Few people outside of Lake Highlands know about the community spirit within the neighborhood.
But this is about to change, says a group of neighborhood residents and real estate agents.
The real estate industry and neighborhood homeowners associations have joined forces to develop a brochure promoting Lake Highlands, which is due to be distributed in April.
“We’re not very well-known or well-understood,” says Dean Vanderbilt, a Lake Highlands resident and vice president of RE/MAX Associates of Dallas.
“We’re a close-knit, family-oriented community within a large city. We have all the advantages of being in a big city with the feel of a small town. That’s what the brochure will try to capture.”
The cooperative brochure effort evolved out of a neighborhood beautification project called Let’s Work Together, a clean-up crew comprised of members of Dallas real estate agencies, title companies and mortgage companies.
The group was launched in October, when members collected more than 70 bags of trash on Royal Lane between Abrams and Arborside.
Real estate agents on the clean-up crew began to discuss the hidden nature of Lake Highlands, says Debbie Werner, an Ebby Halliday sales associate and member of Let’s Work Together.
Many neighborhoods have promotional materials that real estate agents use to sell homes, but Lake Highlands doesn’t, Werner says.
“There was no one thing we could show people and say: This is Lake Highlands,” Werner says. “Lake Highlands is the best-kept secret in town. It’s time to publicize it.”
The color brochure will focus on community spirit; parks, lakes and recreation; neighborhood schools; and the benefits of Lake Highlands’ location.
About 25,000 brochures will be printed, Vanderbilt says. They will be distributed to real estate offices, homeowner associations, chambers of commerce, relocation agencies, and other organizations.
The brochure won’t include sponsor names. The cost is being underwritten by real estate companies and homeowner associations.
“We’re really excited about the brochure,” says Lake Highlands resident Bill Hendrix of Park One Realtors.
“There’s something about Lake Highlands that makes people want to stay. When people grow up, they want to move back here.”
