And the best lake to retire on is............? (Dallas, Fort Worth: for sale, real estate)

[billmarland]

I would like to appeal to the residents of the cities of Dallas andFort Worth and its outlying communities to help me locate a nice retirement area. I will be relocating from Virginia Beach and am pretty much over the beach scene and endless personal property taxes (more of the latter). I would like to retire on a deep water lake that is not susceptible to droughts or having its pond level lowered during the summer months. The lake must also be dockable by the homeowner.
Could someone please steer me in the direction of a nice recreational lake within 45-60 minutes of DFW or a city with excellent health care? I am looking in the price range of $700K-$1.1M (home and lot).
Thank you for your help and words of wisdom.

[Philosophizer]

Possum Kingdom Lake is the prettiest and some of the deepest water you'll find around in the area. Not much for anything around the lake though, and a bunch homes/acreage around and on the lake burned down from recent wildfires. You'd have to drive east to Fort Worth for healthcare which is probably 60-70 miles away.

[billmarland]

Thanks for the tip...yes, I have heard that PKL is really nice, but remote. Homes are surprisingly pricey---given the construction is more rustic or log-cabin-esque. Do you think the tragedy with the wildfires burning so much area and property was due to the relative lack of quick-response community services such as a sizable fire department? Just a thought to see what other services may be lacking.

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by billmarland

I would like to appeal to the residents of the cities of Dallas andFort Worth and its outlying communities to help me locate a nice retirement area. I will be relocating from Virginia Beach and am pretty much over the beach scene and endless personal property taxes (more of the latter). I would like to retire on a deep water lake that is not susceptible to droughts or having its pond level lowered during the summer months. The lake must also be dockable by the homeowner.
Could someone please steer me in the direction of a nice recreational lake within 45-60 minutes of DFW or a city with excellent health care? I am looking in the price range of $700K-$1.1M (home and lot).
Thank you for your help and words of wisdom.

Not to discourage you, we have some really nice lakes here, but we also have some of the highest property taxes in the nation in Texas.

[legalsea]

Your parameters stated 45-60 minutes from the DFW area.

Just southeast of Dallas, about 40 minutes away, is Cedar Creek Lake. We recently bought a 16 acre tract of land in Seven Points, and plan to retire to that location (we have a mobile home currently).

The main city in the area is Gun Barrel City, which is right on the lake. It is already becoming a Mecca for retirees. There are several medical clinics in town, although I guess the biggest hospital is in Athens.

Cedar Creek Lake is beautiful, surrounded by evergreen trees (cedar trees!). There are beautiful lake-front homes, all with boat ramps. You could easily get one of the top-notch homes for your price range. It is not, yet, overpriced.

Shopping is rather limited (Walmart, Lowes, and some smaller places) and several excellent restaurants.

Here is a link to a website for said lake:

Cedar Creek Lake Online Guide - Vacation Rentals, Real Estate, Fishing Guides, Marinas, Campgrounds and More!

Lots of good fishing.

[loves2read]

construction in Possom Kingdom is so expensive because men/materials have to be trucked out there and prepared to stay for duration for construction in lot of cases
if you want a "custom home" then you probably have to have better quality of craftsman to build it vs the carpenters/masons/plumbers that are in that area normally

IF you really wanted to build in Possom Kingdom area the best way IMO would be to find a SIP house builder and design/build house off-site then truck it in and construct in 48 hrs--which is how most SIP homes are built anyway--
Possom Kingdom has lot of elevation changes and hard ground so building home there has problems you might not find around other lakes with different type of geology--but that is also one reason PK is one of the more beautiful lakes in TX

from what I understand too from reason posts from other sites and here is that many of the taxing authorities in areas with lakes have started raising tax rate on lakefront property pretty high--trying to reap gains from the desireability of lakefront property and some people fell that their increases have been much higher than their property values really are
so checking out the tax rates in the area would be important part of making choice of where to build

each of the lakes in this area has +/- that individuals might rank in different order
you have to see them and do it more than once--
might even consider renting home for weekend in several areas

checkout Lakehouse.com Home Page real estate, lakefront properties, lake property, lake homes for sale, waterfront properties, lakefront, waterfront
it has sales and rental homes for almost any lake in the US

