The Housechick Blog

Today we explore Rincon Trails, in Vail.

Rincon Trails is located off of Camino Loma Alta and Colossal Cave Roads, in Vail, near Rancho del Lago.  Driving through this community today, I see there’s certainly a wide variety of homes for sale in Rincon Trails, both resale and new construction.

Rincon Trails is about 500 lots, and has three different builders: Sombra Homes, Pulte, and Standard Pacific.  All three of these builders are still producing new homes, but there are some nice resale homes here too, that already have the pools and landscaping installed.  If you’re trying to get into the Vail school district before school starts, don’t forget to check out the resale homes when you’re out there looking at the new construction.

Prices vary widely between builders, and between new and resale homes, but the range of prices, as of today, runs between $275,000 and about $500,000.

One of my favorite things about Rincon Trails is the typical lot size.  I’d say the average lot is about a third of an acre, give or take a couple hundred square feet.  This means that there is nice breathing room between the houses; the homes in Rincon Trails aren’t piled up on top of each other like some of the other new home communities in the area. 

Each builder has a unique style.  The Pulte homes have that Pulte look.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Pulte, they’ve an excellent reputation as a builder and they have some fabulous floor plans.  Pulte homes just always have arches.  Arched shutters.  Arched windows.  Nice front porches, usually, and the third car garage that’s separate from the main garage.   I can almost always tell when it is a Pulte home.  Sombra does a very nice, clean Santa Fe style, and that’s a big compliment.  I see a LOT of bad Santa Fe style around here.  Standard Pacific has more 2 story plans than the other builders, and does Southwestern, but with wrought iron touches that look Mediterranean to me.

I see a lot of commercial lots for sale, or for lease, which means that the commercial development is on its way.  There’s no big grocery store or shopping in the area yet, but there are rumors of a big mall coming in near the freeway, and a grocery store coming soon.

It’s really amazing to drive through the Vail area.  Between Rincon Trails, Rancho del Lago, Coyote Creek, and the other smaller subdivisions, Vail has really taken off in the past couple of years.  As Tucson pushes out even more towards the Southeast, this area will begin to boom as the commercial and retail development catch up with the residential developers. 

And that’s Rincon Trails!  If you’re interested in the Vail area, I’m happy to chat with you about that.  Send me an email, and let’s talk.

Let’s visit the West side of Tucson and take a look at Saguaro Cliffs.

Saguaro Cliffs started out as a land development in late 2004: a developer bought the parcel, subdivided it into lots, and created all the roads, brought utilities to the lot lines, and set it all up to be sold as parcels of ready-to-build land.

There are 61 lots total, ranging from 1.5 acres to roughly 3 acres, although there are two owners in the subdivision that have extraordinary lots, at 4.6 and 6 acres, respectively.  Utilities are underground, and have been brought to the lot lines.  Septic systems are required, as there is no city sewer in the area.

Saguaro Cliffs is a gated community, but at this point, the gates are only closed on Sundays since there is ongoing development in the subdivision.

It is also a custom home community, where each lot owner gets to hire their own builder to create their dream house, and there is no restriction on when the house must be built.  There are community rules that govern, among other things: building height, colors used, and size of the house and accessory structures.  Minimum house size is 2400 square feet.  As of today, lots are priced between $250k and $350k, and houses range from $850k to $1.2 million.

Saguaro Cliffs is a very striking community, with a good deal of open space between houses.  Most lots either have city views or mountain views, and both are spectacular.  The association has kept a natural feel to the landscape along the roads, and it feels like a nice, quite, remote community.

I’d place this neighborhood about 10 minutes from the freeway, and maybe 15 minutes from downtown. 

It is quite a spectacular place, covered in saguaro, palo verde, jojoba, and mesquite trees.

For more specific information, send me an email and let’s discuss!