El Dorado Hills homes for sale and real estate guide

Living in El Dorado Hills

El Dorado Hills is a foothill community of rolling oak woodland planned from the start around open space between its villages. It is unincorporated, governed by El Dorado County and served by the El Dorado Hills Community Services District, and it is the county’s western gateway, with Folsom directly across the county line.

Development began in the early 1960s, when Allan Lindsey commissioned a master plan from architect Victor Gruen that emphasized greenbelts and recreation between residential villages. Highway 50 divides the community: the original villages, Lake Forest, Serrano, The Promontory, and the Bass Lake area lie north of it toward Green Valley Road, and the Town Center, Blackstone, the business park, and Carson Creek lie south along Latrobe Road.

Neighborhoods and housing in El Dorado Hills

Housing in El Dorado Hills is organized by village, and the village largely determines a home’s age, lot size, HOA, and Mello-Roos status. The original villages have the oldest homes and usually no HOA; the master-planned communities built since the 1990s have associations and, in most cases, Community Facilities District assessments.

The original villages, Ridgeview, Park, Saint Andrews, Crown, and Governors, hold ranch-style and two-story homes from the 1960s through the 1980s north of Highway 50. Lake Forest, with neighborhoods such as Waterford, The Summit, Marina Woods, and Windsor Point, climbs toward Folsom Lake and includes many lake-view lots.

Serrano is the largest master-planned community, a gated golf-course development around Serrano Country Club. Blackstone, south of the highway, is a mostly gated community of more than a thousand homes with its own clubhouse and pools. The Promontory, near Browns Ravine, mixes gated and open villages, including custom homes with Folsom Lake views. The newest construction is along Bass Lake Road and in the Carson Creek area on Latrobe Road.

Parks, trails, and Folsom Lake

The El Dorado Hills Community Services District operates more than two dozen parks, nature areas, and trails, and Folsom Lake State Recreation Area is reached from the community’s own shoreline at Browns Ravine.

El Dorado Hills Community Park and Pool on Harvard Way is the hub, with sports fields, a skate park, and the trailhead for the New York Creek Nature Trail. Promontory Community Park adds a seasonal spray ground and lighted tennis and bocce courts; Village Green Park in Serrano is built around a pond and walking paths; Wild Oaks Park preserves native oak and pine with unpaved trails.

Browns Ravine, off Green Valley Road, is the site of Folsom Lake Marina, the only marina on the lake, with slips, launch ramps, and fuel. The recreation area’s shoreline trails are open to hikers, cyclists, and horses.

Dining, shopping, and daily life in El Dorado Hills

Daily errands and evenings out center on the El Dorado Hills Town Center, a mixed-use district along Highway 50 at Latrobe Road with restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and an art gallery around a lake and promenade. It hosts a Saturday farmers market and summer concerts at the Steven Young Amphitheater.

Folsom supplies larger retail. Marshall, the Placerville-based health system, operates outpatient facilities here, the county library’s El Dorado Hills branch is on Silva Valley Parkway, and the El Dorado Hills Business Park on Latrobe Road holds many of the area’s employers.

Schools and public services

El Dorado Hills is served by the Rescue Union School District, the Buckeye Union School District, and, for a small area, the Latrobe School District for elementary and middle grades, and by the El Dorado Union High School District. Oak Ridge High School, on Harvard Way, opened in 1980 and is the district’s El Dorado Hills campus.

Boundaries do not follow village lines, so confirm assignments for a specific address. Fire protection comes from the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, and water and sewer from the El Dorado Irrigation District.

Getting around and commuting from El Dorado Hills

Highway 50 is the route west, carrying commuters through Folsom and Rancho Cordova to downtown Sacramento, and east to Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. Interchanges at El Dorado Hills Boulevard and Latrobe Road, Silva Valley Parkway, and Bass Lake Road connect the villages to the highway.

El Dorado Transit runs weekday commuter buses to downtown Sacramento from the El Dorado Hills Park and Ride and the Bass Lake Road Park and Ride, plus local routes and an on-demand microtransit zone within El Dorado Hills.

What to know before buying in El Dorado Hills

Three things change the cost of owning a home in El Dorado Hills from one village to the next: Mello-Roos assessments, HOA dues, and wildfire zone.

Mello-Roos: Serrano, Blackstone, The Promontory, Bass Lake Hills, and Carson Creek were financed in part through Community Facilities Districts, and the bond repayment appears as a separate line on the tax bill with a stated maturity year. Some newer areas also carry a services district for landscaping and lighting with no end date. Older villages such as Ridgeview and Governors generally have none.

HOAs: Most master-planned villages have an association, and gated villages within Serrano and Blackstone often add a sub-association; original villages usually have none.

Wildfire and water: Parts of El Dorado Hills fall in CAL FIRE’s mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zones, so check the zone and insurance availability early. Folsom Lake levels change with the season, so see a view property in more than one condition.

Buying or selling in El Dorado Hills

Nick Sadek Sotheby’s International Realty works with buyers and sellers in El Dorado Hills through local agents who know the villages, the HOA and Mello-Roos distinctions, and the view corridors above Folsom Lake. The brokerage operates from four offices in Roseville, Sacramento, Woodland, and Nevada City, and its listings are marketed through the Sotheby’s International Realty global network.

Buyers can search current listings in El Dorado Hills and nearby Granite Bay and Cameron Park, and sellers can request a home value estimate. To discuss a village or a custom lot, meet the agents or contact an office. The wider market is on the El Dorado County page.