Resort living on Lake LBJ
Horseshoe Bay’s sweeping views of Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, better known as Lake LBJ, attract residents looking to experience life on the water. Located a little over an hour from Austin in the scenic Texas Hill Country, this town is home to Horseshoe Bay Resort, an expansive retreat with entertainment, golfing, events, and waterfront recreation for guests and residents. “People in Austin didn’t want to be in all this traffic, so they found this place and came out here,” says Katie Simon, a local Realtor with the Lake Life Team at eXp Realty. “You have your retired community, vacationers, second-home owners. It’s more of a resort area where people vacation.”
Lake recreation and high-end amenities for club members
Lake LBJ offers ample opportunity for water activities like swimming, boating and fishing. “One of the most important things about Lake LBJ is that it’s a constant-level lake,” says Lydia Miller, broker/owner of Lake It Easy Realty. This means that the water levels will not significantly decrease during a drought, thanks to a dam system. “The lake helps generate energy for the city of Austin,” Miller says.
For more recreation, members of The Club at Horseshoe Bay Resort have access to many of the area’s amenities, including the members-only Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club, several private golf courses, and pickleball and tennis courts. Horseshoe Bay is also home to a handful of small public parks like Martin Park, with a playground, pickleball courts and a picnic pavilion, and Horseshoe Bay Nature Park, which features eight different ecological zones that are collectively home to hundreds of species of wildlife and plants and which are interconnected by a gravel walking path.
Home variety ranging up to luxury properties with lake views
Many homes in this community are located in Horseshoe Bay Resort, with properties overlooking the lake and golf courses. Resort developments include the 55+ Tuscan Village community and Waters Lakeside condominiums next to the marina. House prices vary greatly in Horseshoe Bay: modest, single-story properties can sell for between $250,000 and $550,000, with prices continuing up to the several-million-dollar range for properties with better views, more land, more spacious floor plans and luxury amenities. HOA restrictions determine the aesthetics of most properties in Horseshoe Bay. “Horseshoe Bay is a very planned development,” Miller says. “There are rules like you have to have a certain mailbox and it has to look a certain way.” Homes here can be used for short-term rentals, with a permit.
Warm-weather events at the resort
Horseshoe Bay Resort hosts events for vacationers and club members. The community hosts an annual hot air balloon festival over Easter weekend. Crowds gather to admire balloons displaying bold patterns and colors or shaped like cartoon characters, and the festivities also include a vendor fair, live music and an Easter egg hunt. Other seasonal events include Independence Day fireworks and the annual Beer by the Bay Music Festival in August.
Restaurants on the resort
The resort grounds are also the site of a few restaurants, including the Waterfront Bar and Grill and J’s Restaurant and Bar, both of which are open to the public. J's Restaurant and Bar serve casual meals all day, and the Waterfront Bar and Grill has upscale seafood and Tex-Mex cuisine with views of the lake. For grocery runs, Bayside Fresh Market has specialty items, and H-E-B is about 10 miles away in Marble Falls. “Bayside Market is right there, but it’s higher priced and there’s not a lot of variety,” Miller says.
Two public school systems serve Horseshoe Bay
Most of the community is zoned for the Llano Independent School District. Students may begin at Packsaddle Elementary School, which has a C-plus from Niche, before continuing to B-plus-rated Llano Junior High School and B-rated Llano High School. Students living on the eastern side of Horseshoe Bay are zoned for the Marble Falls ISD. They may begin at B-rated Colt Elementary School and C-plus-rated Marble Falls Middle School before completing their K-12 education at B-rated Marble Falls High School. Marble Falls High offers over a dozen Advanced Placement courses and OnRamps dual enrollment courses through the University of Texas.
Historic flooding on Lake LBJ
Horseshoe Bay is vulnerable to flooding. The area has experienced several floods in recent years from heavy rains and hurricanes. In particular, a 2018 flood on Lake LBJ caused significant damage in Horseshoe Bay and surrounding communities. “Some people’s homes on the outside of Horseshoe Bay were under seven feet of water. If you were on the lake and your home didn’t flood, you’d consider it lucky,” Simon says.
Driving around the region from Horseshoe Bay
Horseshoe Bay is about 50 miles west of downtown Austin. Drivers can get there in a little over an hour on Texas State Highway 71. The closest international airport, Austin-Bergstrom International, is 60 miles away. Horseshoe Bay Resort Jet Center accommodates private flights in the area. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center’s Marble Falls location is among the nearby medical facilities and is about 10 miles away.
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Written By
Faith Wakefield
