SO YOU WANT TO BUY A HOUSE ON THE LAKE. You’ll first need to answer a few questions. Do you want a boat dock in your backyard or do you want to dock at a marina? Do you want a planned community or the local color of a mobile home next to your $500,000 retreat? Do you want to fish, sail, ski, or just enjoy the view? Will you commute or live there? Are you looking for a weekend retreat or do you want to permanently retire? Maybe this isn’t so easy. To buy the lake house of your dreams, you’ll need a crash course in Dallas area lakes. But who has the time to drive from Eagle Mountain to Cedar Creek to Lewisville, researching each lake’s amenities?
“There are lots of factors involved,” says Larry Nichols, owner of Lakes of Texas Realty. “Are they just casual recreational lake people? Some lakes are good for sailing; some are bad. Some are good for fishing; some aren’t.
“My first question is what do you want to do with the home? Do you want to live there and commute each day from Dallas? That rules out a lot of lakes that are just too far away. Do you want to have a boathouse? If so, that throws out every lake within a 45-minute drive. What type of boat do you have? If it’s a sailboat, you don’t want Lake Fork, It’s full of trees and stumps. You’ll end up sinking that boat in an hour.”
While most real estate agents know only the lakes nearest them, Nichols started his business four years ago by circling a three-hour radius of Dallas and getting the lowdown on about 30 area lakes.
“You have to know them ail,” Nichols says. “If an agent sells a guy a $60,000 lot on Lake Fork and finds out later the guy’s got a 35-foot sailboat, a big mistake has just been made.”
Sales at area lakes have skyrocketed in the past few years. According to Nichols, about 40 percent of those with the lake dream build a permanent residence. The other 60 percent enjoy their retreat on weekends.
What is drawing Dallas residents to distant locations with nothing to offer but a Dairy Queen?
“Lake people are a different breed,” says Sally Vincent, who recently moved with her husband and two children, ages 7 and 9, to Eagle Mountain Lake. “They’re almost like country people, The nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away now instead of four. But I’d drive an hour. Being here takes everything oui of the mix but the joy of living.”
People buy lake property for a myriad of reasons. But the “lake lifestyle” is the biggest draw.
“We’ve traded bikes for fishing and bonfires by the water and feeding the ducks,” Vincent says. “I couldn’t provide a better childhood for my kids. You lose concern for what everybody else thinks. You’re free to be whoever you are.”
Getting there, however, can be somewhat stressful. To give you a head start, here are our recommendations for the best lakes in 10 categories from fishing and sailing to beauty and commute time.
Best Sailing
Eagle Mountain Lake
Location: About an hour and 15 minutes from Dallas, on the northwest side of Fort Worth
SIZE: 9,200 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other good sailing lakes: Lake Ray Hubbard. Richland Chambers. Lake Grapevine
DALLAS RESIDENTS HAVE FREQUENTED THE FORT Worth Boat Club on Eagle Mountain Lake for decades, a club and lake famous for regattas and sailing.
The east side of Eagle Mountain is the most popular, which makes land more expensive. Some waterfront lots are going for $250,(K)0. not including the house, which range from $300,000 to $2 million. Development on the Azle side of the lake is growing because there’s simply nothing left in other areas. Houses there run a little less than the Eagle Mountain price, but folks near Azle have an extra 18-mile drive to Fort Worth or the airport.
“The most houses we have at any one time is six to eight,” says Josephine Costen. a real estate agent at Prudential Keystone Realty. “They don’t turn over much.”
Sally Vincent has a theory about the shortage of homes around her favorite lake: “People who move here don’t leave. They die. And I’ll die here, loo.”
She and her husband, Dowell. looked for a home on Eagle Mountain for seven years. Finally, they found a house there last year. The home was built in 1992-new compared to most of the homes, which were built from the ’40s up through the ’70s-with 4,200 square feet on a peaceful cove. The ducks and geese came free.
Although she’ll probably put S100.000 into remodeling the house, she’s never been more at peace. Her pets are the waddling kind that migrate into her yard instead of further south. Her 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter love to climb trees and fish. And her favorite restaurant is the Possum Lodge, where you pay for gas and fried catfish at the same cash register.
Kirk Nance has been a longtime weekend resident, having inherited his Eagle Mountain Lake home from his parents, who bought the house in 1963. He’s raced sailboats there since 1976.
“Most sailors say it’s the best lake they know,” the Keller resident says. “Eagle Mountain has a few hills around it, which makes it more challenging than most of the state’s flat lakes. A lot of sailors have been here for years, generation after generation.”
