Luxury Living in El Paso: A Tour of the Best West Side Communities

Luxury Living in El Paso: A Tour of the Best West Side Communities

In this video, Alejandro and I are going to show you some of our favorite neighborhoods in West El Paso. If you're thinking about buying or selling a home in El Paso, you definitely want to reach out to us first.

Geography and Overview

El Paso, Texas is divided by the Franklin Mountains, which run north to south. Today we're focusing on some of our favorite spots west of the Franklin Mountains. This area offers fantastic locations with unobstructed views and luxury homes. We've helped a number of buyers and sellers purchase in these areas, and we're going to tell you about the homes, prices, and neighborhoods themselves.

Bear Ridge and Tuscany Ridge

We're in the Bear Ridge area right now. This is a fantastic location tucked up as high into the Franklin Mountains as you can go. Tons of these homes have unobstructed views. The Tuscany Ridge area is just a little bit behind us here, still with fantastic views but at a slightly higher luxury level.

In the Bear Ridge area, you'll find homes built from 1992 all the way to 2025, though 2025 homes are very limited. Most homes here are closer to 2010. Prices start at $300,000 and go all the way to $2 million. The higher up you go in the mountains, the higher the price. If you like HOAs or gated communities, there's the Tuscany Ridge area where you'll find homes that are pretty big-five to six thousand square feet going for $1.4 million to $2 million.

One of the best things about this neighborhood is the location. Because of the mountain views and easy access to hiking trails, it's ideal for an active lifestyle. You'll also find the best performing schools in El Paso here: Tippin Elementary, Hornedo Middle School, and Franklin High School.

If you're really looking to embrace that mountain lifestyle, Bear Ridge, Franklin Ridge, and Tuscany Ridge are great options. The main con is that you're not going to get a ton of new construction options here-most are resale homes that have been around for a while, though some people have built newer homes.

High Ridge and Park Hills

We're now in an area really close to Bear Ridge, but this is more of the High Ridge area, specifically the Park Hills neighborhood. This is a great location, not quite as close to the Franklin Mountains, but they're literally right there.

We have a listing coming up on Calle Bonita that's a great example. This home was built in 1999 and was pretty dated when I helped the homeowner purchase it a couple of years ago. They've made a lot of upgrades. One thing that makes this home special is obviously the location with unobstructed views off the back. The home also has paid off solar panels and a couple of Tesla power walls, so anyone with an EV will really enjoy this home.

To understand pricing, an important number is price per square foot-that's the sales price divided by the square footage. In the High Ridge area, prices range from $170 to around $255 per square foot. This listing is going to be for sale around $700,000, which comes to around $187 per square foot.

Coronado Country Club and Thunderbird

Our second area is the Coronado Country Club and surrounding Thunderbird area. This is a great area with a higher price point. We're still really close to the Franklin Mountains, so you get all the hiking and views. We're on hole number 10 here of the Coronado Country Club, which is a private golf course and absolutely beautiful. A lot of the homes around here are definitely high luxury mansion homes-some mid-century modern, some ranch, one-story homes that are really fantastic. The Thunderbird area homes come down a bit in price.

In the Coronado and Thunderbird area, you'll find homes built from 1960 all the way to 2021, with the average being early 2000s to 2010. Prices range from $300,000 all the way to $2.5 to $3 million. The Thunderbird area is where you'll find the lower price point homes, while close to the Coronado Country Club you'll find the higher price point homes.

Price per square foot ranges from $190 to $340-$345. The pros for this neighborhood are very similar to Bear Ridge and High Ridge-you're right up the mountain with beautiful views. The homes here are a bit bigger and tend to be one-story homes. You also have the country club pretty close by.

The Upper Valley

Our next location is really unique. It's almost like being in another world. This is an area called the Upper Valley. We're still on the west side, but now we're actually west of Interstate 10 and much closer to the Rio Grande, which means we're at the lowest elevation in El Paso. That's what makes the Upper Valley unique-there's so much green and water around.

