Austin-Area Master-Planned Communities: A Buyer's Guide

Master-planned communities come up in almost every search my Austin-area clients run, and for good reason — they bundle a lot of decisions into one package instead of making you piece them together lot by lot: schools, amenities, HOA structure, builder mix, even the tax district you're buying into. I've already written detailed breakdowns of the two communities I get asked about most, Avery Ranch and Crystal Falls. This guide covers five more that come up constantly but hadn't gotten the same treatment yet: Easton Park, Goodnight Ranch, Belterra, Headwaters, and Tahitian Village. What actually separates a "master-planned community" from an ordinary subdivision comes down to coordinated infrastructure and amenities planned in from the start, not bolted on later: one developer (or a small group) lays out the roads, parks, school sites, and HOA structure as a single long-range plan instead of each builder handling its own patch independently. That's why these communities tend to have more consistent amenities and a more predictable HOA structure than a random mix of subdivisions in the same zip code — and also why the HOA fee and tax situation varies so much between them, since each one negotiated its own infrastructure financing when it was built.

TL;DR

• Easton Park and Goodnight Ranch both sit inside southeast Austin and trade a bit more density for proximity to downtown and the airport.
• Belterra and Headwaters both zone to Dripping Springs ISD but differ sharply in HOA cost and how established the amenities are.
• Tahitian Village, out in Bastrop, is the real outlier — no traditional HOA dues, a golf course inside the neighborhood, and a much more wooded, low-density feel.
• Monthly HOA-equivalent costs across these five range from effectively nothing (Tahitian Village's road-maintenance fee) to about $150 (Headwaters).
• If you've already looked at Avery Ranch or Crystal Falls, these five give you a useful comparison set at different price points and commute distances.

Easton Park (Southeast Austin)

Easton Park is a 2,300-acre community about 12 miles from downtown Austin that opened in December 2018, according to NewHomeSource's community profile. Floor plans run from roughly 1,410 to just under 3,000 square feet. The Cottages and Bungalows sections start in the mid-$300s, and the Signature Series moves up into the $500s and beyond. The centerpiece amenity is The Union, a 14,000-square-foot clubhouse with a resort-style pool, a club-style fitness center, and event space, set among more than 350 acres of parks and 13 miles of trails, per the community's own FAQ page.

Schools zone to Del Valle ISD, with an on-site elementary school serving PK through 5th grade. One thing worth knowing before the amenities sell you: Easton Park sits inside a Municipal Utility District layered on top of Travis County taxes, which pushes the effective property tax rate to roughly 2.2% — noticeably higher than a lot of comparably priced homes outside a MUD. Get the actual tax rate on a specific address before comparing it to a non-MUD alternative.

Goodnight Ranch (Southeast Austin)

Goodnight Ranch sits on roughly 700 acres off East Slaughter Lane, about eight miles from downtown and minutes from the airport, built on land that was once part of the Goodnight family's ranching operation, per the community's official site. It zones to Austin ISD (Blazier Elementary, Mendez Middle, Akins High), and its HOA runs noticeably lighter than Easton Park's, around $40 a month. Amenities lean toward trails, parks, playgrounds, and splash pads, plus a community pool, with a Town Center of shops and restaurants still being built out.

If Easton Park's MUD tax rate gives you pause, Goodnight Ranch is worth a direct look: similar southeast-Austin location and airport proximity, lower HOA, and less of that tax overlay as of this writing. The tradeoff is a smaller, still-developing amenity package compared to Easton Park's already-finished Union clubhouse.

Belterra (Dripping Springs)

Belterra is a 1,600-acre community in the 78737 zip code that was named 2015's Master-Planned Community of the Year, and the age shows in a good way — the amenities are mature, not still under construction, according to HAR's community profile. There's a resort-style pool complex with a separate lap pool and kiddie pool, a recreation center with a full gym and basketball court, and a dedicated 8.71-acre park called The Retreat at San Saba with a splash pad and event lawn. HOA dues run about $130 a quarter, roughly $43 a month.

Schools zone to Dripping Springs ISD: Rooster Springs Elementary (built specifically to serve Belterra, opened in 2010), Dripping Springs Middle, and Dripping Springs High, all rated well on GreatSchools. If you want Dripping Springs ISD zoning with amenities that are already fully built out rather than still coming online, Belterra is the more established of the two Dripping Springs communities on this list.