Nance doesn’t race competitively anymore. And his daughters, ages II and 5, get nervous when the wind gets rough. “It’s always good for a scream or two when the girls have friends visiting,” he says,
Location: About 25 miles east of Corsicana off U.S. Highway 287 Size: 44,752 acres Waterfront Restrictions: No
Richland Chambers is the third largest lake in Texas. But some-how, no one has noticed it. Yet. “This is the up-and-coming lake,” says Nichols, who chose to build his weekend home near this little-known oasis just after it was built in the early ’90s. “It sits between Dallas and Houston, between six million people. Yet most people don’t even know it’s here.”
Richland Chambers has 330 miles of shoreline, reasonable land prices, good fishing, sailing, and skiing. And you can own the waterfront. The south side of the lake is filled with rolling hills and lots covered in oak trees.
The development around Richland Chambers is well planned. If you want a $500,000 house, your neighbors will be in the same price range. About one-third of the lots are built on, with 12 or so new houses popping up each year. Golf courses are nearby, a marina is in the works, and Corsicana (with real grocery stores and restaurants that will at least sustain life) is within 30 minutes.
Nichols lives in Coppell and visits his pontoon boat and antique fishing boat about two weekends a month. Sometimes he just sits in his backyard and throws in a fishing line for a few hours. Jimmy Houston, the famous TV fish guy who kisses his catches, has said Richland Chambers could be the next Lake Fork for fishermen.
Does Nichols struggle between his dual roles as real estate agent and nature-loving lake resident when he promotes Richland Chambers?
“Right now, I can wake up in the morning and see deer running around the trees around my house,” he says. “As more and more people discover the lake, I know it won’t be like that anymore. I struggle between making sales and keeping it quiet. But, in reality, the lake will eventually be developed anyway. It’s planned very well, though, so we’ll never be on top of each other out here.”
Jim and Mary Ann Goodall, who lived on a lake in Michigan and had always wanted to retire near the water, bought 22 acres around Richland Chambers before the lake was even tilled. They built their house, kept seven acres (to make sure encroaching development didn’t get too close), and sold the rest. But Jim likes the people best.
“Everybody really bends over backward to help everybody else,” he says. “We’re building a new Methodist Church and Baptists are working on it with us. That’s the kind of community we have.”
Location: II miles southwest of Mt. Vernon on FM 3007
Size: 3,450 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other lakes known for their BEAUTY: Possum Kingdom, Richland Chambers, Lake Travis
Cypress Springs borders the piney woods of East Texas. Not many lakes two hours away could draw such a crowd-but Cypress does. And not everyone who comes brings a boat. Many just buy to be near [he beauty.
“We have mostly weekend homes,” says Ralph Robertson, a sales associate at Century 21 Butler Real Estate. “I would say 75 percent or more of our folks are from Collin and Dallas counties.”
And how the market has grown. About two-thirds of the shoreline is developed. Most of the lots now available are along coves.
“We are seeing an increase in the number of baby boomers pulling the plug five or 10 years ahead of their parents. They come out here with cash, oftentimes, looking for a beautiful and relatively secure place to retire. We’re selling $100,000 lots now that 10 years ago would’ve been $ 15,000 or $20,000. The price of lots has more than doubled in the last three years.”
Most homes around Cypress Springs are western red cedar, some are painted siding or log, and very few are brick. The Franklin County Water District, which owns the lake, has strict rules about home building around the lake. No mobile homes, no modulars, no move-ons. Houses on the shoreline must be at least 1.000 square feet. These rules add to the lake’s beauty, Richardson says.
For Rebecca and John Cavner, building a lake home was a family decision.
“We found that we were spending weekends doing errands and not having a lot of family time,” Rebecca Cavner says. “When we’re at the lake, it’s all family time. There’s no opportunity to do errands even if we wanted to.”
The family toodles around on the pontoon boat, fishing or swimming off the side. Big Bertha, a huge tube the Cavners sometimes pull behind the boat, is always big fun,
“Our kids are 6 and 8,” Cavner says. “We really wanted them to have a place where they could build some good memories. In Preston Hollow, summer is nothing but a bunch of mosquitoes. At the lake, they can really have fun,”
Best Fishing. LAKE FORK
LOCATION: 75 miles east of Dallas
Size: 27,700 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other good fishing lakes: Richland Chambers, Possum Kingdom, Cypress Springs, Cedar Creek
“MY HUSBAND WOULD RATHER FISH THAN EAT,” Phyllis Bardwell says about her line-casting significant other. Bob. After six months of looking at lake property around Dallas and Fort Worth, the couple bought on Bob’s first choice, selling their home in Carrollton, buying a condo in Prestonwood Country Club, and breaking ground on their now-week-end, soon-to-be-retirement home.