The Upper Valley is a larger area with a big mix of homes. We've got older homes and newer homes. Some folks have purchased lots that are still available and built really epic, large new homes. We've got homes that have been remodeled. It's really a big mix, but here are the highlights.

Since we're down here by the water source, most of these homes have water rights. There are canals that connect these communities. During the summer, water comes off the Rio Grande into these canals, and if you want to use that water, you can have a big green yard, water your trees. Believe it or not, there are tree orchards down here. The availability of water is really unique to the Upper Valley.

Another unique thing is that the lot size here is really big. In areas like the Far East and Horizon, you're talking 0.15 to 2 acres. Whereas in the Upper Valley, most homes are between a half acre up to 1-2 acres. We drove by a property that has a couple of acres with a couple of horses on it. You definitely get bigger lots here.

While it does feel otherworldly over here, you're actually still really close to everything in El Paso. Downtown El Paso is a 10-minute drive away with not a lot of traffic. A lot of these homes are in an HOA. This area behind me is called The Willows-a gated community with an HOA. But right across the street, many homes are not in an HOA, so you can pick and choose. There's a really nice golf course here-the El Paso Country Club.

In the Upper Valley, homes are built from 1910 all the way to 2025. There are some lots where you can build brand new homes with custom builders, starting at $600,000-$700,000 and up. Price per square foot ranges from about $190 to $380-$390. Some of the properties have water rights, the lots are bigger than other sides of town, and there's a lot more green in this area.

Cimarron Canyon and Enchanted Hills

Cimarron Canyon is a little bit further north than the other areas. What that gets you is newer construction. While Bear Ridge, High Ridge, and Upper Valley have fantastic amenities, they definitely have some older resale homes. If you're looking for new homes, Cimarron Canyon and Enchanted Hills are fantastic options.

Cimarron Canyon is great because we're still really close to the Franklin Mountains. It also has something that no other neighborhood has-walkability. Cimarron Canyon is one of the few areas where you can walk and bike to great amenities. They're building so many new stores in this area. It's unbelievable-from restaurants to pickle ball courts to everything.

The lots are slightly smaller here-about 0.2 acres more or less-so you won't get those big Upper Valley lots. But you are going to get nice new modern luxury homes.

Here in Cimarron, you'll find homes built from 2007 all the way to 2025, though the majority are 2015 and newer. Prices range from $300,000 to around $1.6 million. Price per square foot starts around $190 and goes up to around $300. We are experts in new construction here in El Paso, and in Cimarron you can find builders like Icon, Deal to Deal, Hakes Brothers, Cullers, and many others. A lot of the good things about this neighborhood are the new construction, beautiful mountain views, and the amenities being pretty close.

We're now about as far north as you can go on the west side in an area called Enchanted Hills Desert Springs. We're just north of Trans Mountain Highway 375. This is another really nice area, very similar to Bear Ridge and Coronado in that you're tucked up as close as you can get to the Franklin Mountains. You've got hiking and biking access directly into the Franklin Mountains State Park with lots of opportunities for getting out there and being active or just enjoying the views.

This is a great option if you want newer homes at a pretty affordable price. Some of the other areas we've featured go upwards of a million dollars. If you're looking to be below a million for a nice affordable price, Enchanted Hills and the Desert Springs area is a great option.

In the Enchanted Hills area, you'll find homes built from 2014 all the way to 2025. Prices range from $300,000 to around $650,000. Price per square foot ranges from $150 to around $250. The main pro about this neighborhood is affordability-combined with new construction and beautiful views of the Franklin Mountains.

Conclusion

These are not all the areas on the west side of El Paso. There are still areas like Sunset Heights and Kern, but these are definitely some of the favorite areas. If you're thinking about buying a home in El Paso, you definitely need a real estate agent who's an expert in the El Paso market. If you're a homeowner looking to sell, a lot of the homes we featured in this episode are actually previous listings we've helped people sell recently.