Hey Hey Santa Fe!

[Kevin]

Several Months ago, I asked here about buying land for an investment. Well, that and my wife and I were thinking of buying some land to eventually build a house to retire too. We thought about different areas, The Texas Hill Country, or Colorado. But my wife works with some older people in her office, and they've done the same thing but ended up in New Mexico. I've been to New Mexico many times, and it's all very nice. We especially like White Sands National Park.

Anyway, we drove over to Santa Fe and ended up buying 8 1/2 acres in a neighborhood about 15 minutes North of Santa Fe! Well, the paperwork is being done right now, and we will close on the deal the first week of September, but here's the view! It's got electricity and a water well, that's what the cables in the picture are from.

That puts this property in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains I'm pretty excited about this. Even if our plans change and we don't end up building a house, as an investment, in say 10 years, we will do very well.

 

[Johnnu2]

Wishing you everything you guys wish for.....Best of Luck from dirty old NY.

J.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I think I see Roy Rogers behind one of those trees in the background. Nice looking land right there.

 

[kentucky yeti]

I love to see Blanca in the distance each September as I drive through Colorado. I know I am getting close to my destination. Congrats on a fine piece of heaven!

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Pistolero, lives in that area. If you have questions, you might PM him. Very knowledgeable man.

 

[Kevin]

Thanks, yeah, I looked on the USGS TOPO maps, our land is right at 6900 feet. The mountains off in the distance which would be back to the South and a little East are much higher of course. I don’t think we are going to need a giant air conditioner like we have here in Dallas.

 

[Cholo]

That's beautiful, and right in the middle of wintry to the north and balmy to the south!

 

[bobski]

looks little like california.

 

[Jeepnik]

At 6900’ it’s definitely high desert. But as my cousin found out in Arizona you are probably too close to town. Yes, the land will likely be worth more in terms of money. But, you’ll be surrounded by tract homes.

 

[Kevin]

But, you’ll be surrounded by tract homes.

I did see an area with lots of tract homes, but it was more straight West of town. There will be some more houses built where our land is, but because of the topography, nothing like some of the tract homes I’ve seen in neighborhoods in Arizona.

Where my parents live, down near Casa Grande, it’s just exploding, I had no idea you could build houses so fast. Definitely not a place I would like to live.

 

[bogus bill]

Climate in the west is mostly about elevation. We live in Cedar City Utah, roughly the same. Next of importance is
medical. Then the type culture that you like and scenery. If a big part of a move is to be near your kids you
might want to rethink the move as often they will relocate!

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

They're all gone now, but we had several family members over the last 30 years or so who grew up in TX, moved to CA following jobs, and retired to Santa Fe and Taos. At the time, both seemed like great places to live. Hope they haven't been ruined by the two legged locusts.

Rick C

 

[Rick Courtright]

looks little like california.

Hi,

How can you tell that's not California? It would be on fire!

But, yeah, that looks a lot like my neighborhood did before being destroyed by land developers growing houses on top of each other. As an ex-pat moving in, I think you've got an obligation to fight these guys tooth and nail because what they decimate will never come back to what it was that attracted you there in the first place!

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

Don't be too sure about tract homes coming to your area; The times I visited my little brother in Prescott, AZ, I was ALWAYS AMAZED how they had built homes on all the rocky hills around the town.

 

[caryc]

It does look a lot like my 5 acres here in the Lakeview Mountains about 20 minutes drive to Hemet California. Looks like you have a lot of brush to clear. That stuff will fuel a dandy fast moving brush fire. May I suggest that as you are building your house that you purchase a tractor to clear that brush and keep it cleared. It really is a necessity in a place like that. With a tractor, you'll be able to keep a great fire break around your place and I'm sure you'll love your new home. Good luck with it.

 

[Jeepnik]

But, you’ll be surrounded by tract homes.

I did see an area with lots of tract homes, but it was more straight West of town. There will be some more houses built where our land is, but because of the topography, nothing like some of the tract homes I’ve seen in neighborhoods in Arizona.

Where my parents live, down near Casa Grande, it’s just exploding, I had no idea you could build houses so fast. Definitely not a place I would like to live.

They just haven't got around to building in that area yet! The build on all of the easy places first and then move on to the harder places.

One of my favorite towns was San Juan Capistrano. It was too far to commute to either L.A. or San Diego. It was in a fairly small valley without much flat land for building. Well, now folks commute and the hill sides have more houses than Carter has liver pills. The only way to have a future where no growth will take place is to live some place no one wants to live. But then you wouldn't want to live their either.

Heck down here on the beach what used to be 50' lots are being subdivided into 25' lots and instead of single story homes they are two and three stories. The zoning folks don't care. They just want to collect as much tax money as possible.

 

[Pistolero]

Several Months ago, I asked here about buying land for an investment. Well, that and my wife and I were thinking of buying some land to eventually build a house to retire too. We thought about different areas, The Texas Hill Country, or Colorado. But my wife works with some older people in her office, and they've done the same thing but ended up in New Mexico. I've been to New Mexico many times, and it's all very nice. We especially like White Sands National Park.

Anyway, we drove over to Santa Fe and ended up buying 8 1/2 acres in a neighborhood about 15 minutes North of Santa Fe! Well, the paperwork is being done right now, and we will close on the deal the first week of September, but here's the view! It's got electricity and a water well, that's what the cables in the picture are from.

That puts this property in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains I'm pretty excited about this. Even if our plans change and we don't end up building a house, as an investment, in say 10 years, we will do very well.

Kevin,
15 minutes north of Santa Fe with electricity and water well….and 8 1/2 acres…wow! That’s a great investment. There are multimillion dollar homes in that area!