[loves2read]

Cedar Creek Lake has more than just cedar trees around it--thank heaven--
cedar has pollen that can give some people bad cases of allergies when the pollen goes out--cedar is intractible for clearing--has one of the longest tap roots of any tree--and it will drink more water than almost any other tree===
In the Hill Country of Tx it is considered a terrible threat to the ecology and most ranchers/homeowners spend thousands of $$$ to root it out of their property--millions have been spent in the past 100 yrs
almost anyone I know who has lived around cedar hates it--

You need to decide what you expect from lake living--
so many times people move to lake area and think it will be quiet/peaceful/natural and on weekends in summer when boaters/skiers get on the lake and it turns into a "playgound" for drinking adults they get little enjoyment out of being there
that is why I said you should go visit and see how that particular lake "behaves"

Lake Kiowa north of Dallas is a private lake--open only to homeowners of land around it--
it is not that large but you can have a ski boat/jet skis/go fishing

this site has info about TX lakes--there is difference between ones that are Corps of Engineer lakes--which means the Corps controls the waterfront and getting dock on property can be difficult and expensive--and other lakes like Cedar Creek that are not
Texas Lake Finder Map

One of the FEW lakes in TX that is constant level is Lake LBJ in the chain of lakes through the Hill Country--
many lakes are also water reservoirs for large cities--and while they may LOOK like they have stable water I can promise you in the future as the cities grow that water will be tapped--if rain does not replinish it naturally then the water level can drop
some lakes around here have been through droughts in the past and people have see land exposed under their docks and out into the lake so that they had terrible smell from rotting vegetation and had to truck their boats to another access point--plus find dockage for it since they could not keep it at their docks

Lake Texoma--around OK/TX border--Dennison/Sherman closest towns
is very deep but the taxes for certain parts of the lake have gone up and the Corps has pissed homeowners off
it is about 2 hrs north of DFW

[billmarland]

I'm not discouraged....Virginia has a nifty thing called personal property tax.....so every year you get taxed on every vehicle you own..and that includes boats, jet skis, ATVs.....trailers...you get the point. AND on top of that, the state taxes my federal retirement. Texas does neither, so the higher real estate tax is offset by the other two savings. I guess all areas have there detractions. Thanks!

[LuvsFW]

Originally Posted by billmarland

Thanks for the tip...yes, I have heard that PKL is really nice, but remote. Homes are surprisingly pricey---given the construction is more rustic or log-cabin-esque. Do you think the tragedy with the wildfires burning so much area and property was due to the relative lack of quick-response community services such as a sizable fire department? Just a thought to see what other services may be lacking.

Have you SEEN any of the homes there????? Hardly log-cabin-esque. Good grief. I have to been in many of them....some of the loveliest and priciest I have ever had the privilege of staying in. And definitely NOT log cabins. Altho, you can also buy cute little cabins there too. The homes at PK run the gamut.

And yes, it is a volunteer fire dept. You're out in the country, and we were in the middle of a huge drought. Most of the homes there are second homes, not permanent residences.

That said....if you are looking to retire I might consider Lake Granbury. Don't know much about it, but it's closer to FW and health care facilities, it's a larger town, with public services. You might look into that.

[txtoal]

I second Luvs. Granbury has alot of retirees mostly in Pecan Plantation, which is a private community...gated, has it's own marina on Lake Granbury, a country club, golf course, the whole nine yards. There are also a few other places/neighborhoods that have lakefront property, Oak Trail Shores and Decordova. There is a good sized medical center as well as other medical facilites in Granbury also. Most of the smaller towns have to go to Granbury for medical care, at least for specific care. If not, FW would be the closest. As for the lake, I really couldn't tell you if it is the best lake in the area....I am not a fan of really any lakes in TX.