Went through this a couple of years ago. A lot of Texas lakes are really remote. You may be fine with that, but it can be a huge adjustment if you are coming from a city. A few things to keep in mind:

1. How far away is the grocery store?
2. How big is that grocery store?
3. How far away is good medical care? (you said you are retiring so you will need some at some point)
4. Are there many decent restaurants nearby? (actually stop and eat at some of them...the quality and diversity of food may not be what you are used to)
5. What kind of internet speeds are available?
6. How much does the water level fluctuate? For some lakes you can find charts that show lake levels for the entire history of the lake. That can be quite illuminating.

A couple of underrated lakes that we liked but didn't select (and I haven't seen mentioned above) were Lake Worth and Lake Tyler.

GarlandAg2012 said:

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AgLA06 said:

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https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/us-hurricane-frequency-down-40-since-the-19th-century/amp/

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A blog post. Irrefutable!

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Well then, how about from the scientists that track them?

https://www.skepticalscience.com/hurricanes-global-warming.htm

My wife and I have had a log cabin at Artesian Lakes (18 miles NE of Cleveland, TX, a little over an hour from Houston) since 2009 and love it out there. It's more of a small lake (fed by shallow artesian springs) atmosphere with electric motors on boats only. It's next to The Retreat at Artesian Lakes (you can see the property from that website). There are about 42 homes in the community with a mixture of permanent residents, weekend residents and a few rental properties. We know all of the approximately 60 owners and get together regularly with a lot of them.

I haven't been there in years but I'm pretty sure you can rent a boat slip at Rough Canyon so technically you don't have to take out on every trip, but you are correct you cant have a private dock and slip because the lake houses property technically ends before the water which is inconvenient but the nice side effect is that there is not a nest of poorly maintained private docks on every square inch of the lake front.

Thank you guys for so many great suggestions!

We chose Lake Belton for proximity to college station, restaurants and large grocery stores, good cell service and high speed internet, clearer water, large for surfing and skiing, low water traffic, and medical for when we retire there. Down side is it's a corps lake so no boat dock/house and 70' elevation drop down to the water from our yard. But the view is hard to beat.

Dunlap has always intrigued me. Is the damn rebuild/repair a done deal? If so, is there a legit timeline yet?

MAS444 said:

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Dunlap has always intrigued me. Is the damn rebuild/repair a done deal? If so, is there a legit timeline yet?

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I don't believe so. If I remember correctly, and someone please correct me if wrong, there's an election to levy a tax on Dunlap property owners to float bonds to build the dam. Doesn't sound like completion is imminent.

Willy Wonka said:

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MAS444 said:

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Dunlap has always intrigued me. Is the damn rebuild/repair a done deal? If so, is there a legit timeline yet?

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I don't believe so. If I remember correctly, and someone please correct me if wrong, there's an election to levy a tax on Dunlap property owners to float bonds to build the dam. Doesn't sound like completion is imminent.

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i heard the tax to be true something like 50 years, iirc. If passed I bet work begins in earnest. I think there is a financier already lined up. Dunlap has always had a special place in my soul.

I have an aunt and uncle who live on Dunlap. It is a cool place, no doubt.

9mm at Rhuged back in stock

Buy a small piece of land with a pond on it. If it's at least 10 acres you could hunt deer on it as well.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Lake Amistad is awesome, but remember that it is a National Park. Which means no boat house/personal dock and pulling your boat out of the water every day you go out. So keep that in mind.

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National Park???

National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service, per Wikipedia.

rangelady said:

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Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Lake Amistad is awesome, but remember that it is a National Park. Which means no boat house/personal dock and pulling your boat out of the water every day you go out. So keep that in mind.

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National Park???

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SnowAggie is correct, I was mistaken. It is run by the National Park Service but is technically considered a National Recreation Area.

How about Medina Lake? Does anyone have any experiences, thoughts, reviews, etc.? I don't ever hear much about it which seems odd given its proximity to San Antonio. How does it compare with the other better known hill country area lakes?

MAS444 said:

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How about Medina Lake? Does anyone have any experiences, thoughts, reviews, etc.? I don't ever hear much about it which seems odd given its proximity to San Antonio. How does it compare with the other better known hill country area lakes?

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I don't know it personally but a coworker has a place out there and it's similar to Canyon minus the steep bluffs. Definitely not as crowded, in fact despite its proximity it has a pretty remote feel. I don't think anyone builds on the water per se, you trailer your boat to a ramp.

MAS444 said:

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How about Medina Lake? Does anyone have any experiences, thoughts, reviews, etc.? I don't ever hear much about it which seems odd given its proximity to San Antonio. How does it compare with the other better known hill country area lakes?

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It's really pretty when it has water in it. Not very pretty when it's empty.

Does it really get "empty" or just low? How often?

https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/medina

It's at 38% capacity right now. Has been as low at 5% full during last drought. Cattle were grazing where 50' of water should have been. Medina seems to always be more on the low side than the full side. It has a terribly short water shed for supply and takes a damn tropical storm to fill
It when low. It is a beautiful lake when 80% full or higher. Not so pretty below that. Houses on the water can be high and dry for years. It is an irrigation lake as well and BMA doesn't manage it very well.

If you are looking at lake house properties, I encourage you to download Google Earth Pro. It is free. There is an option at the top that will show you imagery for various historical years. You can align the timing of the image to my prior link to get a feel for what the property will look like in down years.

https://www.google.com/earth/versions/#earth-pro

Thanks for the info!