Each Friday, Robbie Briggs, CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of July 23, 2021.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

What is it about water?

“Thousands have lived without love; not one without water,” wrote the great poet W.H. Auden.

North Texans understand this. For a state with a reputation of being hot and dry, the opposite is true about the Dallas-Fort Worth region. (Well, OK, the hot part is true. But only in the summer.) Surprisingly for many, North Texas brims with lakes, ponds, rivers and reservoirs, in locations that range from urban to rural.

Even better, living around any of them — especially during one of those Texas summers — makes for a thoroughly rewarding lifestyle. Shopping, eating, golfing, boating, running: Opportunities abound.

Just a few examples? Eagle Mountain Lake is just 15 miles north of bustling Fort Worth, yet it offers resort-style boating, waterskiing and fishing. Cedar Creek Lake is another stunner. It’s the fourth largest lake in all of Texas, yet it’s just an hour southeast of Dallas. (In fact, some of the most influential Dallasites have weekend homes there.) And then there is White Rock Lake, all 1,015 acres of it, with its own wetland, trails, arboretum, museum and cultural center. How far is it from busy downtown Dallas? Five mere miles.

We have so many waterside locales in and around North Texas that we also have all kinds of ways to explore waterfront properties on our briggsfreeman.com. Under our main Property Search tab, for example, you can choose Lake Houses. We also have a Lifestyle filter for searching for homes that are along rivers or that have water views. My favorite is the dedicated page briggsfreeman.com/lake-houses, where you’ll get insider info on nine great lakes near North Texas and see all the homes for sale near them, offered by brokerages all over.

Seeing is believing, especially when it comes to the impact of living by the water. I think our briggsfreeman.com/lake-houses page says it best: “Living on or near the water is like a vacation every day: Your stresses tend to float away and your thoughts tend to get more expansive.”

Here’s to more of that, every day.

Robbie Briggs

CEO

Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty

rbriggs@briggsfreeman.com