Reserve at Lake Travis Grand Opening
The grand opening for the Reserve at Lake Travis lived up to it’s billing yesterday. I did not stay for the evening activities, but the day stuff was great. I went with fellow agent Claudine Thorne and we had a great time. Arriving at noon, we were the first guests at the Reserve. After looking around a little bit, we had lunch and it was delicious.
As we sat under the shaded pavilion, Claudine made the comment that it felt like she was on vacation somewhere. Lake Travis was beautiful. With clouds drifting by, the color of the Lake Travis water was a dark blue in the shadow of a cloud. In direct sunlight, it was blue-green.
We walked to the staging area for the helicopter tour, signed the necessary releases and were second on the list to go up. The helicopter ride was excellent. I sat in the front with the pilot so I could take advantage of the view for my camera. The videos and photos tell the story better than I can. The perspective from being 500-1000 feet up was amazing compared to being at lake level or even on a hill.
After exiting the helicopter, Claudine and I walked down a gentle slope to the lake and relaxed getting 15 minute massages. Like I said, the developer, Hal Jones, pulled out all the stops for this grand opening. After the massages it was time for a little more food and a beverage.
Claudine and I hung out talking with people who had put reservations on home sites and just stared through the oak trees at boats cruising Lake Travis. We walked down to the tent in which the developer had agents talking to people and showing the property on maps. We picked up some marketing material and called it quits.
Our visit to the grand opening of the Reserve at Lake Travis was really a lot nicer than what I had expected. It felt more like a vacation at a resort than a subdivision on a lake in Central Texas. I’m sure that is what Hal Jones had in mind.
Update on June 24, 2008: I had a conversation yesterday morning with Mark Sprague of Residential Strategies. This is a business that studies real estate markets very closely and provides updates and consulting services for builders, lenders, developers and others. Mark told me that he was surprised at how well the Reserve is doing so early into releasing lots. He said that he flies over the area every 90 or so days and is amazed to see some of the new homes being built. Mark said that he thinks Lake Travis is turning into an area similar to other establish second home markets for people with lots of money. The article in the Statesman a couple of weeks ago supports that in terms of prices. Actual main body frontage on Lake Travis is extremely expensive. If someone wants to build a nice, new home on the water, they need to expect to pay around $1.8 million and up - and this is for the inexpensive home sites. For the prime sites in the Reserve, buyers should expect to pay around $2 million or more just for the land.
See more Lake Travis photos from our trip to the Reserve.