The Peaks in Rio Rancho, NM

The Peaks is a gated neighborhood inside Mariposa, the master-planned community spread across a mesa on the edge of Rio Rancho. D.R. Horton built its houses on rolling ground next to The Preserve, a 2,200-acre swath of protected open space that the community's trail network crosses. Residents belong to two associations: the Mariposa master association and a separate Peaks neighborhood association. Both buy into the same amenity package — a 12,000-square-foot LEED-certified community center with indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness room and movement studio, plus a park with ball courts and picnic ramadas. Albuquerque sits about 35 minutes south.

Two layers of assessment apply. The master association covers the community center, pools, common-area landscaping and reserves, while the Peaks association handles the gate and the private streets behind it. Cohere Life manages Mariposa's association from an office in Rio Rancho. Separately, the property falls inside the Mariposa Public Improvement District, which the city formed in 2006 to finance the water supply and wastewater systems that made building on the mesa possible. That district assessment runs through 2032 and arrives with the property tax bill.

Mariposa East, LP, an affiliate of Harvard Investments, bought the eastern portion of the project in 2014. The overall plan covers roughly 6,500 acres and about 2,500 homes, so The Peaks is one gated pocket inside a considerably larger footprint.

Around 50 miles of paved and unpaved trails thread through the community and the adjoining Preserve. Vista Grande Elementary, Mountain View Middle and V. Sue Cleveland High serve the neighborhood, all within the Rio Rancho district. The Albuquerque airport is roughly 40 minutes out, Santa Fe about an hour.