River Mountain Ranch

River Mountain Ranch is a 563-parcel acreage subdivision on about 3,104 acres east of Boerne off Kreutzberg Road, median lot 5.0 acres, median Kendall CAD value near $780,000. Its POA is voluntary, not mandatory — and the three private Guadalupe river parks are a members' amenity. Individual wells and on-site septic throughout.

River Mountain Ranch is out FM 474 — Blanco Road — east of Boerne, past Cave Without a Name, off Kreutzberg Road. It is one of the largest acreage subdivisions in Kendall County and it does not feel like a neighborhood at all. Streets like Kreutzberg, Hoskins Trail, Clear Creek, Clear Springs, Red Oak, North Star and Brookview run through cedar and oak with long gaps between mailboxes.

Horses are normal here. So are tractors, hay, and gates you open yourself.

The numbers

Kendall County Appraisal District parcel records show 563 parcels covering roughly 3,104 acres, with 467 already improved (Kendall CAD GIS parcel layer, retrieved September 2026). That is a big community by land area — more than half the footprint of Cordillera Ranch — with far fewer amenities and far lower prices.

Lot sizes: 10th percentile about 3.07 acres, median 5.0 acres, 90th percentile about 7.9 acres. Five acres is the standard tract.

Current Kendall CAD market values on improved parcels: median near $780,000, 10th percentile around $563,000, 90th around $1,166,000. Appraisal-district values, not list prices. For five acres with private Guadalupe access, that is among the better value-per-acre propositions in the county — and the reason for it is the drive, which we will get to.

The HOA is voluntary — and that is a genuinely important distinction

Almost every community in this guide has a mandatory HOA. River Mountain Ranch does not.

The River Mountain Ranch Property Owners Association is a voluntary association, run by a volunteer elected board rather than a management company. Its filed management certificate lists a residential mailing address in Boerne and an individual board president as the designated representative, with a $200 transfer fee (TREC management certificate, recorded Kendall County Instrument #371843, filed July 7, 2022). The association's site is rmrpoa.com.

What voluntary means in practice:

• You are not automatically obligated to pay dues the way you would be in a mandatory-membership subdivision.
• The river parks are a members' amenity. If you do not join, you should not assume you get access. This is the practical consequence most buyers miss — people buy here for the river and then discover access is tied to membership in an association they thought was optional.
• Deed restrictions still apply regardless. Voluntary POA membership does not mean no rules. The recorded restrictions govern the land whether you join or not.

Before you write an offer, get in writing: what membership costs, what it includes, whether the seller is current, and exactly what river park access requires.

The river parks

The community's amenity is three private river parks on the Guadalupe, with grills and picnic areas, used for tubing, kayaking, and fishing. The parks are gated.

Note the distinction carefully: the river parks are gated. Whether the subdivision entrance itself is gated is a separate question and we could not confirm it from a primary source. "Gated river parks" and "gated community" are different claims, and they get conflated constantly in listings. Verify on the ground.

Individual lots generally do not front the river.

Utilities — wells and septic, plan accordingly

River Mountain Ranch is on individual water wells and on-site septic systems. There is no central water or sewer out here.

That is not a dealbreaker — thousands of Kendall County households live this way — but it changes your inspection list and your budget. Get the well log, well depth, pump age, pressure tank condition, and a bacteriological and mineral water test. Get the septic system's permit history from Kendall County's on-site sewage program and have the tank pumped and inspected. On a five-acre property, a failing septic field or a marginal well is a five-figure problem, and it will not show up on a standard home inspection.

Jurisdiction and taxes

Kendall CAD shows no city taxing unit. This is unincorporated Kendall County, well outside any City of Boerne boundary. No city tax, no city services, county sheriff, rural fire response. Confirm your homeowner's insurance carrier is comfortable with the ISO fire rating out here — it affects premiums.

Schools

Boerne ISD. A point inside the community returns Curington Elementary, Boerne Middle School North, and Boerne High School through Boerne ISD's own InfoFinder lookup (queried September 2026).

Confirm your specific address with the district. Across 3,100 acres, zoning can differ at the extremes, and Boerne ISD redrew elementary boundaries in August 2024.

The school bus ride from out here is long. Factor it honestly into the decision if you have young children.

Location and commute

From downtown Boerne: east on FM 474 roughly six miles, then Kreutzberg Road. It is a beautiful drive and a slow one. There is no quick way to make it faster.

To I-10 and then San Antonio, this is a substantial daily commute. To the H-E-B, it is a planned trip, not an errand. Cell coverage is uneven in the low spots.

Who it suits

It suits someone who wants five acres, a horse or two, real quiet, and a piece of the Guadalupe, at a price that acreage closer to town does not reach. It suits people who work remotely or on a flexible schedule. It suits buyers comfortable maintaining their own water and waste systems.

It does not suit a daily San Antonio commuter, a family that wants sidewalks and a short bus ride, or a buyer who wants an HOA to handle things — here, largely, nobody does. And it does not suit someone who assumed river access came automatically with the deed.

Talk to someone who works this market

Heath Shepard is a licensed Texas REALTOR with Keller Williams, working Boerne, Fair Oaks Ranch, and Kendall County. If you want current River Mountain Ranch listings, or help understanding exactly what POA membership costs and what it gets you on the river, reach out through theheathshepardrealestateteam.com.

Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com