The Islands in Rio Rancho, NM

A gated pocket in the middle of the old golf course

If you've driven Country Club Drive SE and wondered what sits behind the gate on Eastlake, that's The Islands. A hundred and two homes, age-restricted to 55 and over, laid out inside what used to be the East nine at Chamisa Hills. The ponds wrapped the place on every side, which is where the name came from. Most buyers looking at The Islands homes for sale already know somebody who lives here. Word of mouth moves these houses.

It's small. That matters more than anything else I could tell you about it. One way in, one way out, private streets inside the fence, and a patrol that actually drives through. You get to know your neighbors here whether you planned on it or not.

The houses

Built from the late 1980s into the early '90s, and it shows in both the good ways and the ordinary ones. Mostly single-story, stucco, a mix of flat and pitched roofs, two or three bedrooms, detached garages. Figure 1,100 to 2,000 square feet. The styling is Southwest without the heavy Pueblo Revival vocabulary you see in Corrales or the North Valley. Call it plain New Mexico contemporary.

Lots are small on purpose. Nobody moved here to mow. The trade-off is obvious enough: no real yard, no room for a shop, and if you want RV parking this is the wrong street. What you get instead is a house you can lock and leave for six weeks.

The lakes, and what's coming next

Be straight about this one, because a buyer will find out anyway. Club Rio Rancho closed in 2016 and never reopened. The ponds that gave the community its name were drained in August 2023 after West Nile virus showed up in the area, and the association had been carrying part of the cost of filling and testing that water for years. Residents were split. Some were relieved, some felt they'd lost the thing they'd been paying for.

Then in September 2025 the Rio Rancho City Council approved the Chamisa Hills Master Plan covering the roughly 281 acres around the community. It calls for new housing areas, a small business park, a mixed-use town center, and about 62 acres held as open space at Eastview Heights with trails through it. Drainage and traffic were the two things neighbors pushed hardest on before it passed. If you're buying here, read the plan. It will change what some of these homes look out at over the next several years, and it may well improve it.

The association

The Islands at Rio Rancho is professionally managed by HOAMCO, and by Rio Rancho standards it's a hands-on association. Dues run higher than most of the city, and they buy something concrete: the gate and the patrol, common-area grounds, the private roads inside the fence, and utilities the association carries. Covenants are the tidy sort. Paint colors, parking, what sits in the driveway. If rules irritate you, be honest with yourself before you write an offer. If you've owned in a big self-managed subdivision and spent your weekends chasing the landscaper, you'll probably be happy. One thing that surprises people: there's no clubhouse. The amenities are the walking paths, a park with benches, and a putting green.

Getting around

Southern Boulevard is the artery. A few minutes from the gate puts you at groceries and the Rainbow outdoor pool on Southern, and Meadowlark Senior Center over on Meadowlark Lane SE is the citywide hub for the 55-and-up crowd. Haynes Park and the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center are both short drives. Commuting looks like this: Southern to NM-528, Paseo del Norte across the river, then I-25. Twenty-five minutes to downtown Albuquerque off-peak, noticeably longer when 528 stacks up, which it does.

Who it fits

Downsizers, mostly. People selling a two-story with a big yard on the west side who want single-level living, a gate, and someone else handling the grounds. Snowbirds do well here too. It's deed-restricted to 55 and over, so that's the first filter, and it's the wrong fit for anyone who wants to build a shop or park a trailer. If you came looking for a golf course out the back door, that ship sailed in 2016. What's left is a quiet, walkable, well-kept 87124 address sitting inside a redevelopment that's finally moving. Turnover is light in a community this small, so it's worth watching the listings on this page.

Homes in The Islands come up only a few times a year, and in a community of barely a hundred houses each one is a little different. Browse the current listings below, and get in touch if you'd like to walk through one.