BURLESON COUNTY, Texas — Derek Dane and his wife wanted to find a home somewhere in between their hometowns, Dime Box and Huntsville.
But the search wasn't easy.
"It was relatively tough at first looking in Brazos County for somewhere to live," Dane said. "There's a ton of stuff going on there. It just wasn't a good fit for us. Trying to find smaller neighborhoods that are in more rural neighborhoods were a little bit tougher to find."
That was until they learned about Grand Lake, a new subdivisions in Snook.
"As soon as we knew we wanted it, we had to immediately put an offer on it and get the ball rolling," he said.
Now, cities like Caldwell and Snook are trying to increase housing options within the county — Caldwell being the latest city to approve a new subdivision.
Realtor Cole Bearden says residents like the Dane's aren't they only people wanting to settle in Burleson County.
"We're seeing a lot of people move to this area for different things like development," Bearden said. "People are doing a lot of development here. A lot of people are retiring here."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population in the county was expected to increase from 17, 642 in 2020 to 18,657 in 2021.
City of Caldwell City Administrator Forrest Williams says they hope "diversify the housing market options in Caldwell," especially after seeing increased economic activity in the city and surrounding areas like RELLIS campus and Taylor.
"The majority of the homes in Caldwell are older than 20 years, and with new subdivisions, it can help bring in some more affrodable housing options for people looking to relocate to Caldwell," Williams said.
The goal is to meet the demand.
In Snook, developers are working on three subdivisions — Grand Lake, Heritage Acres and Grace Subdivision — adding about 346 houses.
Developers in Caldwell are adding a new subdivision, Whitetail Run, and approved the third phase of subdivision Arrowhead Farms, adding about 215 single-family residential homes.
Bearden says the development will attract more people to the county, but it will increase the property tax value.
"It's going to boost our economy, bring people that are from the bigger cities like Houston, Austin and Dallas are gonna be coming here, and we're going to see more economic diversity," Bearden said.
But Dane is excited to see more people move into the neighborhood.
"We're first time homebuyers, so we have no equity in the house-owning game. It's hard to just get a start," Dane said. "I feel like you can kind of get sucked in living in apartments and renting and renting and renting forever, so it was a huge deal to have somewhere affordable that we can actually get in."
The Caldwell City Council still has to approve the final plats for Whitetail Run, but will hold public hearings for the community to view plans.
