Desert Highlands is an exclusive, gated golf community located in North Scottsdale. It sits just at the base of Pinnacle Peak and is located close to Troon Mountain. Its northern border spans to East Desert Highlands Drive while its southern border touches East Happy Valley Road. It is just west of East Ranch Gate Road and east of North 96th Street.

Its location in Northern Scottsdale, close to the town of Carefree, puts it conveniently close to local services and amenities, including hospitals, banks, schools, and grocery stores. Desert Highlands was built in 1984 and prides itself on offering a relaxed, low-maintenance way of life for homeowners of all ages. Much of daily life in this community centers around its 18-hole championship golf course.

People who call Desert Highlands home also enjoy breathtaking views of the surrounding Sonoran Desert, nearby mountains, and city lights. It's an idyllic setting, combined with the upscale amenities that are available to homeowners of all ages, creates a high demand for real estate in Desert Highlands. People who want to call this upscale community home can find out what properties are available by contacting West USA Realty and Carl Chapman REALTOR for details.

In fact, the real estate market in Desert Highlands, which offers two separate neighborhoods, consists primarily of single-family homes. Any homes that come up for sale are frequently resale only, although there are a number of vacant lots upon which new homes can be built.

The prices for homes in this community likewise reflect its exclusivity and high demand for real estate. Homes here sell for upwards of $1.4 million and can even reach into the $2 million and $3 million range. Those prices fetch expansive homes with upwards of three bedrooms, three to six bathrooms, and attached two and three-car garages.

Other designs and features commonly found in homes in Desert Highlands include:

• Covered balconies and decks
• Vaulted ceilings
• Wood window blinds
• Breakfast nooks
• Kitchen islands or bars
• Stone and wood floors
• Fireplaces in the living rooms and master bedrooms
• Granite counters
• Large utility rooms
• Pantries
• Built-in microwaves
• Gas ranges
• His and her bathroom sinks
• Garden tubs with jets

Some homes in Desert Highlands even have separate guest houses, as well backyard in-ground swimming pools, pool houses, and areas for barbecues or fire pits.

Desert Highlands likewise makes available a number of community amenities, courtesy of its homeowner's association that governs the day-to-day operations within the community itself. The HOA in Desert Highlands consists of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and member-at-large. All of the people who serve on the Desert Highlands HOA are elected to their offices by homeowners who live in the community.

Further, all homeowners in Desert Highlands pay dues to the HOA, which in turn uses that money to pay for the upkeep and repair of the community's amenity facilities and infrastructure. It especially makes use of the community's reserve funds for purposes like:

• Replacing or repairing roofs on community buildings and clubhouses
• Installing or replacing pumps in the community's swimming pools
• Repairing or maintaining playground equipment, tennis courts, and other amenities
• Painting community buildings
• Repairing and replacing fencing in the community
• Landscaping
• Building or maintaining major fixtures like the roads and sidewalks

The HOA holds meetings that are open to homeowners in the community every month. The community's HOA also has a website where community members can visit and find out what projects that the HOA undertakes and completes for them.

In exchange for their HOA dues, people who live in Desert Highlands have access to a host of amenities. The primary amenity that is open to all homeowners in the community is its 18-hole championship golf course. The golf course is member-owned with a transfer fee being required at the time of purchase on a home in Desert Highlands.

In addition to the golf course, however, Desert Highlands homeowners also have access to golf clubhouse amenities like:

• A racquetball court
• 13 courts for tennis and pickleball
• A swimming pool
• A 7000-square foot wellness center

Members of the golf course can also make use of the exercise and fitness classes that are routinely available. They can work with the center's fitness trainer to learn how to work out and use the exercise equipment. Access to the community's golf course and clubhouse is gated guarded; members are given passes to enter and exit at their leisure.

Finally, Desert Highlands is part of the Cave Creek Unified School District. Families who live in the community can send their children to nearby public schools, including Sonoran Trails Middle School and Cactus Shadows High School.

The Cave Creek Unified School District has garnered national recognition for being one of the highest quality school districts in the state. In fact, it places in the top 20 percent for standardized test results and has a graduation rate of 94 percent.

Further, it has an enrollment of just over 5400 students in all of its elementary, middle, and high schools. This relatively small student population contributes to the small student-per-teacher ratio of 24 students to every teacher. Students benefit academically from getting more one-on-one time with their teachers in the classroom.

Likewise, state test scores show that almost 70 percent of the entire school district's student population is proficient in reading and math. It ranks in the top third of all state school districts for the quality of its athletic programs. It also makes available its Desert Sun Academy, which parents can opt to send their children to for an education that revolves more around the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.