Gilbert Waterfront Homes at The Islands Lake Community

The Islands: Lake community in Gilbert       

The Islands,  a master planned lake and waterfront community with over 400 waterfront homes, is one of Gilbert’s most established lake subdivisions.  Homes in The Islands range from townhouses to custom homes, built mostly between 1987 and 1995, and range in square footage from 1,300 to over 4,800 square feet.  It also has a large waterfront park with walking trails, basketball court, sand volleyball, covered children’s play area and community center.

Within The Islands are individual communities or subdivisions such as Seawynds, Trade Winds, Windhaven, Coral Point, The Shores, Harbor Point, Key Harbor, Tres Vistas and Catalina Bay.   Lakefront residents take advantage of the many long stretches of water measuring over 1/2 mile in length with an evening boat ride.  Internal combustion motors are not allowed.

Continue reading “Gilbert Waterfront Homes at The Islands Lake Community”

Playa del Rey Waterski Lake Community Profile

 

Gilbert Waterfront Ski Homes

Playa del Rey Estates, one of the Phoenix area waterski communities has more ski lake homes than any other subdivision in Arizona.  With the recent completion of homes on the last two remaining lots, there are 34 waterfront homes on the ski lake.  Instead of traveling 45 minutes to Canyon Lake or Saguaro Lake to waterski, you can walk out your back door and be skiing in the time needed to hook up your boat to the SUV.  The entire subdivision has 125 homes which enjoy ski privileges on the lake via a community boat ramp for those not on the lake.

Continue reading “Playa del Rey Waterski Lake Community Profile”

Rankings of Phoenix Waterfront Homes and Communities Schools

How do schools near waterfront / lake communities rank?

The other day the Tribune featured an article that discussed the number of schools that attained each level of the Achievement Profile as reported by the Arizona Department of Educaton. That made me wonder how the schools that serve the Phoenix area waterfront homes and communities are ranked.  I should have stopped at that point since that simple question led to hours worth of searching, copying, pasting and creating hyperlinks.  The best way to answer the question was to go the Arizona Department of Education website and find the rankings for each elementary school and the corresponding community.  The page School Report Card page is invaluable with the amount of information it contains. Unfortunately, 2007 is the last year for which it will be available.  Starting in 2008, the format is greatly condensed and I believe does not have as much information.  If you want to how the Jr. High and High Schools rank for a specific neighborhood, just e-mail or hopefully you’ll have visited the department’s website and learned how to use this useful tool.  I’m also convinced that what follows is the most complete list of waterfront / lakefront homes and communities for the Phoenix area by city.

Continue reading “Rankings of Phoenix Waterfront Homes and Communities Schools”

Santan Lakeside Estates in Gilbert – Waterski Lake Community

There’s a waterski lake in my backyard!

You’ll never see it as you’re driving on Riggs Road. There’s a gate and some attractive landscaping that is common to many custom home subdivisions in south Gilbert. What you many not know is that it hides a 13 acre waterski lake where 20 owners enjoy a slalom waterski course year round and enthusiats gather for regional waterski competition on the 2,200 ft. long lake known as Santan Lakeside Estates.

Continue reading “Santan Lakeside Estates in Gilbert – Waterski Lake Community”

Scottsdale Lakefront Property – Bartlett Lake

Scottsdale homes near Bartlett Lake

A well known gathering place for watersport enthusiasts living in the north Scottsdale area is Bartlett Lake.  From communities such as Desert Mountain, Boulder Heights, Treviso, Mirabel and others, just 14 miles away is one of the valley’s favorite lakes for those who have a passion for fishing, boating, waterskiing, wakeboarding and hydrofoiling. Bartlett Lake has a surface area larger than Canyon Lake and Saguaro Lake combined, over 2800 acres, and is open year round. Since Scottsdale does not have any private waterski lakes, an ideal strategy for those who would crave the waterskiing, wakeboarding and hydrofoiling is to find a north Scottsdale home that has adequate garage space or a dedicated RV garage that will accomodate a boat then make the short 14 miles drive when you want to enjoy the H20.

Continue reading “Scottsdale Lakefront Property – Bartlett Lake”