What TX lake you would wish to have a house at and why? (Waco: buy, taxes)

[momof2dfw]

Here are my answers to those questions for our family.

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Well, several factors come into play when trying to decide such.

1. How often would you use it?
Probably just Memorial Day weekend but have to be back for the kids to finish the last week of school. Then 4th of July and maybe Labor Day weekend if there were not kids activities they had to be at.

2. What is the maximium distance you would be willing to travel to get to a lake house?
An hour max for me. Makes it easy if something comes up and we need to go down and fix something or meet someone there to repair something we can do it in 1 day. Same for the short weekends we would want to go but need to be back for Monday/Tuesday morning for school or work.

3. Do you want it close enough to your full time residence that friends/relatives can come down for the day?
YES! I want to have a big Memorial Day party and then again a big party for the 4th of July w/ fireworks. If it's an hours drive max then my friends won't mind coming down for the day and all of us having a lot of fun.

4. What are you interested in doing on the lake? Fishing? Boating? Personal watercraft? Kayaking?
I love my PWC's. A friend brings a boat for the kids to tube. Another friend brings his boat to fish.

5. What kind of atmoshpere do you want? Golf nearby? Party scene? Entertainment nearby? Middle of nowhere feel?
A little room. Not fond of Cedar Creek even though I like the lake I don't like the houses all on top of each other. All I need is some kind of grocery store nearby and maybe a farm supply store w/ basics available to repairs around the house and property. Out of the city limits so we can do fireworks when there is no burn ban for the 4th of July.

6. If it's too far away from your primary residence would you feel guilty not getting to use it but only 2-3 times a year max? I'm talking if this is only a weekend place and not a retirement situation.
Our lake house is only an hour away and we already feel guilty for not using it more. Only because we are so busy w/ the kids and their activities right now at this stage of our lives. But the kids like going there when we do and they always take a friend or 2. It's not going to be our retirement place and we have never considered it as one. It's just a fun place to go for weekends and to invite friends down to enjoy getting away from it all.

[loves2read]

I would have said Possum Kingdom until these fires came up

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by loves2read

I would have said Possum Kingdom until these fires came up

For me, these fires are hardly such a consistent thing that it would deter me from Possum Kingdom. PK, Lake Travis, and LBJ are my favorites in Texas, mostly for scenery reasons.

[loves2read]

they are not common but they do show the difficulty getting a volunteer fire dept to work effectively if there is more than one house on fire
just points to the problems with living isolated from services
and I would think that insurance rates are going to go up out there as well after this

The water at Possum Kingdom is some of the clearest -- which is why I really like it

[racing75]

Lake Bob Sandlin. Why? Within 30 minutes of other lakes...Cypress Springs, Monticello, Welsh, Lake o the Pines etc. Wouldn't be stuck at 1 lake.

[desertsun41]

Hard to say since few of us likely seen them all for comparison. But my first choice is Lake Livingston. It's truly where my heart is. About 6 years ago I bought lake property in Coldspring which was to be my retirement place to live my life out. Over the years I'd get letters in my mail with offers to buy it. I refused so very many offers, some so much more then I paid for it.

Then came the economic depression and one offer by a a guy in Tomball just hit me at the right mood and right price and I sold it for a nice profit. Imagine that? Selling real estate for a profit during these depression times. I miss that land badly. Pulled many a fat Catfish onto that dock.

[die Eichkatze]

Lake Buchanan, hill country lake with true hill country people. Not as crowded and much better scenery.
If I could move lake amistad away from the border that would be my first choice, great fishing fed by the purest river in Texas...the devils river.

[Jess.Johnson]

I used to live near a neighborhood called Walden on Lake Houston . It was nice can see the whole lake from my property.

But it is not as exquisite as Lake Livingston-> Thats a real good nice lake

[cBach]

I think if I had a second home it would be on the Gulf. It just seems the lake levels in TX lakes vary way too much. If there's a drought, like right now, you have to worry about low lake levels and not even being able to get your boat in the lake. No, I think I prefer the constant level Gulf and its bays.

[dallasboi]

whiterock ;-)