Buying in a Houston Master-Planned Community? The HOA Fee Isn’t the Whole Story

What a dispute over a proposed $75 monthly internet charge in The Woodlands Hills can teach Houston-area buyers about HOA costs, governing documents and who is making the decisions.

There is a number I look for when I’m researching a Houston-area community for a buyer.

Actually, there are several.

The property tax rate. The MUD rate. The HOA assessment. Insurance. Commute costs. The things that eventually turn a purchase price into the number that matters more: what it costs to live there every month.

But a dispute unfolding in The Woodlands Hills, a master-planned community in the Willis/Conroe area, is a good reminder that even the HOA number doesn’t necessarily tell you the whole story.

The Woodlands Hills currently publishes an annual HOA fee of $1,005, which includes access to community amenities. The community’s own 2026 tax comparison also lists that same $1,005 annual HOA figure.

Then homeowners learned about something new.

KPRC 2 reported September 15 that residents are pushing back against a community-wide internet arrangement involving Howard Hughes Communities and Centric Fiber that is expected to eventually add $75 per month to HOA assessments. According to KPRC, the proposal was presented to the HOA board August 5, formally adopted September 1, and announced to residents September 3. Service is expected to be free as it becomes available through the end of 2026.

That’s the news.

For someone moving to Houston, though, I think there’s a bigger lesson here.

The HOA fee you’re quoted when you’re shopping for a house is a snapshot. It isn’t necessarily a guarantee of what you’ll pay for as long as you own the house.

And that is something worth understanding before you fall in love with the model home.

[HRG LINK: The Houston Relo Guide’s Complete Guide to HOAs in Texas]

First, let’s do the math

Seventy-five dollars a month may not sound enormous next to a mortgage payment.

Annualize it.

$75 × 12 = $900 per year.

The Woodlands Hills currently publishes an annual HOA fee of $1,005. If a homeowner were paying that same $1,005 base amount plus a full year of an additional $75 monthly assessment, the combined annual outlay would be $1,905.

That’s $900 more than the currently advertised annual HOA fee—an increase of roughly 89.6% in that combined HOA-related outlay.

That calculation is mine. It is not a statement that The Woodlands Hills’ official 2027 HOA assessment has been set at $1,905.

We don’t have documentation establishing that.

The existing assessment could change independently, the timing of the internet charge matters, and future association budgets matter. What we can verify is that The Woodlands Hills currently publishes a $1,005 annual HOA fee and KPRC reports that the internet arrangement is expected eventually to add $75 per month to HOA assessments.

That distinction matters.

It also illustrates why I don’t like looking at housing costs one line at a time.

A $75 increase here, a higher MUD rate there, a change in insurance somewhere else—they all eventually land in the same household budget.

This isn’t really an article about internet

Centric Fiber is the reason we’re talking about this today, but whether $75 is a good price for internet isn’t the most useful question for someone considering a Houston move.

The more useful questions are:

What am I required to pay for as a member of this association?

What authority does the association have to add or change assessments?

Can services be bundled through the association?

Who currently controls the board?

What do the governing documents actually say?

And perhaps most importantly:

Did I read those documents before I bought the house?

That’s where this story gets much bigger than one community north of Houston.

The HOA assessment can change

Texas actually puts this warning in statutory notice language.

The Texas Property Code notice concerning mandatory membership in a property owners’ association tells purchasers that they are obligated to pay assessments and explicitly says:

“The amount of the assessments is subject to change.”

The same statutory notice points owners toward governing documents and the resale certificate for additional information about the association.

That doesn’t mean an HOA has unlimited authority to charge whatever it wants whenever it wants.

Its powers depend on applicable law and its governing documents, and different communities can have very different documents.

That’s precisely why the number on the listing isn’t enough.

[HRG LINK: Can Your Texas HOA Raise Its Dues? Understanding Regular and Special Assessments]

Now let’s talk about developer control

This is particularly relevant in Greater Houston because so many families relocating here consider newer master-planned communities.

A community can look established—homes occupied, amenities open, kids riding bikes, landscaping grown in—and still be within what Texas law calls a period of declarant control.