People from around the country flock to Lake Fork for big bass fishing, says Marti Crowell, owner of North Shores at Lake Fork, where the Bardwells built their home. Home lots there range from $20,000 to $45,000 and are getting scarce.
David and Carol Payne bought on Lake Fork when David was transferred from Houston to Dallas.
“I looked at Dallas and didn’t like it,” he says. “I’d always wanted to live on a lake. The other lakes close by- like Ray Hubbard and Lewisville-were still too much like living within a city. I grew up on Lake Tyler and chased that dream. Sometimes, though, it’s a nightmare,”
It’s not the lake David Payne is complaining about. He loves it out there. It’s the 80-mile commute to his office in Carrollton. He leaves his dream home before 5 each morning, arrives at work by 6:30 a.m., leaves at 4:30 p.m. and doesn’t get home until 7 some nights.
“Someday, I’d like to fish,” he says.
Best Skiing: Possum Kingdom
Location: 75 miles west of Fort Worth
Size: 19,800 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other good skiing lakes: Richland Chambers,Texoma
WHAT MAKES AGOOD skiing lake? High canyon wails thai cut the wind and make the water as smooth as a crème br?lée. That’s Possum Kingdom. Those bluff lines, its serpentine way of winding and meandering around, and its deep, clear water define Possum Kingdom.
“We see a lot of Texas transplants from states that have beautiful lakes,” says Vee Hanssen, marketing director at Possum Kingdom Real Estate. “They’re so thrilled to have a beautiful lake with docks.”
Hanssen, who was on the ski team at the University of Texas, says she’s never skied a better lake. The break from the Palo Pinto Mountains and their 100-foot cliffs make for great skiing, even on the windiest of days.
Until about three years ago, it was unusual to see folks from Dallas at the lake. Now, Dallas’ elite have discovered this faraway gem. Homes directly on the lake range from $200,000 to $2 million. Those moving in generally refurbish existing homes or tear down cabins and bungalows to build their dream home.
Ken and Judy Parsons bought and designed their 3,500-square-foot weekend home at Possum Kingdom five years ago. He works a lot of hours as senior vice president of Marvin F. Poer & Co.. a national tax consuming company, and drives to the lake almost every Friday night-even if he doesn’t get there until midnight. “I just like waking up there,” Parsons says. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Parsons’ lake house is on a peninsula, overlooking a 75-foot bluff, with a view he dreams about when leaving his office in Friday rush-hour traffic. He bought the lot next door, which touches a small cove, to house his boat.
Parsons likes the distance-physical and mental- from Dallas to Possum Kingdom. Here, he’s a stressed tax consultant. There, he plays guitar at Lumpy’s Barbecue.
“I have friends who have a place on Lake Lewisville,” he says. “They can still run home from the lake or do an errand. And they do. If you go home from Possum Kingdom, it’s two hours. You feel like you’re really going somewhere for the weekend.”
LOCATION: 20 minutes from downtown Dallas, within Grand Prairie, Dallas, and Cedar Hill city limits
Size: 7,470 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: Yes
Other lakes popular for commuters: Lake Grapevine, Lake Lewisville. Lake Ray Roberts, Cedar Creek, Lake Ray Hubbard
“THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE THIS 20 MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWNDallas,” says J.D. Laney, assistant manager of sales for Lake Ridge at Joe Pool Lake. “People can live this close to Dallas and have a lakeside lifestyle, with parks, trees, and no shopping malls across the street. This isn’t a weekend place. People who live here are 20 minutes from Dallas, 30 minutes from Fort Worth. 30 minutes from the airport. Most people are stuck in traffic for longer than that each day.”
Since Joe Pool is a Corps of Engineers lake, residents with boats keep them at the Lynn Creek Marina. But many of the residents don’t even have boats.
Development wasn’t a huge consideration when the Corps built the lake 11 years ago. In fact. Lake Ridge is the only piece of property adjacent to the lake where homes can be built. The rest of the lake is too low.
Lots go for $59,900 to $275,000. and most homes start at $250,000. And they are sold as soon as they are cleared, Laney says.
Charlie and Karen Bell picked the best lot on Joe Pool, according to Laney. They found the lot, up an incline with a view from most of their 5.200-square-Ibot home, and bought it the next day. Their fantasy home has two garages, a second-floor bar. and a closet just for Christmas decorations.
“We wanted the seclusion.” Charlie Bell says. “We wanted the view. All those acres of lake are now ours.”
