A search for retirement communities in the Texas Hill Country brings up several kinds of development. Two common models are age-restricted 55+ communities, often built around finished homes and shared amenities, and gated land communities, where buyers purchase a homesite and build. Both draw people at retirement, and they suit different people.

What Is a 55+ Community?

A 55+ community is one that limits who may live there by age, which federal fair housing law allows only for housing that meets the Housing for Older Persons Act. Under HUD's rules, at least 80 percent of occupied homes must have at least one resident aged 55 or older. The community must also publish policies showing it is meant for older residents and verify ages with surveys updated at least every two years.

That leaves up to a fifth of the homes for younger owners, and each community decides how to use that share and how long younger guests may stay. Ask for those rules in writing before you buy. Some communities are age-targeted instead: marketed to older buyers but open to anyone. Continuing care communities, which add assisted living and nursing care on the same campus, are a separate category and worth a look if care on site matters to you.

What Living in a 55+ Community Is Like

Many 55+ communities are built by a single developer that sells finished homes from a set of floor plans on modest lots. The homeowners association usually maintains the common areas and often the front yards, runs the clubhouse and organizes activities, and the dues cover that work. The draw is an easy life: little upkeep, neighbors at the same stage, and a house you can lock and leave for a month of travel. The limits come with it. You choose among the builder's plans, the lot leaves little room for a workshop or a garden, and the age rules shape who can stay with you and for how long.

What Is a Gated Land Community?

In a gated land community you buy the land and build the house. The community controls the gate, the roads and the common amenities, and its design guidelines and design review decide what each house must look like, but the plan, the builder and the timing are yours. There is no age requirement, so neighbors range from working families to retirees.

Building a custom home takes more time and involvement. In the Hill Country the process often runs more than a year from first drawings to move-in, with decisions on everything from the foundation to the roofline. A gated land community is not low-maintenance by default either: outside the common areas, the house and grounds are the owner's to keep up. Our guide to building a custom home on Lake LBJ walks through the steps, and our checklist for choosing a custom home builder in Horseshoe Bay, TX covers the hire.

Retiring to a Gated Land Community on Lake LBJ

The Trails of Horseshoe Bay is a gated land community on Lake LBJ with no age requirement. Homesites run from about two-thirds of an acre to just over five, priced from $350,000, and every house follows one architectural standard, a Modern Texas Vernacular developed with Dick Clark + Associates. Daily life centers on the community's amenities: the clubhouse and pool, the trails through a 300-acre wildlife preserve, the equestrian center and the private marina on the lake. The acreage keeps real distance between houses, and the design standard keeps the houses consistent with one another. For how Horseshoe Bay compares with Fredericksburg, Kerrville and Boerne as a town, see our guide to the best places to retire in the Texas Hill Country.

Homesites for sale at The Trails

Types of Retirement Communities in the Texas Hill Country Compared

Which Is Right for Your Retirement?

If you want to move in within months and hand the yard to someone else, a 55+ community is the better fit. If you want to choose the land, shape the house around how you live and keep room around it, buy land in a gated community and plan for the build.

For how the Hill Country towns themselves compare on hospitals, airports and taxes, see our guide to the best places to retire in the Texas Hill Country.

If building on land is the route you are leaning toward, the Land Office can take you through the homesites and the design guidelines at The Trails: 512-470-5517.

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