A call to Texas Tige owners

[GIZMO]

Which is the best lake to boat/live on in texas? Im looking at Lake Travis
or Lake Granbury or ?.

Thanks.

[flackpack]

Gizmo -

You need to pick the area you want to live near. Most of the big metro areas have pretty good lakes to live near. I Picked near Dallas last year when I moved from California. I have about a 10 minute drive to a choice of 2 lakes from my house. Both are pretty good if you are used to the Colorado River and the congestion there. 25 minutes from where I am living is a great lake called Ray Roberts.

Austin has lake Austin, Lake Travis and a host of others., San ANtonio has some nice areas and Houston does as well.

Let us know what areas you are looking for, and we can send you in a good direction.

[GIZMO]

I'll look in to lake Ray Roberts. I need to be in daily driving distance to Dallas or Austin, Im looking at several houses on Lake Granbury, Cedar Creek Lake and and lake Travis. Are there any other lakes you suggest looking in those areas?

[flackpack]

Lake Travis is great, as is Austin. Granbury is fine and you can find many great places around Dallas. However, driving distance around Dallas is like driving distance around Los Angeles. Granbury is a long drive to East Dallas for a daily commute. If you know where work is, we can guide you in to a more geographically (sp) desireable lake. You may also want to look up Princeton Lakes near McKinney and Dallas. It is a private lake community like those in Granbury. Matt Garcia and Davidhof on this board are much more knowledgeable about the local lakes. I've only been here 6 months, but it is great for boating compared to So. Cal.

http://www.princetonlakes.com/
http://www.princetonlakespoa.com/
http://www.lsfdev.com/

[David]

Cedar Creek has some nice houses, but is a little over an hour out of Dallas, and is one of the worst riding lakes in Texas (usuaully very rough, little coves, and retaining walls that send waves in all directions).

I haven't been to Lake Granbury ever, but I heard it was nice.

Your best pick close to the Metro area would probably be Ray Roberts. You would also be near Lake Lewisville, crowded at times, but usually a ride-able spot somewhere. Not to mention, it's just one trip down I-35 to get into the downtown area. Not to mention, you'd be very close to the local Tige Dealer.

[Escondido]

Granbury is a very nice lake and the town is very nice. I spent many years on the lake and my grandmother still lives there. The one thing to know about it is that it is a flooded river basin. When the water gets low you have to know your spots. Once you figure them out it is no problem. The drive to Dallas will be brutal though. Not sure I would want to make that commute. I like the lake a lot though. Your lifestyle at Granbury will be a whole lot different than living close to Dallas.

Another lake to consider is Lake LBJ, just up the River from Lake Travis. The benefit of LBJ is it is constant level due to the power plant. Water typically varies by a foot or so except for major flooding they can't control that. And they lower it about 5-7 feet every 2-3 years to work on the docks and retaining walls. It is smaller than Travis so it can be hard to find good water on the busy weekends but if you are living on the water you can work around the weekend crazies. Hit the water early and late and sit back and relax while they go nuts. The lake is not as pretty as Travis but we sure do enjoy it. If you are in to golf/country club lifestyle, Horseshoe Bay has supposedly some great courses and all of the country club stuff to go with it. There are several other new developments going in with clubs, etc. Avoid anything on the Llano arm it floods frequently, the rest is pretty well controlled.

The night life at Travis and closer accessibility to Austin are a big plus for Travis though. You will be paying for the proximity. The dealer in Austin has a good reputation but I haven't used their service yet.

[Escondido]

Granbury is a very nice lake and the town is very nice. I spent many years on the lake and my grandmother still lives there. The one thing to know about it is that it is a flooded river basin. When the water gets low you have to know your spots. Once you figure them out it is no problem. The drive to Dallas will be brutal though. Not sure I would want to make that commute. I like the lake a lot though. Your lifestyle at Granbury will be a whole lot different than living close to Dallas.

Another lake to consider is Lake LBJ, just up the River from Lake Travis. The benefit of LBJ is it is constant level due to the power plant. Water typically varies by a foot or so except for major flooding they can't control that. And they lower it about 5-7 feet every 2-3 years to work on the docks and retaining walls. It is smaller than Travis so it can be hard to find good water on the busy weekends but if you are living on the water you can work around the weekend crazies. Hit the water early and late and sit back and relax while they go nuts. The lake is not as pretty as Travis but we sure do enjoy it. If you are in to golf/country club lifestyle, Horseshoe Bay has supposedly some great courses and all of the country club stuff to go with it. There are several other new developments going in with clubs, etc. Avoid anything on the Llano arm it floods frequently, the rest is pretty well controlled.

The night life at Travis and closer accessibility to Austin are a big plus for Travis though. You will be paying for the proximity. The dealer in Austin has a good reputation but I haven't used their service yet.

[Matt Garcia]

Everyone has summed up what I would say but one other thing that you could consider is the rivers. Two that come to mind are the Brazos river which runs a good length of Texas and the Perdanles river which is located near Austin.

What city do you plan on living at? Driving between Dallas and Austin daily will make you loose your hair in a matter of a weeks time.

[dogbert]

Don't forget about Lake Buchanan...70% the size of Lake Travis and 0.001% of the boats

[yllw20]

I live in dallas and boat on lewisville good local lake best time to board is after work during the week. Weekend you better be out early to board and then the lake becomes party central and weekend warrior who doesnt know what he/she is doing. We take a trip to lake travis every year and if I could move to any lake in texas, it would be travis. Clear and clean water, great surrounding area.

[GIZMO]

Thanks for the info guys, that kind of info really helps. I dont have any city in mind thats what im trying to figure out. I just need to near a major city in a area with a good school district. And if at all possible a house on a lake.

Lake Buchanan looks nice and I see several listings for houses in my price range. How long a drive is it to Austin?

[David]

The drive from Dallas to Austin is usually around 3-4 hours, give or take some depending on traffic / weather / construction conditions.

[KyleisinTexas]

Granbury

I currently live on Lake Granbury. I moved to Granbury from Arizona about 8 months ago after the real-estate in Arizona shot through the roof. I sold everything I had in Arizona and started to look for a house on a lake with a boat dock. I looked at everywhere, from Oregon to Florida and I decided on Lake Granbury. Here are my reasons for Granbury:

1. It is an hour drive to the DFW airport. (I travel a lot for my career).
2. The city its self is one of the nicest, most friendly, crime free cities I have ever been in.
3. The lake, Lake Granbury is rated at 35.5 miles long, but a lot of other people think it is 40 miles long. The lake feeds a huge power plant so the water level will never drop (the DFW area is in a HUGE drought right now and the water has only dropped 1 foot).
4. The lake is fed from the Brazos River which is a well known, big river in the State of Texas.
5. I like the fact that I wake up in the morning and I look out the window and I see my boat, my boat dock, and the lake.
6. From my back door to the boat takes about a minute to walk. I can be in my boat and driving across the lake 5 minutes after walking out my back door.

As far as people saying that when the water goes down on Lake Granbury its hard to get around on, my next door neighboor has been here since the lake was made and has never seen the lake go down further then 5 feet.

I hope this helps, I looked at lakes/rivers in Tennesse, Florida, California, etc and I really honestly think Texas has the best Lake Houses in the country.

Another lake to look at is Possum Kingdom Lake, which is about 2 hours from downtown Dallas, but is also the "Lake Powell" of north Texas.

If you ever stop by Granbury and would like a Tour or just want to go out on the lake and see what its like, feel free to contact me on here and we could arrange it!

[GIZMO]

Thanks for the info Kevin, If we find a house on Granbury I'll take you up on your offer for a tour of the lake.