SAN ANTONIO – With the flooding rains that hit South Texas earlier this year, Medina Lake returned to being one of the recreational destinations of the Western Hill Country.
The rains and rising lake level has also had an effect on property sales, and it is good for sellers and buyers.
"I can tell you the first two weeks after the lake filled, I had 10 contracts," said Karen Ripley, who owns her own realty company, "I may have had only twice that the year before, the whole year."
Real estate that was once as dry as the lake bed has since helped Ripley and other realtors sell more homes.
"They are going fast now. And it certainly wasn't the way it was three years ago," Ripley said.
Currently buyers have the advantage since the waterfront market has basically been dormant, so asking prices have not gone up yet. Realtors believe that will change if the lake level stays up.
"They don't lower that price when the lake is down, but they definitely increase the price when it's up," Ripley said. "Kind of a play on that old thing, 'Buy low sell high.'"