Waterstone Reserve

Waterstone Reserve is a half-acre-lot subdivision still going up between the Traditions community and Falls Lake. About 110 homes are planned, construction started in 2022, and the neighborhood is not finished, so a buyer today is choosing between a completed house and a lot with a build schedule attached. Prices run $600,000 to $850,000.

The land and the trail are the draw. A connection from the neighborhood reaches the Falls Lake stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, so you can leave on foot and be in the woods without loading a car. There is no pool. The lake is the amenity, and nobody here has pretended otherwise.

Where it is

Waterstone Reserve is on the Falls Lake side of Wake Forest, with Traditions sitting between it and the older part of town. That position sets up most of the tradeoffs. The water and the trail are close enough to reach without driving. Everything else is a drive back west, including schools, groceries and the commercial strip along US-1, the highway signed as Capital Boulevard that carries traffic south toward Raleigh. How long that takes depends on the hour you go. For a household with one commuter and one person working from home, the arithmetic usually works out. For two commuters, drive the route at 7:30 on a weekday before you sign anything.

What to know if you're moving here

Half-acre lots are the headline, and they change what you are buying. The rest of the decision is about timing, because the neighborhood is not finished and the water is closer on a map than it is in practice.

• Lots run about half an acre, so there is real space between houses and room for a yard that does something.
• That also means more grass to cut than most subdivisions built around here after 2010 ask of you.
• Building started in 2022 and continues, which puts construction traffic, mud on the road and framing crews on the street until the last lots go.
• Dues are $900 a year and go to the common areas and the trail connection, and no part of that is a pool.
• Schools are Richland Creek Elementary, Wake Forest Middle and Wake Forest High.
• Be plain about the water: this is a neighborhood near Falls Lake with a trail connection to it, which is not the same thing as lakefront.

What to do if you're visiting

The lake is what a visitor comes for. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail runs through the same woods the neighborhood connects into, so a walk can be twenty minutes or most of a day depending on how you feel.

• Public shoreline on this side of the water is at Falls Lake State Recreation Area.
• For the days that involve an engine instead of a paddle, Motor Boatin’ is the directory listing to start with.
• Anyone whose bike needs attention before a ride should know The Bike Guy.
• If the weather rules all of that out, downtown Wake Forest and its restaurants are the fallback.