Living in Cordillera Ranch: A Complete Guide to Boerne and Kendall County

Search Cordillera Ranch and you'll find golf course photography. That's the easy part of the story, and it's not the part that determines whether a purchase here works out.

The questions that matter are quieter: which county you're buying in, which water and wastewater configuration serves the specific homesite, and — the one most buyers discover late — which class of club membership attaches to the property you're about to put under contract. Those three answers shape the tax bill, the inspection list, and what the next buyer inherits from you.

Here's what's verifiable, and where the real diligence sits.

Where Cordillera Ranch Is — and Why the County Line Matters

Cordillera Ranch sits in Kendall County, near Boerne, northwest of San Antonio. The developer's sales office is at 28 Cordillera Trace, Boerne, TX 78006.

That county line does more work than people expect. Buying in Kendall County rather than Bexar means a different appraisal district, a different set of taxing units, a different county engineer, and a different set of development and groundwater rules. If you've been shopping inside Loop 1604 and then look here, almost every assumption about the bill and the permitting path needs re-checking.

The mechanics of how Texas property taxes are assessed and protested are the same statewide, and I've written about them in detail in Understanding Your Bexar County Property Tax Bill — but read that piece for the structure, not the numbers. The jurisdictions here are entirely different.

The Land: 8,700 Acres and Five Miles of the Guadalupe

By the developer's published figures, Cordillera Ranch covers 8,700 acres and includes five miles of Guadalupe River frontage, spring-fed through this stretch of the Hill Country.

Across that acreage there are more than 1,300 homesites. Divide one into the other and you get roughly 6.7 gross acres per homesite — a crude number, since it counts the golf course, the clubs, the river corridor and the roads, but it's the figure that explains why the place reads as open land rather than subdivision. Density, not architecture, is what you're buying at this scale.

Lot Sizes, From a Quarter Acre to Twelve-Plus

The range is wider than most people assume. Per the developer: lots run from ¼ acre in the Di Lusso Villas, to 1+ acre on the golf course, up to 12+ acre ranch estate lots.

Named sections currently published include:

• Guadalupe River Estates — 9 estates with river frontage and water access
• Hawk Canyon (Unit 13) — 28 homesites, 2 to 4+ acres, near the main entrance
• Cordillera Ridge — 15 estate homesites, 2 to 5 acres
• Clubs Village Estate Homesites (Units 201C and 220) — roughly 1 to 2+ acres with golf and valley views
• The Springs of Cordillera Ranch — about 1 acre to 7+ acres, including bluff-top sites along the creeks and river

Availability and pricing change without notice, so treat any published list as a snapshot. The useful takeaway is that "Cordillera Ranch" is not one product — a quarter-acre villa and a twelve-acre ranch estate are different purchases with different carrying costs, different maintenance, and different buyer pools at resale.

The Seven Clubs and Three Ways to Join

The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch comprise seven clubs: Golf, Tennis & Swim, Spa & Athletic, Social, Equestrian, Rod & Gun, and River.

Membership is published in three tiers:

• Full Golf — privileges in all seven clubs
• Limited Golf — privileges in all seven, with golf access restricted to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all day, and Friday before noon
• Ranch — privileges in all clubs except Golf

And then the distinction that actually moves money. Within each tier, memberships are classified as either Master, which is "transferable to the subsequent purchaser of the Member's property," or Conditional, which is not transferable.

Read that twice. Two otherwise identical homes on the same street can carry different membership rights, and only one of them hands that right to your buyer when you sell. Ask which classification attaches to the specific property, get the answer in writing, and have your attorney confirm it against the membership documents before the option period closes. Dues and initiation figures aren't published — they come from the club's membership office.

What You Actually Pay: Kendall County Tax Rates for 2026

Kendall County publishes adopted rates per $100 of taxable value. For 2026:

Taxing unit	2026 rate per $100
Kendall County	0.373
Boerne ISD	1.0065
Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District	0.005
Combined (these three)	1.3845

On a property with $1,000,000 in taxable value, that combination works out to roughly $13,845 per year before any exemptions.

That figure is a floor, not a quote. Kendall County's own rate tables list additional taxing units that apply to some parcels and not others — among them Kendall County WCID #1 and #2A, Kendall County MUD #1, and Miralomas MUD. Which units appear on a specific bill depends on where the parcel sits. Pull the actual account from the appraisal district before you build a budget around any number, including this one.

