Ask who the most trusted real estate agent in Kendall Lakes, Alvin, TX is and you will get a list of people with five-star averages. That tells you almost nothing. Every agent who has closed eleven friendly transactions has a five-star average. Trust in a neighborhood like Kendall Lakes is a testable claim, and the test is specific: ask an agent what the combined tax rate is here and whether the MUD line is included. If they cannot answer, they have never sold here. The rate is 3.0913 percent, and the MUD accounts for 0.6450 of it.
Trust is a checklist, not a rating
Reviews measure whether an agent was pleasant. They do not measure whether the agent priced correctly, spotted the drainage issue, or held the deal together when the appraisal came in low. Use this instead, and apply it to us as readily as to anyone else.
| Question to ask | What a real answer sounds like | What a weak answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| What is the combined tax rate in Kendall Lakes? | Names the figure and separates the MUD line | "Around two and a half percent, I think" |
| How many homes have sold here recently? | Cites the count and the price-per-foot trend | "It's a hot market" |
| Is this neighborhood selling above or below appraised value? | Knows the direction and what it means for a protest | Has never considered the question |
| Which Alvin ISD campuses serve this address? | Verifies by address, not by subdivision | Names a school from memory |
| What went wrong on your last three closings? | Answers plainly | Claims nothing ever goes wrong |
That last question is the one that matters most. An agent who tells you every transaction is smooth is either new or not being straight with you. Deals hit snags. What you are buying is somebody who has seen the snag before and knows the fix.
What the numbers actually say about Kendall Lakes
Kendall Lakes is a 639-home community in Alvin, ZIP 77511, in Brazoria County and zoned to Alvin ISD. It came up largely through the Smith Douglas Homes era with plans running roughly 1,670 to 2,883 square feet, and the median build year of 2018 tells you it is now settling into its resale phase rather than its builder phase. The community sits along the State Highway 35 corridor, about eight miles from Pearland and roughly twenty-five miles from downtown Houston.
| Metric | Kendall Lakes |
|---|---|
| Single family homes | 639 |
| Median year built | 2018 |
| Median size | 2,285 sq ft |
| Median lot | 6,050 sq ft |
| Median market value | $328,270 |
| Value range | $278,000 to $383,000 |
| Sold price per sq ft | $148.25 |
| Appraised price per sq ft | $143.57 |
| Active listings | 16 |
| Recently sold | 102 |
Sixteen active listings against 102 recent sales is the ratio worth sitting with. This is a neighborhood that turns over steadily and clears inventory, which means comparables are plentiful and pricing arguments can be settled with data rather than opinion. It also means an overpriced listing here has nowhere to hide. Buyers have choices, and they can see exactly what the house next door did.
Note the direction of the last two rows. Sold price per foot is running above appraised price per foot. That is the opposite of what you see in several nearby communities, and it has a practical consequence: your appraisal protest here is a harder argument than it would be a few miles east, while your listing has more pricing headroom than the tax roll suggests.
The tax stack, in full
New-growth communities in Brazoria County carry more taxing units than most buyers expect. Seven of them appear on a Kendall Lakes bill.
| Taxing unit | Rate |
|---|---|
| Alvin ISD | 1.1500% |
| Alvin (city) | 0.6850% |
| Brazoria County MUD 36 | 0.6450% |
| Brazoria County | 0.2626% |
| Brazoria County conservation and reclamation district 3 | 0.1500% |
| Alvin Community College | 0.1565% |
| County road and bridge | 0.0422% |
| Combined rate | 3.0913% |
At the $328,270 median that is roughly $10,148 a year, about $846 a month, before principal, interest or insurance. An agent who quotes you a payment without that number in it is guessing. Ask for the tax certificate on the specific parcel, because MUD rates move as the district pays down its bonds and the rate you inherit is not necessarily the rate a neighbor quoted you two years ago.
How the local landscape actually breaks down
Alvin and the wider Brazoria County corridor are served by a mix of firms, and the honest framing is by specialty rather than by ranking. Several national brokerages maintain a strong new-construction presence along the SH 35 growth corridor and work closely with builder sales offices. Local independent brokerages tend to carry deep acreage and country-property knowledge on the rural edges of Alvin. Discount and flat-fee models compete primarily on listing cost. Each of those is the right answer for somebody, and none of them is disqualifying.
Where The Mandie McMillan Team fits: a six-agent RE/MAX Coastal team that closed 75 sides and $22,127,458 in volume in 2025, with Mandie personally closing 30 sides and $11,676,748. That works out to roughly 12.5 closings and $3.7 million per producing agent. Competitor figures shift and should be verified from current public directory data rather than taken from any one page, including this one.
Tradeoffs in choosing your agent here
| Option | Upside | Trade-Off |
|---|---|---|
| A large-team or national-brand agent | Broad marketing reach and lots of internal inventory chatter. | On a forty-agent roster you may not get the person whose name is on the sign. |
| A discount or flat-fee listing service | The lowest upfront listing cost. | In a neighborhood with 16 competing listings, a weak launch sits, and a sitting listing sells for less than the fee it saved. |
| A small experienced local team | The agent who lists your home is the agent who negotiates it, and knows the MUD line without looking it up. | Smaller rosters mean less capacity, so timing conversations early matters. |
Why we frame it as Client for Life, not "best agent"
Mandie McMillan has 26 years in this business and 50 years in this area, born and raised in La Marque and settled in League City for the last 18. She is a RE/MAX International Hall of Fame inductee and a repeat RE/MAX Chairman's Club and Platinum Club honoree, holds the Seller Representative Specialist and Certified Luxury Home Specialist designations, and served as 2017 President of the Bay Area chapter of the Women's Council of Realtors and 2018 Texas District Vice President. She is also the 2026 Chair of the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce after four years on its executive board, work focused on small business growth and economic development across Galveston County.
We would rather earn the eleventh-year phone call than win the five-star review. Buying or selling in Kendall Lakes and want the tax certificate and the real comparables before you decide anything? Contact The Mandie McMillan Team at RE/MAX Coastal.