Headwaters (Dripping Springs)

Headwaters sits about 25 minutes west of Austin and also zones to Dripping Springs ISD, but it's a newer, larger-footprint community — more than 1,000 acres of open space, including preserved natural habitat and dedicated trail systems, per Headwaters' official site. The amenity center includes a split-level, noise-controlled pool and a full fitness facility, and HW Central functions as an ongoing events and recreation hub. HOA dues run higher here, about $150 a month, which reflects the newer, more heavily amenitized build-out.

Headwaters and Belterra get compared constantly, and the honest answer is that it comes down to what you're paying the higher HOA for: Belterra's amenities are finished and proven, while Headwaters is putting more per month into a program that's still expanding. Both land you in the same well-regarded school district, so the choice mostly comes down to budget and how much you value amenities that already exist versus ones still being built.

Tahitian Village (Bastrop)

Tahitian Village is the one community on this list outside my usual seven-suburb service area, but it comes up often enough in searches that skipping it would leave a real gap. It's a deed-restricted, architecturally controlled community in Bastrop with a genuinely different structure: no traditional monthly HOA dues at all. Instead, water and road maintenance run through Bastrop County WCID #2, which charges a road-maintenance fee rather than an HOA assessment, per TexasAlly's HOA directory listing.

What you get instead of resort-style amenities is space and character: mature pine forest, rolling topography, Pine Forest Golf Club inside the neighborhood, and access to the Colorado River for kayaking and fishing. If you want acreage, privacy, and a golf course without an HOA dictating what color you paint your fence, and you're comfortable with a longer commute into Austin, it's worth a look. If what you actually want is a resort-style pool and clubhouse, this isn't that community.

Already Covered in Depth: Avery Ranch and Crystal Falls

If none of these five quite match what you're picturing, I've already written detailed breakdowns of two communities I get asked about even more often than these. Avery Ranch's amenities (five pools, 16 miles of trails, and the schools that feed it) and its golf club and Cedar Park location are both covered on their own, and Crystal Falls has its own amenities and neighborhood breakdown along with a direct comparison against Travisso if you're weighing it against another Leander luxury option.

How to Actually Compare These

Price bands and amenity lists only tell you so much — the number that actually moves month to month is what's selling right now, not a static list price. My live market snapshot pulls current sold data by area. Search whichever suburb you're weighing (try "Dripping Springs, TX" for Belterra and Headwaters, or "Bastrop, TX" for Tahitian Village) and you'll get real recent sale activity instead of guessing from a listing photo.

Price and HOA at a Glance

• Easton Park: entry prices in the mid-$300s, HOA roughly $50 to $150 a month depending on section, plus a MUD tax overlay pushing the effective property tax rate to about 2.2%.
• Goodnight Ranch: HOA around $40 a month, no MUD overlay identified in this research, still-developing amenity package.
• Belterra: HOA about $130 a quarter, roughly $43 a month, fully built-out amenities.
• Headwaters: HOA about $150 a month, a newer and still-expanding amenity program.
• Tahitian Village: no traditional HOA due, a road-maintenance fee through the local water control district instead.

None of these numbers are guaranteed on any specific listing — HOA dues and tax rates can vary by section within the same community, so confirm the actual figures on a home you're seriously considering rather than relying on a community-wide average.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of these has the lowest HOA?
Tahitian Village, by a wide margin, since it doesn't charge a traditional HOA due at all, just a road-maintenance fee through the local water control district. Among the four with a standard HOA, Goodnight Ranch is lowest at around $40 a month.

Which is closest to downtown Austin?
Goodnight Ranch, at about eight miles, followed closely by Easton Park at roughly 12 miles. Belterra, Headwaters, and Tahitian Village are all a meaningfully longer drive.

Do any of these carry MUD taxes I should know about?
Easton Park does — its MUD overlay pushes the effective property tax rate to roughly 2.2%. Always ask for the actual tax rate on a specific address rather than assuming a suburb-wide average, since MUD boundaries can split a community.

Is Tahitian Village a good fit if I work in downtown Austin?
Only if you're comfortable with a long commute or a hybrid schedule. It's a genuinely different lifestyle trade: more land, more privacy, a golf course, and no HOA, in exchange for distance.

Let's Find the Right Fit

Every one of these communities serves a different kind of buyer, and the right answer depends on your budget, your commute tolerance, and how much you actually want an HOA managing shared amenities versus handling things yourself. If you want to walk through which of these, or which Austin-area suburb generally, actually fits what you're looking for, I'm glad to talk it through.

Robbie English, REALTOR, Broker at Uncommon Realty.