Under the current Texas Property Code, a community’s declaration may provide for such a period, during which the declarant or its designees may appoint and remove board members, except for board members or officers elected by association members.

Texas law also establishes a threshold for homeowner representation.

Under Section 209.00591, no later than 120 days after 75% of the lots that may be created and made subject to the declaration have been conveyed to owners other than the declarant or qualifying builders, at least one-third of the board must be elected by owners other than the declarant. If the declaration does not include the number of lots that may ultimately be created and subjected to it, the statute provides a separate 10-year provision for at least one-third owner-elected representation.

Notice what that doesn’t say.

It doesn’t simply say:

“When 75% of the houses you can currently see are sold, homeowners take over the HOA.”

That’s an important distinction in a master-planned community that may continue developing in phases for years.

And even the statutory threshold we’re discussing concerns at least one-third homeowner-elected representation, not necessarily complete homeowner control.

[HRG LINK: Developer-Controlled HOAs in Houston: What Buyers Should Know]

What we know—and don’t know—about The Woodlands Hills dispute

This is where I want to be especially careful.

KPRC reports that homeowners are questioning why they should have to pay for internet service they say they did not choose.

There is also a homeowner-organized petition asking the association to pause implementation, provide the complete Centric agreement and related records, and clarify the authority for the charge. As of the source capture used for this article, the petition displayed 943 verified signatures. The petition says the homeowners are not necessarily opposed to better internet infrastructure; their stated objections concern the mandatory nature of the expense, homeowner choice and the process surrounding the decision.

Those are homeowners’ allegations and requests.

Their existence does not establish that the board acted unlawfully, that the contract is invalid, or that residents legally must be offered an opt-out.

I have not located a publicly indexed copy of the executed Centric agreement sufficient to independently determine those questions.

So I’m not going to pretend I have.

That’s important because there’s a difference between:

“Residents say the board didn’t have the authority to do this.”

and

“The board didn’t have the authority to do this.”

The first describes a dispute.

The second is a legal conclusion.

This article is reporting the first—not claiming the second.

The community’s own information makes the buyer lesson even more interesting

As of this writing, The Woodlands Hills’ public FAQ lists the HOA fee as $1,005 annually, including access to amenities.

It also currently lists Optimum and Fidium as its phone, internet and cable providers.

Again, that doesn’t establish what future service arrangements will ultimately look like.

It does show why buyers need to understand that the information they see while shopping reflects conditions at that moment.

Communities evolve.

Budgets evolve.

Assessments can change.

Contracts change.

And in a community that’s still being developed, governance itself can evolve.

The document I want Houston buyers to know about

Here’s where this becomes practical.

Texas Property Code Chapter 207 provides for something called a resale certificate for applicable subdivisions with property owners’ associations.

Under Section 207.003, an owner or owner’s agent—and, subject to statutory requirements, a purchaser or purchaser’s agent—can request subdivision information. The association generally must deliver a current copy of applicable restrictions, current bylaws and rules, and a qualifying resale certificate within the statutory timeframe after receiving the request and required evidence.

And this isn’t just another stack of paperwork.

Texas law requires the resale certificate to contain information including the frequency and amount of regular assessments and the amount and purpose of an approved special assessment that will become due after the certificate is delivered.

It also includes approved capital expenditures for the current fiscal year, capital reserves, and the association’s current operating budget and balance sheet, among other required information.

That’s information I want a buyer to understand.

Not because every HOA is hiding something.

Because you’re buying into more than the house.

What I would ask before buying in a Houston HOA community

This is not a checklist for deciding that an HOA is good or bad. Some buyers specifically want the amenities, maintenance standards and community programming that associations can help support.

The goal is simply to know what you’re agreeing to.

