of outstanding debt to property tax base for Williamson County is 2.29%. That didn't seem all that bad until I compared it to my county and discovered Williamson county's 2.29% number is 38X higher. Yikes! No wonder my BIL wishes they had bought elsewhere...
Last edited:
Newventurer
Recycles dryer sheets
A number of years ago my wife and I looked at Robson when we were living in Plano and a few years from qualifying for 55 age limit (I think). We liked much about the lifestyle of the community though we are not golfers there was plenty of other things to do. I recall that some of the older housing had fairly sparce landscaping which looked like it was designed to make it easier to mow. We decided there wasn't enough keeping us in the area to make the move.
We liked another area even better, Heritage Ranch in Fairview TX., close to lots of shopping and restaurants and of course golf. Very well maintained community. The houses we looked at were all fairly dated and would have needed updating but the lots were nice.
We settled on NW Arkansas, due to family in the area, low cost of housing and heavily treed lots (unlike TX)
Good luck with whatever you decide.
We liked another area even better, Heritage Ranch in Fairview TX., close to lots of shopping and restaurants and of course golf. Very well maintained community. The houses we looked at were all fairly dated and would have needed updating but the lots were nice.
We settled on NW Arkansas, due to family in the area, low cost of housing and heavily treed lots (unlike TX)
Good luck with whatever you decide.
eytonxav
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
There is natural gas drilling adjacent to Robson Ranch. Also, the complex is somewhat remote and you would most likely have to drive several miles for shopping. I will say that they have several model home configs to choose from and some of their designs may be a bit larger than other 55+ communities if you are looking for more space.
Also, I am not sure if this is still the case, but I knew someone that lived out there several years ago and they had trouble reselling.
Also, I am not sure if this is still the case, but I knew someone that lived out there several years ago and they had trouble reselling.
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
40% higher than where, Robson Ranch?
Turn_the_Page
Recycles dryer sheets
We considered Robson Georgetown for the inlaws, but it's too 'crazy' with I-35 and traffic for them. Plus, they refused to leave Kansas.
We looked at Robson Denton from afar (never visited). In the end, decided against it as we didn't want to have to get in the car and drive into town for everything. As others have posted, it is outside of town aways. I was excited about Denton, mainly because of UNT. You can get season tickets for their sports very reasonably priced.
We looked at Robson Denton from afar (never visited). In the end, decided against it as we didn't want to have to get in the car and drive into town for everything. As others have posted, it is outside of town aways. I was excited about Denton, mainly because of UNT. You can get season tickets for their sports very reasonably priced.
since original post, I've discovered another Del Webb community in Frisco, just north of Dallas....Frisco Lakes. Looks like it is less isolated than Robson and might be a little less congested than SC Georgetown..that area is on growth steroids...
Lisa99
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,440
With growth steroids comes insane traffic. We lived about 2 miles from that Del Webb and there is only one way in and out to go shopping and the road to get in and out on is horrendous for traffic. The taxes there are high as well. Our house was valued at about $300k and our taxes were about $6k/year.
HFWR
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
The whole Frisco/Plano/Allen/McKinney area, and more, are growing like weeds, and, per Texas tradition, they'll eventually build some roads to service all that growth...
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
...per Texas tradition, they'll eventually build some roads to service all that growth...
+1
We live 12 miles outside the outer loop of San Antonio. The first mile of the road from the loop to our house is four lane, then the road becomes two lane. Six miles outside the loop, on the two lane portion of the road, the local school district built an elementary school. Across the highway from the elementary school they are currently constructing a massive high school - 2,000 expected enrollment when it opens next year. Once the HS is open, construction will start on a middle school next door.
Plans to widen the road to four lane from the loop to a mile short of the three schools
was recently announced. Fortunately we have an alternate route into SA which will allow us to bypass what will surely be a traffic nightmare. Unfortunately it will add an additional 7 miles to our drive - each way.
My in-laws live at Robson Ranch near Denton, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. They love it there, but they're not real active since both are in their mid 80s. MIL takes art/painting classes and enjoys that immensely. They also use the library quite a bit. They drive their golf cart to the clubhouse for various activities, performances, and of course the restaurant, which is good but not spectacular.
The grounds are quite nice, but lots of expansion and construction mess last time we were there. It's definitely in a growth spurt after several years of nothing following the recession. Security seems to be pretty tight. Gates are manned until about 9pm and they screen all visitors.
In-laws told me the HOA fees are about $1000 every 6 months and do not include landscape maintenance, which they pay separately. This struck me as high, but I've never paid an HOA fee, and dislike the whole concept. But obviously for a community like this, it's essential, and they seem to do a fairly good job, but very strict.
