Trails at Woodhaven Lakes is the most active new-construction master plan in La Marque, and it is also the one most likely to surprise a buyer after the contract is signed. The community sits on 82 acres with 20 acres of interconnected lakes, walking trails and greenspace, with pricing that currently starts around $232,990 and homes running roughly 1,450 to 2,883 square feet on 45-foot and 60-foot homesites. Four builders work the same streets. The schools are not the ones most buyers assume. Here is what a La Marque new-build actually requires.
"Best new construction realtor" really means "whose side is the person at the table on"
Walk into any model home in Woodhaven Lakes and someone will greet you warmly, sit you down, and run your numbers. That person is a builder sales representative. They are good at their job, and their job is to represent the builder. In a four-builder community that distinction is worth real money, because the only way to know whether Smith Douglas, CastleRock, Century Communities or Lennar is pricing a comparable floorplan aggressively this month is to have someone pulling all four at once.
| What you need | What the model home provides | What independent representation provides |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-builder pricing | One builder's price sheet and incentives | All four builders' current base prices, lot premiums and incentives side by side |
| Incentive math | Rate buydowns framed as savings | Whether the buydown is cheaper than the equivalent price reduction over your real hold period |
| Lot selection | The lots that builder still holds | Which lots back to the lakes, the trails, or the future pool, across the whole 82 acres |
| Contract terms | The builder's own addendum | What is negotiable in that addendum, and what the construction timeline language actually obligates |
| Inspections | A builder walkthrough | An independent third-party inspection at pre-drywall and at final |
The most expensive mistake in a multi-builder community is deciding on a floorplan before comparing lots. Floorplans repeat and get rebuilt every year. A specific homesite backing to one of those 20 acres of water does not, and the premium you pay for it is the part of your purchase most likely to still be there at resale.
The La Marque market Woodhaven Lakes is being built into
La Marque has been one of the strongest appreciation stories on the mainland, which matters because new construction is priced against resale.
| Measure | La Marque, September 2026 | What it means for a Woodhaven Lakes buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $259,776, up 13.4 percent year over year | Base pricing from about $232,990 is entering under the citywide median |
| Median days on market | 61 days, up 1 day from a year earlier | Resale is slow enough that builders must keep incentives on the table |
| Homes sold | 90 in September 2026, down 2.8 percent | Steady absorption, not a stalled market |
| Sale-to-list price | 97.5 percent | Buyers here still negotiate, and so should you on a spec home |
Figures reflect public market reporting as of September 2026 and change month to month. The combination to watch is the 13.4 percent gain against 61 days on market. Appreciation that strong with marketing time that long usually means standing inventory, and standing inventory is where new-construction leverage lives. A completed spec home a builder is carrying into a new quarter is a fundamentally different negotiation from a to-be-built contract, and in this community both are available at the same time.
The Woodhaven Lakes specifics almost nobody checks
| Detail | The verified reality | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| School district | Hitchcock ISD, not Clear Creek ISD or Texas City ISD; Hitchcock Primary, Stewart Elementary, Crosby Middle and Hitchcock High | Buyers routinely assume a La Marque address means a different district; verify your exact homesite |
| The pool | Listed as coming soon, not open | Do not pay a premium today for an amenity with no delivery date in your contract |
| Lot widths | 45-foot and 60-foot sections price and live very differently | Side-yard setbacks, driveway width and resale pool all shift with the section |
| Builder inventory stage | At least one builder is marketing final opportunities in its section | Late-stage sections mean fewer lots and less incentive flexibility, so timing is real |
| Multi-generational design | The master plan is built around multi-generational living | Dual-primary and flex-suite plans exist here, which is rare at this price point on the mainland |
Confirm your school zoning in writing against the actual lot address, not the community name. In a master plan this size, boundaries can run through a development, and a Hitchcock ISD assignment is a materially different resale story than the one a buyer imagines when they hear La Marque. It costs one phone call before you sign and cannot be fixed afterward.
The tradeoffs, honestly
| Option | Upside | Trade-Off |
|---|---|---|
| To-be-built on a chosen lot | You pick the homesite, the orientation and the finishes, and get full builder warranty | Longer timeline, rate exposure during the build, and the weakest price leverage |
| Completed spec home | Strongest negotiating position, known rate, and you see the actual house | You take the lot and the finish palette someone else chose |
| A 45-foot homesite | Lowest entry into the community, closest to that $232,990 starting point | Tighter side yards and a smaller resale buyer pool than the 60-foot sections |
| A lake or trail backing lot | The part of the purchase most likely to hold value at resale | A real lot premium today, paid in cash or financed for thirty years |
| Waiting for the pool to open | You buy a delivered amenity instead of a promised one | You are betting La Marque pricing holds flat, against 13.4 percent annual appreciation |
If you are comparing a spec home against a to-be-built in the same section, price the rate buydown over your actual expected hold rather than over thirty years. Most buyers in this price band move or refinance well inside seven years, and a buydown structured for a thirty-year hold is often worth less to you than the same dollars taken off the price.
Why the Mandie McMillan Team, Client for Life rather than one closing
La Marque is not a market Mandie McMillan researched. She was born and raised here in 1976, has been a Galveston County resident for 50 years, and has spent 26 years in this business. In 2026 she serves as Chair of the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce after four years on its executive board, with a focus on small business growth and the economic development of La Marque, Texas City and the wider county. The growth along the I-45 corridor that made Woodhaven Lakes possible is work she is actively part of, not a trend she read about.
The production backs the roots. In 2025 the team closed 75 sides and $22,127,458 in volume with six active producing agents, about 12.5 closed sides and $3.7 million per agent. Mandie personally closed 30 sides and $11,676,748. Mandie is a RE/MAX International Hall of Fame inductee and a repeat RE/MAX Chairman's Club and Platinum Club honoree, holds the SRS and CLHS designations, and served as 2017 President of the Women's Council of Realtors Bay Area chapter and 2018 Texas District Vice President. The team also ranks among the Top 250 RE/MAX teams in Texas.
Plenty of capable agents and several strong brokerages work La Marque new construction, and the builder representatives in Woodhaven Lakes are professionals. The difference is that we are not paid by any of the four builders, and we are still your advisor the year the warranty expires, the year you refinance, and the year you sell.
Register us with the builder before your first model home visit, because representation usually has to be in place at that first sign-in. Call The Mandie McMillan Team at RE/MAX Coastal and we will pull all four builders' current pricing and walk the available lots with you.
