I make it a point to make sure I personally visit every community on our website to stay up to date on how things are going and so I can speak from experience when I discuss the various communities with our buyers. My team member, Colleen Cappelli, usually handles things for our team out at Trilogy Verde River, and it had been a while since I’d seen it in person, so I took a trip out to see how things are progressing.
On the drive into the community, I was amazed at how much progress has been made here, and how many houses have already been built. The amenities and clubhouse are coming along nicely too, and from the look of how many houses are already up, and how many people were touring the models, sales seem to be brisk.
My husband and I booked a tee time with another couple at the Verde River Golf Club, and started our day with a round of golf. The staff members in and around the golf club were exceptional – service was friendly and efficient, and everybody we met, from pro shop to cart girl, was very helpful and seemed genuinely interested in making sure we all had a great time.
The Verde River Golf Course
After all of the promotion and publicity about the redesigned course, we had high expectations, but unfortunately, nobody in our foursome especially loved the course itself. We found it not very memorable (boring), and we especially disliked the fact that quite a few of the holes had natural washes (desert areas) running across the middle of the fairways. Although we were not playing the course in the most prime winter season, it was not the middle of summer either, so we also thought that a number of the fairways and rough areas were more dried out and in poorer condition than they should have been. All in all, not what you’d expect from an expensive private course. On the plus side, the views of the surrounding mountains are beautiful.
Bottom line opinion on the golf course: they might run into players preferring to join the more mature private courses nearby at Tonto Verde CC or Rio Verde CC, instead of spending big money on Verde River golf membership.
The Clubhouse and Pool
The clubhouse is progressing nicely, although it is still not ready for tours, but the pool area is complete so residents can enjoy the pool. It has plenty of lounge chairs, and half of the pool area is covered with sail shades for those who prefer to enjoy the pool without getting too much exposure to the sun. The uniquely round shape of the pool is something different and interesting too.
Eddy’s Poolside Bar & Grille is open for business, so after our round of golf, we all decided to stay and have lunch at Eddy’s (it’s the only dining available right now). There is no indoor seating at Eddy’s, and the menu is pretty simple “grill” fare mostly of burgers, sandwiches and salads, so we found a shady table, and all of us ordered something different. All four of us loved the food and thought it was the best burgers and sandwiches we’d had in quite a while – and service was great here too.
The Model Homes
We toured the Shea models and the Monterey models. Toll Brothers has not completed any models yet, so we did not stop by their trailer.
Shea is offering a very wide variety of floor plans – 15 models ranging from 1371 to 3287 square feet. As usual, the Shea homes are upgraded and decorated nicely, but I tend to see so many models, that I look past the glitz and glam. I had a couple observations about their floor plans:
- Nowadays, people prefer 10′ ceilings when spending this kind of money for a home. All of the ceilings in the lower-end series were 9′.
- The two smallest plans are 1371 and 1544 sq.ft. Both of them are just 2-bedrooms, with no den. I find that most of our buyers prefer the third “room” (2BR+den) to use as an office, or for overflow guests. Most other builders will find a way to have a den/office space included with this much square footage, but with the Shea homes, the smallest plan that includes the third space is the 1761 square foot Acacia plan, so you’re well over $400K before you get the third room.
Next stop was the Monterey models. Monterey is the upscale, semi-custom branch of Meritage and has always delivered superior floor plans and quality workmanship. My husband and I have always been big fans of Monterey Homes, even before they were purchased by Meritage a number of years ago.
Monterey has 31 of the most premium lots in the Verde River community. They are all 1/2 acre or more, and many offer golf course frontage and/or superb mountain views. Even for agents as immune to model home decorating as my husband and I are, Monterey continues to impress us. We both had lots of oohs and aahs as we toured the models. They are truly impressive! Not just the overall decorating, but the design and thoughtfulness that went into the details and layouts as well. We were also very pleasantly surprised at how much lower than expected the lot premiums were. Many builders would charge well over $100K or even $150K for some of these oversized golf lots, but the Monterey premiums were virtually all under $50K. To be clear, these are all huge houses (3000 – 4500 sq.ft.), so they’ll run over $1M by the time you’re finished, but if this is your budget, you just can’t beat the Monterey homes and the values there.
Bottom Line
The community still feels a little too far away from conveniences for people like me who are used to having plenty of stores and restaurants within a 0-5 mile drive, and they are charging “Scottsdale” prices for something that feels a bit isolated and is not truly “Scottsdale”. But if the out-of-the-way location appeals to you, and you prefer to be close to nature and the pristine desert, this is an excellent community. And, if the number of homes being sold is any indication, there are plenty of people that love the get-away-from-it-all location.
To learn more about Trilogy at Verde River, visit our Trilogy at Verde River section for information on amenities, floor plans, and more.