Location: 20 miles north of downtown Dallas, off1-35
Size: 29,592 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: Yes
Other lakes known for their neighborhoods: Cypress Springs,Possum Kingdom (The Cliffs), Lake Whitney (White Bluff), Richland Chambers (The Wilderness)
Some say Lake Lewisville is too close to Dallas. Some say the lake is too crowded with boaters, making it too dangerous. But more and more families are moving to its neighborhoods, enjoying the space, view, and easy commute to their Dallas jobs.
Location: 53 miles southeast of Dallas off U.S. Highway 75, between Kaufman and Athens
Size: 34.300 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other nearby non-Corps lakes: Eagle Mountain Lake
IF YOU WANT A BOAT DOCK BEHIND YOUR LAKE HOUSE-AND want that lake house to be less than an hour from your Dallas home-Cedar Creek is your lake.
The Corps of Engineers owns most of the lakes within 45 minutes of Dallas, meaning you can “town the waterfront at any of the more convenient lakes like Joe Pool, Grapevine, or Lewisville. And Lake Ray Hubbard, which is owned by the City of Dallas, imposes similar restrictions.
Cedar Creek features 326 miles of shoreline and more than 300 subdivisions. The lake is quite developed, without a lot of planning for whether a trailer sits next to your $300,000 home. But it’s got Gun Barrel City, with its cool name and Super Wal-Mart. And Chuck Location: 53 miles southeast of Dallas off U.S. Highway 75, between Kaufman and Athens
Size: 34.300 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other nearby non-Corps lakes: Eagle Mountain Lake
IF YOU WANT A BOAT DOCK BEHIND YOUR LAKE HOUSE-AND want that lake house to be less than an hour from your Dallas home-Cedar Creek is your lake.
The Corps of Engineers owns most of the lakes within 45 minutes of Dallas, meaning you can “town the waterfront at any of the more convenient lakes like Joe Pool, Grapevine, or Lewisville. And Lake Ray Hubbard, which is owned by the City of Dallas, imposes similar restrictions.
Cedar Creek features 326 miles of shoreline and more than 300 subdivisions. The lake is quite developed, without a lot of planning for whether a trailer sits next to your $300,000 home. But it’s got Gun Barrel City, with its cool name and Super Wal-Mart. And Chuck Norris lives in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods.
About 20 percent of the lake’s population commutes to Dallas, says Buck Gentry, an agent with Coldwell Banker American Dream in Gun Barrel City. And retirees and other full-time residents love how close they are to hospitals, shopping, and restaurants.
“When you go to a less developed lake such as Richland Chambers, you have to go so far to do anything,” he says. “We have a McDonald’s and a Brookshires. There is always something going on somewhere around this lake.”
Don Templin and Sarah Saldana bought their weekend home on Cedar Creek five years ago. They wanted to buy someplace close enough so they would actually use the house.
And they do. loving their “lake time” away from Dallas with their son, Michael. Don putters with projects like a lamp that needs rewiring and plays golf at King’s Creek. Sarah drinks coffee on the dock or in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake and waterskis with Michael during the summer. Nine-year-old Michael likes to bring friends. Even Lizzy the Beagle gets excited when she hears the word “lake.”
“Here, the phone doesn’t ring,” Saldana says. “We only have it to give our friends directions. We have no fax, no modem, and we never will.”
Location: On Texas/Oklahoma suae line, north of Denison
Size: 89,000 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: Yes
SIZE MATTERS IN TEXAS. AND EVEN THOUGH WE SHARE LAKE Texoma with Oklahoma, this huge span of water draws many local residents (including Ross Perot Sr.) simply because of its variety. Texoma is also a popular spot for boat owners because of its large marina.
You can fish here (the stripper is particularly good), sail, ski or just putter around for the heck of it. Here, you’ll find everything from $250,000 yachts to garage-sale fishing boats.
Some of the best lakefront property is in Russwood, a subdivision west of Pottsboro, with most homes starting at $300,000, says Evelyn Jones, a sales associate at Coldwell Banker Benchmark Realtors. The most popular view is from the many islands in the middle of the lake, where boaters dock for the day and enjoy the solitude. Many residents opt for golf course homes, starting at $ 150,000, and “garden homes” with zero lot lines from about S 120.000.
Then, of course, there are the private properties, like Perot’s, which are built on the cliffs, accessible only by boat and helicopter.
Texoma may seem far away, an hour north of Piano, but many former Dallas residents choose to make the commute instead of setting up a weekend home.
