Twenty-five minutes apart in Denton County, the metro’s two flagship 55+ communities answer every major question in opposite ways: golf inside the gates versus practice facilities only, still-building versus finished, semi-annual dues plus a buyer-paid closing fee versus a lighter quarterly fee in a hotter market. Most shoppers tour both and decide on vibe. The math has a vote too — and over ten years it is not the vote people expect.
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Talk to a Specialist →| Robson Ranch (Denton) | Frisco Lakes (west Frisco) | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale & stage | 7,200 homes at buildout · building since 2002 · new + resale | 3,000+ homes · built 2006–2020 · resale market |
| HOA | $3,976.28/yr (2026), semi-annual billing | ~$2,400/yr (~$600/quarter per current listings) |
| One-time buyer costs | $3,428 Capital Improvement Fee + $350 admin at closing | Standard resale costs only |
| Golf | 18-hole Gary Stephenson championship course on-site, fees separate | Practice facilities only — serious golfers join clubs off-site |
| Dining/social engine | On-site restaurant, 17,500 sq ft clubhouse, club infrastructure at small-town scale | 28,000 sq ft Village Center, restaurant, 100+ resident-run clubs — fully mature |
| Tax environment | Clean Denton entities; representative combined ~2.2% | Denton side of Frisco (Denton CAD); ~2.16–2.26% by ISD — confirm per street |
| Typical buy-in | ~$425K representative resale | ~$525K representative resale |
| Gated | Yes | No |
Assumptions kept deliberately visible: the representative resales above, exemptions filed immediately, school line frozen at year-one level, unfrozen lines drifting 4%/yr, HOA escalating 3%/yr, golf excluded from the base case (added separately below). Round numbers — the shape matters more than the cents.
| 10-Year Line | Robson Ranch | Frisco Lakes |
|---|---|---|
| One-time entry fees | ~$3,800 (CIF + admin) | ~$0 |
| HOA, 10 years | ~$45,600 | ~$27,500 |
| Property tax, 10 years (post-exemption, freeze applied) | ~$60,000–$66,000 | ~$78,000–$86,000 |
| Base-case 10-year carry | ~$110K–$115K | ~$106K–$113K |
| Add a two-golfer household | On-site membership ≈ doubles the community line — call it +$50K–$70K/decade, no car required | Off-site club + the driving — comparable money, less convenience |
Read that base case carefully, because it is the surprise: despite Robson’s scarier sticker items — the CIF at closing, the heavier dues — the ten-year carries land within a few thousand dollars of each other. Robson’s extra $18K of HOA and $3.8K of entry fees are almost exactly offset by Frisco Lakes’ extra ~$18K of tax, which is just the cheaper-house arithmetic ($100K less home means a smaller post-exemption tax base, and the flat $200K shield erases 53% of Robson’s value versus 38% of Frisco Lakes’). The communities price out as twins; what you are actually choosing is what the money buys.
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One — golf: if anyone in the household plays twice a week, Robson’s inside-the-gates course is the whole decision; everything else is commentary. Two — finished versus forming: Frisco Lakes’ hundred-plus clubs exist today, while Robson still adds homes, amenities (the 2025 bocce ramada), and construction traffic — buyers who want their community complete should weight that heavily. Three — the gate: Robson has one, Frisco Lakes does not, and people are rarely neutral about it. Four — exit: Frisco Lakes sits in west Frisco’s appreciation engine with a finite supply of resale stock; Robson competes with its own builder for buyers until buildout. Neither is a verdict — they are different bets on the same county.
Full single-community treatments: Robson Ranch · Frisco Lakes · the framework behind the tax lines: the Over-65 Guide and the Denton County guide
Tour both with the decade table in hand and the four questions answered for your household — we’ll set up the back-to-back.
Connect with a specialist who knows this market from the inside — real cost math, honest community comparisons, and what's actually happening right now. Every agent is personally vetted by the Nova55Living founder.
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