It wasn’t too long ago that Celina was a small town that most people drove through, with not much but fields and cattle to admire. For local Celina resident and real estate broker Kathy Corey, the small town of Honey Grove is reminiscent of old Celina: a sleepy little square and people who wave from behind the wheel of their pickup truck as they drive past you on the two-lane road that runs through town. Kathy sold her very first home as a realtor in Heritage in Celina, and fell in love with Celina back then, but it wasn’t the homage to Celina, necessarily, that drew her in like flies to honey. It was Bois d’Arc Lake.
Kathy saw the lake a few years ago and knew she wanted to have a lakefront property for herself or as a realtor. She started researching and checking on the lake a few times a year and would see updates in the news that it was closer to being open until finally, she got news that there would be a sale. Like others in Celina, Kathy got a mailer a week beforehand.
“At that point, I was just like, ‘I want to be a part of this,’” Kathy said.
She was excited when she saw that it was not just large plots of land like she had been seeing targeted at developers, but acre lots on the lakefront. Kathy says these plots of land on the lake have been zoned by Fannin County to be used for AirBnB and Vrbo, making them a great investment. One of the neighborhoods on the lakefront, Belle Vie, is even being developed by the same company who developed Seaside in Florida. But that’s not the only perk.
“One of the game-changers about this lake is that it’s a dock-able lake,” Kathy said.
Kathy knew this would be the opportunity of a lifetime and jumped on the opportunity. There was no information provided before the sale other than to make an appointment. She kept asking questions but received no answers from the company selling the land. In fact, she didn’t find anything until the Monday before the sale. What she found led her to The Peninsula, and her eagerness to get in on this deal only grew.
So, she booked her appointment. After pushing the sales rep to move her time slot earlier, she still showed up even earlier than that on the day of the sale on May 20. By the time she was checked in and going to look at lots, The Peninsula had completely sold out in just 30 minutes. Kathy said the sellers were blindsided and, with hundreds of people there and ready to buy, they decided to open another neighborhood of lakefront lots for sale: The Shores.
“I was just in the right place at the right time with the right salesperson, and she got me over there,” Kathy said. “It was crazy because it was very very very old school.”
The salespeople had walkie talkies and were calling in the sales, often talking over each other with the flurry of sales. She was worried another buyer might beat her to it, but her salesperson got her offer in time and the acre was hers. Her end goal is to build a house on the land adding to the grove.
“I’ve already named my house; I’m calling it the Lone Oak,” Kathy said. “I have thought longer and harder about buying a dress. I just knew.”
Kathy Corey with HouseandHomeTexas.com
469.222.5335