Darlene & Ralph LaCroix, ages 68 and 72 respectively, moved into Preston Forest, one of the lake’s gated communities, three years ago from their home in McKinney. Until recently, Darlene still commuted to her travel agency in Allen three days a week.
“We were looking for a more recreational setting,” Darlene LaCroix says. “Ralph is retired, and I was looking forward to retirement. McKinney and Allen were both growing so fast, and there is so much traffic.”
The couple likes the fact that Texoma is a Corps lake, an unusual preference. They like the Corps’ rules, which keep the lake clean and safe. Darlene says, They have a ski boat and a fishing boat, which they keep at the marina, and a lake within walking distance of their home.
“We wanted a lakefront home, but that wasn’t the only priority,” she says. “Many of the other lakes we looked at were kind of lackluster because of their lack of zoning. We wanted some kind of restrictions, We didn’t want to live next door to a dump or a trailer.”
Location: 65 miles north of Pallas, near Gainesville
Size: 563 acres
Waterfront Restrictions: No
Other popular retirement lakes: Cedar Creek, Lake Whitney(White Bluff), Possum Kingdom (The Cliffs), Lake Fork. Richland Chambers
KIOWA IS A COZY LITTLE LAKE, ONLY ABOUT TWO MILES LONG, with one gated housing development and about 1,000 homes. The locals play golf, organize gourmet clubs (eight are currently cooking), fishing clubs, bridge clubs, garden clubs, arts and crafts clubs. It’s like South Florida dropped in North Texas, a place where people are just as likely to want to live on the golf course as on the lake.
Jimmie and Jerri Briggs have lived in several homes on Lake Kiowa during their pre- and post-retirement years. “We like the privacy and the golf course.” Jerri Briggs says. “We’re not really water people, but we like the view. And we love the community.”
Houses around Lake Kiowa range from $70,000 to $750,000. with many larger homes (more than 3,000 square feet) going up in the last few years. About 30 percent of residents are weekend property owners, with some commuting to Dallas, according to Kay Kane, a real estate agent at Lake Kiowa Realty.
Shirley and Joe Fergerson bought their 1,900-square-foot home next door to the Briggs as a weekend retreat, planning to retire there within a few years. They loved their weekends at the lake, seeing the stars and fireflies each night, or getting in the golf cart and driving to the lake, throwing out a fishing line in the early morning.
But having a cramped condo most of the time and a lovely lake house only two days a week became frustrating. The Fergersons sold their Kiowa home earlier this year, moving to Richardson until they actually retire.
“But I miss the lake lifestyle,” Shirley Fergerson says. “And I loved the small-town feel of Gainesville (only eight miles away). We’ll get to a lake-just not now.”
WHY CAN’T I OWN MY WATERFRONT?
Every lake in North Texas is man-made.
Whether you can build next to the
water depends on which man made it.
If it was an Army man, you can’t.
Corps Lakes. Most lake people talk about them with a bit of annoyance on their face, like they ’ve just swallowed a gulp of milk a few days past its prime.
A lake owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers means a lake with restrictions. You can’t own the waterfront. Which means you can’t have a boat dock. Most people don’t care why. If they want a dock, they find another lake.
But there are reasons. The Corps isn’t just trying to be difficult.
Among the 25 lakes the Corps owns in Texas are most of those closest to Dallas, including Joe Pool, Bembrook. Grapevine, Lewisville, Ray Roberts, Lavon, and Texoma (some other lakes, like Lake Ray Hubbard, are not Corps lakes but have similar dock restrictions). The closest lakes without dock restrictions are Cedar Creek to the southeast and Eagle Mountain to the west.
The Corps lakes were created to provide local water supplies and as flood control, explains Ron Ruffennach, chief of public affairs for the Corps’ Fort Worth district.
“When and if it ever rains again, our lakes are situated so that if we need to store water, there is a certain vertical elevation of water that we can store, which is why you don’t see homes built along the shoreline,” Ruffennach says. “All of our lakes are designed to flood. That doesn’t suggest we don’t have development along our lakes in terms of recreation, but you’re not going to do a lot of damage by flooding picnic tables or a swimming beach.”
You don’t, however, want to consistently flood boat docks or people’s homes.
Ruffennach knows the reputation the Corps enjoys. But he also knows that some lake people enjoy being on a Corps lake. Some of its strict rules keep lakes cleaner, more natural, and more recreational than most.
“We also have an image of being one of the best stewards of the land,” he says. “We are the second largest recreational provider in the nation, behind the parks services. We employ biologists, naturalists, environmental planners, and park rangers.”
See, they’re not so mean after all. -DM.
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