Your Expert Guide

Long Cove: Where every day's a peaceful getaway on Cedar Creek Lake

There are so many great places to live in Dallas that it helps to have an expert on your side. The Neighborhood Guide presented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty gives you insider access from the agents who live and work there, providing in-the-know info about your possible new community.

Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty

This is your backyard.

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Just an hour-ish from Dallas, the gated community of Long Cove spans 1,200 acres with six miles of shoreline at the clear, deep end of Cedar Creek Reservoir. It was created by Dallas’ Don McNamara, the developer and investor behind Cityplace and West Village in Uptown, and a longtime resident of Cedar Creek Lake. McNamara invested 12 years in planning Long Cove, modeling it on such getaways as Seaside, Watercolor, and Horseshoe Bay.

It's such a magical place that real estate agent Marty Cobb immediately knew she had to make it her home.

"I started looking at this neighborhood in mid-2024 and fell in love immediately," she says. "This area is a hidden gem. I have never seen another neighborhood more family-friendly than this one, though there is something for every age group."

Cobb likens living there to being on vacation, saying it's easy to enjoy the peaceful, friendly, and laidback lake lifestyle.

"Just one visit and you will feel at home," says Cobb, whom you may recognize from season 28 of The Amazing Race, where she competed with her daughter.

Cobb offered up a few of her personal favorites about life in Long Cove. Here's her guide to the area:

Where to eat & drink
Hearty fare with a view is on the menu, especially at Fig's Steakhouse, V's Steakhouse, and Elements by 456.

Where to play
"With your 1,200-acre backyard there are nonstop activities and events for all ages," points out Cobb.

For golf lovers, Long Cove has its own family-friendly, 9-hole course, and the highly rated Pinnacle Golf Club boasts an 18-hole championship course just 15 minutes away.

If you want to explore outside the neighborhood, Trinity Forest Adventure Park offers six high ropes courses of varying levels of difficulty, as well as ziplines to enjoy the treetop views.

Where to live
"If you are looking for a weekend home or a full time oasis, there is an abundance of options here," says Cobb. "Whether you prefer the picturesque sunrise and sunset on the water or stepping out onto a golf course, these houses consider every detail."

Cobb recently helped a client who wanted to find a legacy property where his large family could gather for weekends, holidays, and special family time. After viewing properties in numerous cities and states, he was immediately sold on Long Cove as the perfect spot.

"This area is a hidden gem," says Cobb. "Living here feels like a vacation everyday — a perfect place to make lifelong memories."

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Marty Cobb works and plays in Long Cove on Cedar Creek Lake. For more information on buying and selling a home in the area, click here, email mcobb@briggsfreeman.com, or call 806-777-7494.

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Hottest Headlines of 2025

Popular suburbs move into Dallas' hottest real estate headlines of 2025

Photo courtesy of City of McKinney

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Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, we look back at the 10 most-read real estate stories in Dallas for 2025 — including new honors for several local suburbs, market trends, and all-important Walmart news. These are the 10 hottest real estate headlines of 2025 in Dallas:

1. Dallas-Fort Worth suburb blooms as No. 1 best place to live in U.S. One Dallas-area city took the top slot on a list of "the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025." The list — from relocation marketing platform Livability.com — put Flower Mound at No. 1 for its appealing size and affordability. The suburb also claimed the No. 7 spot in a ranking of America's most livable small cities.

2. North Dallas neighbor ranks as No. 1 most affordable city in U.S. A Dallas suburb landed on top of a list of the most affordable places to live: McKinney ranked No. 1 based on its relative cost of living and high median household income.

3. Massive mixed-use development coming to key intersection in McKinney. McKinney is getting a new $1.3 billion mixed-use development. Called Long Branch, it will be a 155-acre project at the northwest corner of US-75 and the future 380 bypass, consisting of housing, retail, office, grocery, and hospitality. The development has 80 acres slated for active development, and will unfold over the next decade in four tracts.

4. Dallas-area suburb ranks as 3rd best place to live in Texas in 2025. The Dallas-Fort Worth mid-city of Coppell has been ranked the third best place to live in Texas in 2025 by rankings and review website Niche.com. The survey determined the best places to live in based on crime rates, public school rankings, the local cost of living, job opportunities, and more using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, and others.

Coppell, Dallas suburb Coppell was ranked the third-best place to live in Texas for 2025. City of Coppell, TX Municipal Government/Facebook

5. 11 Dallas suburbs soar as fastest-growing U.S. cities in last decade. It's no secret that Dallas-Fort Worth's population is growing faster than most other metros in the U.S., but now several surprising Dallas neighbors have been named among the top 10 fastest-growing suburb nationwide over the last decade. Celina nearly led the nation with an astonishing 314 percent increase in population from 2014 to 2023, according to a growth study by marketplace platform StorageCafe.

6. Dallas neighbor is the No. 1 fastest-growing affordable city in U.S. A national study has declared Texas is home to the most affordable, fast-growing cities in the country, with Dallas suburb Frisco taking the lead at No. 1. Frisco and five more Dallas neighbors ranked high on GoBankingRates.com's list of "50 Most Affordable, Fastest-Growing Cities in 2025."

$Millennials moved to Texas more than any other state in 2019, with Frisco being\na top choice.$ Frisco is the most-affordable, fastest-growing city in the country. Photo by Roger Robinson/Visit Frisco

7. Dallas neighbor beckons movers as top U.S. suburb with small-town feel. Wylie, a city less than 30 miles from downtown Dallas, ranked as the No. 7 most highly sought-after U.S. suburb of 2025 in MoveBuddha's national survey. In addition to being recognized as the 7th most desirable American suburb, Wylie also ranked as the second-most desirable suburb to move to in Texas.

8. 2 Dallas neighbors rank among fastest-growing wealthy suburbs in U.S. Celina and Prosper, two boomtowns north of Dallas, are among the top three fastest growing affluent suburbs in the country. The cities' affluent status was unveiled in a GoBankingRates' study ranking the "30 Fastest-Growing Wealthy Suburbs in America" for 2025.

The Old Celina Park in Celina, Texas Celina is the No. 2 fastest-growing wealthy 'burb in America. Photo courtesy of celina-tx.gov

9. 6 Dallas suburbs make top 10 list of best Texas cities to move to. Advisors at ConsumerAffairs, a customer review and news platform, ranked the 50 most populated Texas cities across five main categories — affordability, safety, economy, health care and education, and quality of life — to determine which were the best places to move to. Each city was given a score out of 100 possible points. Four of the top five best places to move to in Texas are located in Dallas-Fort Worth: Allen (No .1), Frisco (No. 2), Plano (No. 3), and McKinney (No. 4). Two more DFW suburbs, Mansfield (No. 6) and Richardson (No. 10), rounded out the top 10.

10. Booming Celina hits the big time with its first Walmart Supercenter. The city of Celina is getting its first mega Walmart: According to a release, it will be a Walmart Supercenter located at the northwest corner of Preston Road (Highway 289) and the West Outer Loop. The store has been in the works for a few years, but the Celina Economic Development Corporation celebrated the opening in a groundbreaking on April 16.