In the late 1990s, Emily Mayerhoff decided she was tired of paying rent to her University Park landlord. But at the same time, she didn’t want to spend most of her time driving up and down Central Expressway to get to work, shopping and restaurants.
That’s when she found a 2,600-square-foot house in Merriman Park North and became a convert to Lake Highlands.
“What sold me was that it was as nice as so many other neighborhoods, without the expense of those other neighborhoods,” says Mayerhoff, whose family includes husband Rodney and a young daughter. “You get more house for your money, but it’s not an older house that you have to fix up.”
In this, Mayerhoff and her husband are part of a larger group, the 20- and 30-somethings who have discovered Lake Highlands and have helped to push home prices significantly higher during the past 10 years. And Realtors say this trend in home values could soar even more as Preston Hollow prices itself out of the market and more young families such as the Mayerhoffs look east of Central Expressway.
Say RE/MAX’s Gary Pilant: “Over the next 10 years, Lake Highlands is the next Preston Hollow. I’m sure of it.”
This raises all sorts of questions about the future of Lake Highlands, about its character and appeal, and even its reason for being. Can a neighborhood with $200,000 and $300,000 starter homes be the same kind o