What is Waterfall Ranch in Waxahachie?

Waterfall Ranch is a Graham Hart Home Builder community of one-acre homesites in Waxahachie, Texas 75167, priced from the low $600s — and because it sits outside the Waxahachie city limits, its lots carry no city property tax at all. That last point is the one nobody publishes, and it is the reason this community deserves a closer look than its price band alone would suggest. We pulled the Ellis County Appraisal District record on a Waterfall Ranch lot to confirm it rather than repeating what a brochure says. Here is what the record shows, what the community is, and the two things you should verify before you rely on any of it.

Where exactly is Waterfall Ranch?

Waterfall Ranch Estates is platted in Ellis County, with a Waxahachie mailing address in the 75167 ZIP code. Waxahachie sits roughly thirty miles south of downtown Dallas along Interstate 35E, which is what puts a one-acre homesite within a commute of the city at a price that is not available inside Dallas County. The community is outside the corporate boundary of the City of Waxahachie — a distinction that has nothing to do with the mailing address and everything to do with your tax bill.

Why does "outside city limits" change the tax bill?

Because in Texas every property is taxed by the specific set of jurisdictions whose boundaries it falls inside, and a city can only tax what is inside its city limits. We read the Ellis CAD record for Property ID 304466, legal description LOT 2 BLK A WATERFALL RANCH ESTS PH 1 1.095 AC. The taxing units listed on that account are these, and there is no city among them:

A comparable home inside the Waxahachie city limits pays a city rate on top of the county and school rates; a Waterfall Ranch homesite does not. That is a real, recurring, annual difference, and it compounds over a hold period. Two honest caveats belong right next to it. First, taxing-unit boundaries are not permanent — a city can annex, and annexation would change the answer. Second, no city taxes also means no city services: fire and EMS come from the emergency services district, and road maintenance on a county road is a county function operating on a county schedule. Whether that trade favors you is a personal call, not a marketing point.

One more piece of arithmetic that people get wrong: adding the published rates of these units together does not produce the number on your statement, because each jurisdiction applies its own exemptions to its own taxable value. The Texas homestead exemption for school taxes is $140,000 for tax year 2025 and beyond, following the passage of Proposition 13 on November 4, 2025 — and that applies only to the Waxahachie ISD portion, and only if the home is your homestead. Ask for the actual assessed value on the specific lot and run the math on that number.

What are the homesites and the pricing?

A one-acre homesite is the whole argument for this community. Most new construction inside a North Texas city sits on a fraction of that, because a city lot is priced by frontage and platted for density. An acre changes what you can do with the ground — setbacks, outbuildings, a shop, a real distance between you and the next house — and in Ellis County it is still reachable at a price band that starts in the low $600s rather than the millions.

We deliberately do not publish a square-footage range on this page. Our own earlier copy stated two different ranges for the same community, and rather than pick the one that reads better, we have asked the builder to confirm a single figure. When they do, it goes here with the source named. If a specific plan size is the deciding factor for you, ask us and we will get the plan sheet rather than a range.

Is this the same as Waterfall Way in Waxahachie?

No, and this is the single most common mix-up on this community. There is a Waterfall Way address in Waxahachie 75165 — 121 Waterfall Way — and it is not in Waterfall Ranch. The Ellis CAD record puts that address in Lakeway Estates, a different subdivision that sits inside the Waxahachie city limits. Same school district, different community, different taxing units, different everything else. If you are comparing listings, comparing tax bills, or handing an address to a lender, confirm the subdivision on the appraisal district record and not on the street name. The similarity of the names has already produced errors in published material, and it is worth thirty seconds to rule out.

What should you verify before you write an offer?

1. Confirm the specific lot’s taxing units on the Ellis CAD record for that account — not on a neighboring lot, and not on the community as a whole. Phases can sit differently.
2. Ask whether the tract is inside the City of Waxahachie’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, and what the city’s current annexation posture is. The ETJ is not the city limits, but it is where annexation questions start.
3. Get the homeowners association documents and confirm the $500 annual figure in writing, along with what it covers and what the declarant still controls.
4. Ask for the water and wastewater arrangement in writing. Outside a city, service comes from a water supply corporation, a district, or a well and septic system, and the answer affects both your monthly cost and your lender’s requirements.
5. Ask the builder to put the plan’s square footage, the standard finish schedule, and the allowance structure on paper before you sign. A builder’s own contract is not a TREC form, and it does not behave like one — we walk through that on our page on how a builder’s contract differs from a TREC form.

How does Waterfall Ranch compare to Graham Hart’s other communities?

Graham Hart builds across a wide band of North Texas price points, and Waterfall Ranch sits in the middle of it. The builder’s Colleyville work, Park Hill, starts at $3 million and above. The Grove in North Richland Hills starts in the $800s on a city lot. Waterfall Ranch starts in the low $600s on a full acre. The trade you are making at Waterfall Ranch is drive time for land — you are farther out than Colleyville or North Richland Hills, and you get ground that those communities cannot offer at any price. The full relationship and the rest of the builder’s North Texas communities are on our Graham Hart page.

How we can help

We represent buyers in builder communities, which matters more here than in resale because the paper is the builder’s and the sales counselor works for the builder. Register us with you on your first visit — most builders honor broker representation only if the agent is present or registered at that first contact, and it costs you nothing. From there we read the contract, price the community against comparable one-acre inventory in Ellis County, and confirm the taxing units on your specific lot rather than on the brochure. If you are weighing Waterfall Ranch against something else in the area, our new construction guide covers what changes when you buy a home that has not been built yet.

How we sourced this

Community facts — builder, price band, homesite size, homeowners association dues, and school district — are as published by Graham Hart Home Builder. Taxing-unit composition, legal description, and the Lakeway Estates distinction were read directly from Ellis County Appraisal District records, including Property ID 304466, legal description LOT 2 BLK A WATERFALL RANCH ESTS PH 1 1.095 AC. The $140,000 school-tax homestead exemption reflects Texas Proposition 13, approved November 4, 2025, effective for tax year 2025 and beyond. Verified August 2026 and current as of that date. Pricing, plans, availability, dues, and jurisdictional boundaries are set by others and change without notice; confirm every figure before you rely on it. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

The Agency Dallas is independently owned and operated by Damon & Megan Williamson. Damon Williamson, Broker-Owner · Licensed Real Estate Agent, State of Texas. Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas 75167. Equal Housing Opportunity. Texas Real Estate Commission Information About Brokerage Services and Consumer Protection Notice are available at trec.texas.gov. This is not intended as a solicitation of property currently listed for sale.