For context on what moves the taxable value itself, What Actually Determines Your Home's Value in San Antonio covers how appraisal logic works — and why a new street with no independent sales history is a harder appraisal than an established one.

Water, Septic, and Kendall County's Three-Acre Rule

This is the section I'd read first if I were buying acreage here.

Kendall County's development rules tie minimum lot size directly to the water and wastewater configuration:

• Well + septic: 3 acres minimum
• Public water + septic: 1 acre minimum
• Public water + sewer: no minimum acreage

Which means lot size is itself a clue. A one-acre homesite in unincorporated Kendall County is not on a private well under these rules. A three-acre-plus homesite may be. Don't infer — confirm, in writing, for the parcel.

The county also requires that new subdivisions file a Groundwater Availability Report, prepared by a licensed professional engineer or geoscientist, before a plat application is considered complete. The report has to include aquifer testing with paired pumping and observation wells, projected demand at full buildout, a demonstration of adequate supply over both 10-year and 50-year horizons, and water quality analysis for constituents including chloride, nitrate and total dissolved solids.

That's a meaningful standard, and it's worth knowing it exists. It is also a subdivision-level study. It is not a warranty on the well serving one particular house.

What Buyers Underestimate

The membership class, not just the membership. Covered above, and it's the single most expensive thing to get wrong here.

Septic is a mechanical asset. An on-site sewage facility has a service life, a permit history, and an inspection record. Ask for all three. Replacement is a five-figure conversation, and on a bluff or river lot the siting constraints make it a larger one.

Well water is a maintenance relationship. Testing, treatment, pump life, and — in a dry stretch — yield. The Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District exists precisely because groundwater here is managed, not assumed.

Topography adds time. Bluff, creek and river parcels bring floodplain review, slope, tree preservation and driveway engineering into the build. Architectural review inside a planned community adds more. Budget calendar, not just dollars.

The first tax bill on new construction understates. Texas appraises as of January 1. If the house wasn't finished on that date, year one is largely a land bill and year two is the real one.

The drive is a Hill Country drive. Boerne is close. San Antonio is a commute. Whether that trade works is a lifestyle question only you can answer — but answer it before closing, at the hour you'd actually be driving.

For how the luxury transaction itself tends to run in this market — representation, inspections, and the sequence of an offer — see Buying a Luxury Home in San Antonio: How the Process Actually Works.

Frequently Asked Questions

What school district serves Cordillera Ranch? Boerne Independent School District. Its 2026 tax rate is 1.0065 per $100 of taxable value. Campus assignments and accountability ratings are published by the district and the Texas Education Agency; verify both directly for a specific address.

How large are the homesites? From a quarter acre in the Di Lusso Villas up to 12+ acre ranch estate lots, with most named sections falling between 1 and 7 acres.

Is club membership required to own property there? Three membership tiers are published, in Master (transferable at resale) and Conditional (non-transferable) classifications. Whether any obligation attaches to a given property is a matter of that property's documents — confirm in writing before the option period ends.

Is the community on city water or well water? It depends on the homesite. Kendall County ties minimum lot size to the configuration, so lot size narrows the possibilities, but only the parcel's records answer it.

What are the property taxes? For 2026, the three confirmed units total 1.3845 per $100 — roughly $13,845 annually on $1,000,000 of taxable value before exemptions. Additional districts apply to some parcels.

Is Cordillera Ranch in San Antonio? No. It's in Kendall County near Boerne, which means a different appraisal district, different taxing units and different county development rules than Bexar County.

What These Numbers Don't Tell You

The acreage, homesite count, lot ranges, section names and membership structure above come from Cordillera Ranch's own published materials. Developer figures describe a plan and change over time; availability changes without notice.

The tax rates are 2026 adopted rates for three units, drawn from Kendall County's published tables. They are not a complete bill for any parcel — emergency services, water control and improvement districts, and municipal utility districts apply to some properties and not others. Dues and initiation costs for the clubs are not published and I haven't estimated them.

I've deliberately left market statistics out of this post. SABOR's data is metro-wide and doesn't isolate Cordillera Ranch or Kendall County, and borrowing a metro median to describe an 8,700-acre luxury community would mislead more than it informs. Nothing here forecasts prices or appreciation, and nothing here is a substitute for pulling the actual parcel records.

This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, tax or investment advice. Figures correspond to the periods and sources indicated and are subject to revision. Verify all details applicable to any specific property, and consult qualified professionals — an attorney, an accountant and a tax advisor — before making a decision. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Equal Housing Opportunity.