Lake living in Fort Worth

[tthompson1]

Any Dallas/Ft. Worth inspectors out there that can offer some advice on lakefront real estate in the Fort Worth area?

My job (my full time job that pays the bills and provides the insurance... not my part time inspection job) might possibly move me to Fort Worth.

I currently enjoy living on a lake and watching my family wakeboard and waterski.

What is the lake home oppurtunities like in Ft. Worth? What lakes in that area offer homes on the lake with docks and boat lifts? What lakes are good for water sports?

Don't worry, I'm not licensed to inspect in Texas and I am not planning on getting licensed so I won't be adding to your competition!

Thanks in advance for any information and advice.

[away]

Terry,
The options are quite varied.

There is Eagle Mountain Lake with homes ranging from "permanent" mobile home type structures (with decks and secondary roofs) to million dollar homes.

If you don't mind the drive there is Lake Texoma, but I think they limit who can build there. Now that I think about it forget that one.

Other lakes include:
Benbrook (no lakeside living)
Arlington (lakeside living)
Lake Lewisville (status unknown)
Lake Tawakani (spelling is probably wrong, status unknown)
Possum Kingdom (lakeside living, 1.5 hours from DFW)
Grapevine (status unknown)
Lake Ray Hubbard (status unknown)
Lake Ray Roberts (status unknown)
Joe Pool Lake (I think this is close living but may not have lakeside)
Lake Worth (only leases on the land and no new houses I think)
Lake Weatherford (see Lake Worth)

Here is a realtor link I found.

I would stay away from Lewisville at all costs. That seems to be a death lake with at least one fatality each year. I don't mean someone drowned while swimming either, typically it is a boating accident where one drunk hits another drunk. Far too many idiots on that lake especially in the summer.

Possum Kingdom is a good diving lake as well as for fishing but you have to know where the fish are, it is part of the Brazos River so it is long and narrow with lots of little nooks for relaxing. They have a really good fireworks show that is professionally done. If you partake in that, just be aware that people have been drinking all day and into the night. Proceed with lots of caution.

Eagle Mountain is pretty good for sailing and other water sports, but it can be crowded sometimes. The also have a good fireworks show (or they did a few years ago)

Texoma is on the OK/TX border and is huge. Supposed to be good for fishing and there are little islands and stuff for kicking back. It is part of the Red River so it is long too. If you are into fishing, I think you have to have an OK license too. I don't fish but vaguely remember something to that effect. There is a little demarcation line on the lake maps and for some reason I think if you are on the OK side you need an OK license.

Joe Pool Lake is relatively new (only about 18 years old) and is getting very poplular. I have heard the fishing is starting to pick up there and more people are starting to use the lake.

Arlington, Benbrook, LakeWorth and Weatherford are really small lakes and tend to be low most of the time not a whole lot to do on those. But they can get busy, so someone likes them.

I don't have any information on the others as I have never been to them.

Hope that helps.

P.S. If you do get licensed and move into my area I will come over and drill a hole in your boat, saw your deck pilings and/or sabotage your lift.

[tthompson1]

Andrew,

Thanks for the information. You are very thorough in your information. I won't get licensed, but I will give you a call to inspect the house I buy if I move there.

[away]

Terry,
No problem and I will be more than happy to look things over for you if you need me.

[tthompson1]

What are the real estate property taxes like in Fort Worth?

[away]

Terry,
Here is a link to the Tarrant Appraisal District 2005 rates. You can find the FW rate on there, be sure to include the appropriate school district (it may not necessarily be FW) also you will need to include at least the Tarrant County taxes listed at the bottom of the list.

Looking over the tax bill for a rent house I have, the taxes are as follows:
FW City
Regional Water District
Tarrant County
Tarrant County Hospital
Tarrant County College
and White Settlement ISD (like I said even though the home is in FW doesn't mean it will necessarily be FWISD)

[jwalker]

Andrew & Terry,

I can't believe you left off "Lake Granbury" . In my opinion this is one of the best lakes in North Texas.

Lake Granbury offers world class wakeboarding at the upper end of the lake (Ten Top Road). Lots of wakeboarders and skiers on this lake.

I was out on the water yesterday!! 82 degrees here!

For more information Google Granbury, Texas (Hood County, Texas)

We have lots of commuters to Fort Worth (40 Minutes to downtown FTW)

[away]

James,
Dang brain fart. I guess I put the blinders on due to "in the DFW area" but then I included PK and Texoma, can't believe I forgot all about Granbury. It is closer than either of those two. Ok Terry add Granbury to the list as well.

[tthompson1]

Actually after all the searching I've done I've come to the conclusion that Granbury is the best choice for me.

I have four kids - one who slalom skiis and barefoots, and two that wakeboard competetively, and one who just tubes and we boat almost every day from spring until fall.

I currently live in a house on a lake in Nebraska valued by the county at $350,000 and my property taxes are $10,000 per year. That alone is bad enough but we also have 7.5% sales tax and a substantial income tax too. Not to metion property tax on our vehicles which can be $600 per year or more depending on how new the vehicle is.

How much would taxes be (ballpark figure) on a comprable valued home on Lake Granbury?

[ccoombs]

Originally Posted by tthompson1

property taxes are $10,000 per year...7.5% sales tax...tax on our vehicles which can be $600 per year...

Sounds like California!

[away]

Terry,
Here is the link to the Hood County Appraisal District rates page. They only have them through 2004 for some reason but they should be relatively close for 2005.

Looking at one property that is on or near the lake, it appears the taxes you would have to pay are Granbury City, Hood County, Library, Lateral Road, and Granbury ISD. Here is a link to the property I was using as an example. I can't tell for sure if this is from 2005 or not though.

[tthompson1]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I must be very dense because I can't figure out what the actual tax burden (in dollars) would be.

I have no context for what these tax rates mean. Are these percentages of appraised value? What criteria does the taxing authority use for obtaining appraised value?

Can someone just give me a ballpark dollar amount of what property tax would be on a $350,000 home on lake Granbury?

[away]

Terry,
Those rates are per $100 valuation I believe. The appraisal districts perform a very intensive and time consuming task each year to properly determine the value of each and every home in their county. They research all available sales data, take into consideration all improvements like pools and such, balance all that against what the home was valued at the year before and finally.......

throw a friggin dart at the board!!!!

Only those in certain counties in Texas will get just how facetious I am being.

Ok back on track now. The appraisal districts do some research on home sales and use that to determine the value. This is a hit or miss proposition as my home has been and still is undervalued by quite a bit. In fact my value is still about 5k less than when I bought it 6 years ago. And it wasn't until this year that it is even close. Also some of my neighbors saw increases of 10K this year alone. The market here doesn't justify that.

Wow, I just clicked on that second link and it didn't work correctly, must be some sort of script issue.

Anyhow, I checked the taxes for a home and land (they value each seperately here) whose total assessed value is $349k and it looks like the total taxes are about $7k.

Here is what I did in case you want to look around yourself.

Go to mapquest and type in Granbury Tx. When you get the map, just zoom in on the street level and recenter to streets on or near the lake. Then go to this website and select the find a property tab. Then just type in the street name and you should get a list of all properties on that street. This is a search so if you typed in Oak you would get Oak, Oakmont, Oakvista, etc. The appraised value is on the right hand side, click on the property number on the left and you will get the detail for that particular property.

Hopefully this will clear things up.