Shopping is indeed a bit difficult. Closest grocery store is 15-20 minutes away in Denton. There's a small hardware store in Justin, which is fairly close. Robson is technically in Denton but quite a long way outside the city. It's much closer to Argyle, which is growing rapidly, but very few stores there currently. A grocery store chain purchased a piece of land in Argyle near Robson, but said they wouldn't build for a couple more years. So maybe that will get better.
Lots of gas wells in and around the Robson Ranch property, which are reportedly getting closer and closer to housing (or maybe the other way around). Generally, people don't want to live near wells, so that could affect property values in the future. But folks at Robson don't seem to mind too much.
To me, the houses all look the same. But there are a variety of sizes and options. We helped the in-laws pick a house, so we went through all the models and options. The designs are all quite good. Construction seems to be high quality with good attention to detail. Yet it's not crazy expensive. I think they paid a little more than $200K for about 1800 sqft, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with a large office on about 1/4 acre. That was 5 years ago, so pricing may be higher now.
The whole place is very golf centric. The in-laws are happy there, but aside from art classes, they really don't do much. It's probably more suited to a younger retiree who enjoys golf and other activities, like tennis, softball, pickle ball, swimming, exercise classes, hobby clubs, etc.
Denton itself is a very interesting place. Not your typical small Texas town due to the two universities with 50K students combined. I think the non-student population is only 100K, so you get an idea of the mix. Very active music scene. The downtown square and surrounding area has developed into a unique destination to shop, eat, drink, hangout, listen to bands, eat ice cream, picnic on the courthouse lawn, whatever. Lots of quirky shops, restaurants, music venues, microbreweries, etc. There's now a train that links up with DART as well.
That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope that helps.
The grounds are quite nice, but lots of expansion and construction mess last time we were there. It's definitely in a growth spurt after several years of nothing following the recession. Security seems to be pretty tight. Gates are manned until about 9pm and they screen all visitors.
In-laws told me the HOA fees are about $1000 every 6 months and do not include landscape maintenance, which they pay separately. This struck me as high, but I've never paid an HOA fee, and dislike the whole concept. But obviously for a community like this, it's essential, and they seem to do a fairly good job, but very strict.
Shopping is indeed a bit difficult. Closest grocery store is 15-20 minutes away in Denton. There's a small hardware store in Justin, which is fairly close. Robson is technically in Denton but quite a long way outside the city. It's much closer to Argyle, which is growing rapidly, but very few stores there currently. A grocery store chain purchased a piece of land in Argyle near Robson, but said they wouldn't build for a couple more years. So maybe that will get better.
Lots of gas wells in and around the Robson Ranch property, which are reportedly getting closer and closer to housing (or maybe the other way around). Generally, people don't want to live near wells, so that could affect property values in the future. But folks at Robson don't seem to mind too much.
To me, the houses all look the same. But there are a variety of sizes and options. We helped the in-laws pick a house, so we went through all the models and options. The designs are all quite good. Construction seems to be high quality with good attention to detail. Yet it's not crazy expensive. I think they paid a little more than $200K for about 1800 sqft, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with a large office on about 1/4 acre. That was 5 years ago, so pricing may be higher now.
The whole place is very golf centric. The in-laws are happy there, but aside from art classes, they really don't do much. It's probably more suited to a younger retiree who enjoys golf and other activities, like tennis, softball, pickle ball, swimming, exercise classes, hobby clubs, etc.
Denton itself is a very interesting place. Not your typical small Texas town due to the two universities with 50K students combined. I think the non-student population is only 100K, so you get an idea of the mix. Very active music scene. The downtown square and surrounding area has developed into a unique destination to shop, eat, drink, hangout, listen to bands, eat ice cream, picnic on the courthouse lawn, whatever. Lots of quirky shops, restaurants, music venues, microbreweries, etc. There's now a train that links up with DART as well.
That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope that helps.
HFWR
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Not sure about west of Denton. but Hwy 380 from Denton to McKinney is a freakin' nightmare. And I-35, the north/south artery through Denton, is infamous for congestion and danger...
yes... very helpful.. Thanks
Texan here thanks for the in sight .... Not retired YET. Live in sugar land west side of Houston. Have thought about hill country retiring but I am having second thoughts Kinda like my nh sienna great golf courses here
Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
Wise to reconsider. Not much sienna in these parts, especially the nh variety.
meierlde
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
It depends on where If you were to look at LLano or Junction it will be a while till they develop. (Neither yet has a Wal-Mart) It very much depends on how far you want to be from the I-35 corridor.
I can tell you the wind really blows hard at Robson Ranch. My son played high school golf in North Texas and played there at lot. It always seemed like the wind blew 10-15 miles an hour more there than the rest of North Texas. Maybe they should put in wind turbines.