Before buying, I would want answers to questions like:

• What are the current regular assessments, and how frequently are they charged?
• What does the current assessment actually cover?
• Are there other mandatory assessments, fees or services?
• Are any special assessments already approved?
• Have regular assessments changed recently?
• What do the declaration and other governing documents say about increasing assessments or entering into community-wide service arrangements?
• Is the association still within a declarant/developer-control period?
• How are board seats currently selected?
• What does the current operating budget look like?
• What reserves does the association report for capital expenditures?
• Are significant capital expenditures already approved?
• What does the resale certificate disclose?
• Are there rules, restrictions or recurring costs that would materially change how your family intends to use the property?

And I’d actually read the answers.

Not after closing.

Before.

[HRG LINK: The Houston Homebuyer Document Checklist — What to Read Before Closing]

The model home can’t tell you this

This is one of the reasons I talk so much about understanding a community before choosing the house.

A model home can show you the kitchen.

The amenity center can show you the pool.

The community map can show you where future sections are planned.

None of those things, by themselves, tell you how the association is governed, what authority exists in the recorded documents, what the budget looks like or what your recurring obligations could become.

Those aren’t particularly glamorous questions.

They can also matter hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.

My banking background probably makes me more interested in this part than the average person. But when you’re relocating and comparing two communities with similar houses, I don’t think the conversation should end with:

Community A has a $1,005 HOA.

I want to know:

$1,005 for what?

Controlled by whom?

Under what documents?

What else can be assessed?

And what could reasonably change while you own the house?

That’s a very different conversation.

This doesn’t make The Woodlands Hills a “don’t buy”

I want this point unmistakably clear.

This article is not a recommendation for or against buying in The Woodlands Hills.

The community offers amenities that may be valuable to many families, and its currently published $1,005 annual HOA fee includes access to those amenities.

The internet dispute is useful to us because it exposes a part of homeownership that is easy to ignore while house hunting.

Someone may look at all of this and decide:

I understand the documents, I value what the community provides, and I’m comfortable with the governance and costs.

Great.

Someone else may decide that having more control over recurring services is important enough to affect where they buy.

Also great.

The objective isn’t to make the decision for you. It’s to make sure you know there is a decision to make.

Before the house, understand the community

If you’re relocating to Houston, you’re going to see some spectacular model homes.

Enjoy them.

Just don’t let the kitchen distract you from the paperwork.

Because the house you’re buying sits inside a tax structure, a school boundary, an insurance market, sometimes a MUD—and, in many communities, a property owners’ association with governing documents that will still matter long after the builder incentives expire.

The $1,005 HOA number matters.

So does everything behind it.

[HRG LINK: Complete Guide to Houston-Area HOAs]

[HRG LINK: Understanding MUD Taxes in Greater Houston]

Relo Connect / Work With Crystal

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Sources & reporting notes

KPRC 2 / Click2Houston — Sept. 15, 2026: reporting on The Woodlands Hills homeowner dispute, $75 monthly amount, Howard Hughes Communities/Centric Fiber arrangement, Aug. 5 presentation, Sept. 1 adoption and introductory free-service period.
Read KPRC 2’s original report

The Woodlands Hills official FAQ: current published $1,005 annual HOA fee, amenities inclusion and currently listed internet/cable providers.
The Woodlands Hills FAQ

The Woodlands Hills 2026 Tax Comparison: independently confirms that the community itself publishes a $1,005/year HOA figure for both its Conroe and Willis entries.

Texas Property Code, Chapter 207: official Texas statute governing disclosure of information by property owners’ associations, including resale certificates and required disclosures.
Texas Property Code Chapter 207

Texas Property Code, Chapter 209: official Texas statute covering residential property owners’ associations, including declarant control, board representation and association governance.
Texas Property Code Chapter 209

Texas Property Code §5.012: statutory notice language telling purchasers that HOA assessments are subject to change and directing them toward governing documents/resale-certificate information.
Texas Property Code Chapter 5

Texas HOA Management Certificate database: confirms The Woodlands Hills Residential Community, Inc. appears in the state’s management-certificate system for Montgomery County/Willis. The state’s site itself cautions that its database relies on submitted information and does not guarantee completeness or validity.

Homeowner petition: used only to characterize homeowner objections, requests and petition participation—not as authority for the legality or terms of the underlying agreement.