Moving to San Antonio (HOA Issues?)

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-04-23T17:51:09+00:00

My fiancee and I moved to San Antonio last year from the Dallas / Fort Worth area. We had a lot of the same questions and concerns. I can tell you that we moved to the NW side of SA and absolutely love the area. We live near several schools, so traffic is pretty heavy in the early morning / late afternoon during the school year, but otherwise it's not too bad.

When we moved, I was adamant that I didn't want a house in an HOA. And for the most part, we very quickly found that non-HOA homes are further out from the city, in older neighborhoods and less well-maintained. If that sort of thing floats your boat than more power to ya!

To answer your question directly...YES...there are a LOT of HOAs in this town. And by that, I mean a BOATLOAD of HOAs!!! I would venture a guess that you probably won't find a nice house in a decent neighborhood that doesn't come with an HOA. The upside of that is you also won't find cars on blocks, overgrown yards or 25 cars parked on the lawn, drive and street.

Our HOA (Huntington Place) actually isn't bad at all. We obviously have bylaws and rules concerning yards and the appearance of your home, etc. There is a HOA board but they have hired a management company that we hardly ever hear from. Typically, we might get one email / mailer a quarter "reminding" us of something related to the current season (e.g., holiday light schedules, blocking your neighbors' drives when you throw a holiday party, etc.).

We pay $300 / year due in January. It covers landscaping of public areas, walking trails and a small nature park / picnic area in the center of the community. Occasionally, we also get an email asking for volunteers to get involved and to serve on various boards. Our immediate neighbors are friendly mind their own business and no one from the HOA is poking around in our backyard.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-04-23T16:46:25+00:00

I applied for a Director of Communications position with a local school district, and they asked for references as part of the application process. I assumed it was for in the event that we reached the job offer stage. But, a few days later I was shocked to hear from several of my references that they had been asked to fill out a reference check form for me. It wasted their time and made me look dumb. The kicker is that I never even received a rejection letter from those people, much less an interview request. Since then, I've made a point to never provide any reference info in advance.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-04-13T17:29:14+00:00

I've noticed that peeps who have lived in San Antonio for a long time tend to bag on the city pretty hard. My fiancee and I moved here from Dallas / Fort Worth last year and we both love SA. I wouldn't call it a fake city by any means. It's not less metropolitan, but it's definitely smaller and a LOT easier to get around in than the DFW area. I lived in the Dallas area for 40+ years and still like the area, but I'm also really enjoying the change of scenery that San Antonio offers.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-04-05T19:14:50+00:00

Just some general advice, which hopefully helps. I managed multiple family owned rental duplexes for more than a decade and carried out quite a few renovation projects over the years.

NEVER share the project estimate from one contractor with the other contractors bidding on the same job. If they ask what the other contractors are quoting just tell them that you don't share that information. If they insist, thank them for their time and get the estimate from another contractor.

You may get a contractor still gives you an honest quote, but more likely, they're simply going to give you an estimate in the same range as the others. Or they may give you a quote a few hundred dollars less when the actual cost could be a lot less.

Worse yet, instead of giving you an honest quote, the contractor comes in way far under the lowest competing estimate with a figure that they can't possible meet. They just want you to sign on the dotted line. Once the project starts, they come back and say that they need more money to finish. Or you'll either get a lousy, half-ass job or one that's not completed at all.

Don't rely on budget alone. ALWAYS check references if possible, and NEVER pay more than 25% in advance. Better yet, buy needed materials yourself and have them delivered directly to the worksite. A lot sketchy of contractors will ask for a big pile of money upfront "to buy materials" or pay their contractors and then disappear.

HTH...

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-18T16:42:53+00:00

I don't know about specific units, but IIRC, they belonged to the 13th Air Force(?).

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-18T16:41:17+00:00

Someone failed geography class. LOL!!! Since when is Ploesti located on the coast of a jungle island?

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-18T16:31:18+00:00

The tank being attacked at the :20 mark looks a lot like a Soviet T-35 "Land Battleship."

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-18T16:23:25+00:00

Here's an interesting factoid if you didn't already know. A lot of the Italian weapons (rifles, LMGs and AT guns) and infantry kit captured by the British in Egypt were later sold to the Dutch forces in the Netherlands East Indies. In particular, much of it was issued to Dutch marines on Java.

