If you’re thinking about buying a second home or considering a lake homes development, one of the recommendations of other home buyers is that you interview people who live there. Find out from a resident if promises are kept, if the place is as perfect as it seems, and if your potential neighbors are enjoying being there as much as you believe you would.
An ideal place to find lake homes near Dallas, Texas is Cedar Creek Lake. Cedar Creek is the fourth largest lake in Texas, with 320 miles of shoreline. It’s not only tremendously popular as a destination for boating and fishing; it is a destination for equestrian recreational activities, having fun with 4 wheelers, relaxing in nature and observing wildlife, walking nature trails – it’s simply a great place to be. What makes it ideal is that it’s only 45-minutes from Dallas, so visitors and homeowners can get away from work and stress quickly and easily.
Roger Johnson and his wife Michelle selected a luxury homes development on Cedar Creek Lake several years ago, called 505 Ranch Club. Around four years ago they purchased 1 ½ lots, and built their lake home two years ago. Roger recently agreed to be interviewed with regard to his experience. In our phone conversation Roger expressed his primary reason for choosing 505 Ranch Club. “This has been a place where my family has made a lot of memories. There are moments, as your children get older, when they are less able to spend time with you. Going out to 505 Ranch we can get some important time with each other, creating memories that we otherwise wouldn’t have. We chose this for our family, in support of having a good time with our daughters.”
According to Roger, he couldn’t have made a better choice. His family uses the second home all four seasons. Roger said, “You can use the lake six months a year, even when it’s cool. And in the other months there are lots of things to do, for example our girls love riding 4 wheelers.” Another thing Roger appreciates is that the development is gated. He explained that his wife feels secure enough to go down without him, with her friends. She’s not particularly outdoorsy, but they go down just to get away for a day or two. She knows that if she has problems with any equipment she can call maintenance men hired by homeowners association, so she really feels safe and taken care of.
Roger went on to say how much he too appreciates the advantages of services offered. He explained that even though it’s only a 45 minute drive, he often doesn’t have the time to drive out to the house if there is something that needs to be done. He can just call if the plumber needs to be let in, or sometimes he doesn’t even need to call. Roger explained, “When the temperature dropped to freezing, my hoses were disconnected and caps were bought to protect the external water fixture without me even asking.” Then Roger gave another example, “About six months ago I needed to replace the tires on the 4 wheelers, but I would have missed a whole day of work going out to do that. So I called, and one of the guys took the 4 wheelers, put new tires on, brought them back and put them in the garage.”
When asked about the frequency of his family’s visits to Cedar Creek Lake, Roger said that they have a lot of things going on in Dallas, so they can’t make it out every weekend. They go out for holidays and Spring break, and then once a month on the average. With lake homes there are a thousand things to do in the summer, so trips are more frequent then. Roger described the beach area (which is great even for little kids as the descent into the lake is very gradual), the pool, horseshoe pit, kayaks, skeet range that his kids enjoy, and he said one of his daughters plans to take riding lessons as well.
A number of other questions were asked: 1) regarding the process of building his home, Roger said that he enjoyed it. He got a local builder, got plans drawn up, and the process was fine. He had to go down more often, but that was not a problem; 2) when asked about other homes on the property, Roger said there are six occupied homes right now. They are far enough apart and there’s plenty of open space with a number of people buying multiple lots, so he doesn’t anticipate any space concerns when the development is full; 3) regarding shopping, hospitals and so on, Roger said that it is only about a ten minute drive to anything they need, and yet the property still feels remote. Finally, when asked about wildlife, Roger said he has seen armadillos, possums, fox, coyotes, lots of hawks, turtles, and of course lots of fish!
If you’re looking for real estate on Cedar Creek Lake, we hope that this interview has helped you get a glimpse into the experience of one of the homeowners at 505 Ranch Club, a luxury homes development 45-minutes from Dallas.
