Saturday is Almost Here: See You at the 505 Ranch Club!

While we’re already hot on 505 Ranch Club at Cedar Creek Lake, you can find out why this community provides the very best of lake living this Saturday: stay tuned.

56 private, waterfront home sites meander along the lake, dotting a 505-acre shared ownership ranch. (Insiders say the total house population may only top 40 or less, as buyers snap up more acreage per purchase.) And if you are not familiar with the shared ownership ranch concept, well get ready. City Slickers, you’ve met your nirvana. Enjoy the attributes of living on a ranch with zero work. Suzanne Warner of Compass, marketing the property, has sold many vacation homes to buyers on Cedar Creek Lake as well as local ranches. She says 505 Ranch Club buyers are looking for more than just a place to go on the weekend and vacations.

“They don’t want to just have a lake house, or a ranch, they want to have the lifestyle,” says Suzanne. “And the 505 offers you both the fun of living on the lake with a full ranch at your disposal.”

And now, a new offering for the future is a private polo and equestrian facility that will provide homeowners with exciting events, membership programs, riding lessons, polo lessons, and boarding and stabling opportunities. And all so close to Dallas.

In recent vacation home surveys from the National Association of Realtors, buyers say the ideal vacation home is located within a two hour drive of their primary residence.

“The drive to the 505 Ranch Club is not stressful drive at all,” says Suzanne. “In fact, it’s downright peaceful. It’s just enough time to make a few calls and wrap up the hustle.”

Because of the close proximity, homeowners tend to enjoy their lake homes at the 505 Ranch Club more often. Owners find their “second” home to be more year-round, so much that some end up living in their vacation home permanently, reverse commuting for work or working from home. It is not uncommon for homeowners to gather the family into the 505 Ranch Club for a holiday stay, since DFW is only an hour away.

“That’s closer than almost any other lake community I know of,” says Suzanne. “We all love Colorado but it takes one, sometimes two plane trips to reach the destination.”

And, she adds, she’s always happy to help market off the Dallas property!

Once at the 505, homeowners have more than their pick of amenities. Put those phones away — children will not be glued to their phones or devices, because there is too much to do. There is movement, activity, romping in the fresh outdoors. Check out a board game at the owner’s lodge, ride at the equestrian center, hop on the ATV course or head to the skeet range or stocked fishing ponds.

A full-time director of homeowners’ services and staff is on hand to make sure homeowners and their families are never bored.

Or burdened with home maintenance while they are supposed to be having fun.

“It can be a true lock and leave,” Warner said. “You never have to change a bed, do the sheets, clean the house — we can even have your kitchen stocked, counters wiped, and your boats gassed and serviced.”

Having a party? Try celebrating special events at your lake house with special friends. The club offers full catering services from event-planning to clean-up. And the community hosts quarterly events, including pop-up dinners with local chefs (the most recent one was by Chef David Anthony Temple, also known as Chef DAT), helicopter rides over the property, and skeet shooting events using Firebird clays, and high-end equestrian entertainment.

“For families, kid-wise, the Ranch Club is really ageless — your kids can grow up here, create wonderful memories,” she said. “There’s everything from bounce houses on the Fourth of July to ATV riding for the older kids.”

The age range of buyers is from young professional millennials to retirees and empty nesters. Warner recently sold a home to a doctor and his wife with a two-year-old, so the age range is varied.

Lots can range from one to four acres, depending on homeowner’s preference. Land pricing starts at $325,000 and are mostly priced according to linear waterfrontage.

“We will never be a dense community,” says Warner. “We’re projecting that there will probably only be about 35 homes, and we’re already close to 80 percent sold.”

The entire development is the brainchild of Eastern Partners, who for years have been responsible for luxury communities all over the country –  from the Villas at Cortina in Telluride, Colorado to the 505. This Ranch Club concept was to be able to have a ranch, lake and equestrian atmosphere all in one, and share ownership.

But still have your personal touch: Warner says each home built is crafted so painstakingly, you will never see cookie cutter.

Most second home shoppers build vacation home dreams on one or two activities — the beach, the lake, or the hills. But buyers at the 505 Ranch Club  are getting three or more activities to fill the lazy days of weekends and turn every day into an experience. The private, exclusive enclave on Cedar Creek Lake, one of the largest lakes in the state, sits on one and a half miles of sparkling shoreline. There is water, there are 505 acres (hence the name) of dense woods to explore on foot, skeet shooting, target practice, trail rides, mountain biking, and unlike most vacation home communities, each home is set far apart from its neighbors, as if you were living in the middle of the woods.

Because, really, you are!