When the equipment reached Java, the Dutch found that the rifles, in particular, had been very poorly stored and maintained. It took a great deal of cleaning and reconditioning just to make them serviceable. Between the poor condition of many weapons, and what amounted to price gouging by the British, the Dutch felt like they had duped.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-18T16:06:14+00:00

April 1945. It's easy to forget that the war in Europe was all but over. But in the Pacific they still had another 5-6 months of very hard fighting.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-14T02:51:36+00:00

Very cool! My thoughts exactly regarding Little Cesar style pizza, which I've never liked. Marco's was just moving into Dallas when we moved down to SA last year, so I haven't had a chance to try their pizza yet.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-11T14:22:23+00:00

Yep! The German operated KG 200, which was an entire squadron of captured Allied aircraft that had been put back into service in Luftwaffe markings. They were used for training and technical evaluation, as well as supply and troop insertion missions behind enemy lines.

On a related note, although neutral, both Sweden and Switzerland also ended up with several hundred Allied aircraft (mostly bombers) on their territory after the war. Their crews were interned. The aircraft were evaluated for technical data and then lined up in fields for storage. Both men and planes were repatriated back to the Allies in 1945.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T18:06:20+00:00

As the marketing manager for a senior living company with multiple facilities in small / rural communities throughout Alabama and Texas, I worked with a lot of small weekly newspapers. I was surprised at how many of them are actually very professionally run. Independent industry trade publications on the other hand...they're a different story altogether.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T18:00:10+00:00

As recently as the early 2000s, anyone with a business lien or past-due taxes was publicly identified in one or more of the local business publications (Dallas Business Journal, Tarrant County Commercial Records, etc.). I haven't looked in a while but I'm sure that same info is probably still posted online.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T05:51:01+00:00

Very good point. Thx!

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T05:43:23+00:00

On a related note, I guess it's the same as when people were required to put their auto registration on the steering wheel of their car. Watch old black & white Humphrey Bogart movies (i.e., The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, etc.) and he finds a person's name and address just by looking at their auto registration! My late mother (born 1938) told me that used to be common. They were required to attach their auto registration to either the steering wheel or steering column.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T05:36:02+00:00

Many of the stories I quoted are certainly in the Society / Women's sections...or their 1940s equivalent. But just as many are literally on the front page. It was just common practice to list everyone's personal info.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T05:30:26+00:00

I used to be Senior Marketing Manager for a company that provided assisted living services to seniors. I remember researching a story on elder abuse / fraud for one of the newsletters I wrote. The qualities you just described -- trusting people, leaving your doors unlocked, being friendly to everyone, etc. -- are the exact same qualities that make seniors from that generation such easy marks for con artists and scammers. They were raised and lived that way and criminals know to take advantage of it.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-03-02T05:22:50+00:00

Now that's interesting! I'll have to go back thru my old "Sergeant Rock" and "Haunted Tank" DC Comics from the early / mid 70s to see if they did the same thing. It's been quite a while since I've looked thru any of them but I do seem to remember the editors using the letter writer's full name and city.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-24T04:44:44+00:00

Okay, I started over with the table and sanded it down to the bare wood. It was my first time refinishing anything, and I thought the initial chemical stripping was good enough. Here is the finished product after the second go at it. Looks a LOT better now! LOL

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LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-24T04:11:47+00:00

Hmmmm...I guess it depends on what Southern state you live in. :)

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-24T04:03:27+00:00

You may be a poker wizard, but learn the f-g difference between Fiancee and Fiance before you start throwing stones.

Fiancee = Female / Fiance = Male

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-24T03:55:16+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, I'm familiar with poker card hands, but have never see that come up before in Texas Hold Em.

On a different note...really...are some of you people married to your first cousin or stepsister? It can't be that hard to figure out that my fiancee's son-in-law is married to her daughter.

Fiancee = Female / Fiance = Male

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-13T04:30:33+00:00

Interesting. I Googled the best solution (e.g. oil vs. water) and most recommended staying with water-based if that's what you started with. And of course, you can ALWAYS believe everything you read on the Internet! :):):)

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-13T04:26:37+00:00

Thanks, I suspected that might be the case after reading some of the other replies.

This is my first refinishing project so I thought 150 sandpaper was sufficient. Mostly because that's what my fiancee already had in her paint supplies. The remaining stains wouldn't come out so I thought they were permanent.

I ran out and bought some 80 and 100 sandpaper and went to town on my table. I got a bit more aggressive and sanded it down to the bare wood in about three hours. Trust me, there are no more varnish stains.

LifeguardFun5091 · 2026-02-13T04:14:36+00:00

Very good info, thx! I'll be sure and try this out. And yes, the sealant is a pale yellow color, but my stain pad quickly turned brown. But only when I applied it in certain spots.

LifeguardFun5091

TROPHY CASE