Tell me about New Mexico.....

[Dookus]

I live in California. I own a nice little house here, that's worth a ridiculous amount of money.

My bf and I have talked about someday moving elsewhere. For some reason, I'm enamored of the idea of New Mexico, even though I've never been there.

I've had friends from the Taos/Santa Fe area and they rave about it. What I've seen online reinforces that it's a beautiful area.

So DU'ers... tell me about it!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Great skiing in Taos but I like the southern section of the state

myself. I really love Las Cruces...homes are very reasonable there..you can get a HUGE adobe for about $70,000...although the ground water is probably heavily polluted thanks to all those nukes planted in the area. I really get into the desert though..not quite as much as the ocean but the White Sands monument and the Painted Desert are two of my favorite places for eye candy.

[Dookus]

2. thanks NSMA...

My only concern is a strange one:

I love the idea of deserts. But I just wilt in the heat. Which is why the northern part of the state appeals to me.... I'm told it's not TOO hot there.

[shance]

3. Santa Fe is the best

I have been going to Santa Fe since I was a kid, and it really is a special place.

Its not as unique as it was 'way back when' in the early seventies, but it still has the big open sky, fresh air, thunderstorms and artistic energy that makes it Santa Fe. I sound like a travel guide, but its a great place.

Wonderful places all around it, Madrid is a fun beatnik kind of town, Chimayo is very cool, Abiquieu (where O'Keefe painted and lived for a good while), skiing at the basin is not bad (and theirs always Taos, and Colorado if you keep going on the 25),great biking, restaurants, Ten Thousand Waves (great spa**), Canyon Road has great galleries, Pecos is the coolest little area southeast of town, Bandelera(?) National park, I could go on, oh, and (of course) there's the Plaza, the Opera, and the flea market during the summer.

The one drawback. The town is IN BED at 10:00. That pretty much means lights out. Theres not a tremendous amount of night life if that interests you. Its a quiet town for the most part and alot of people get city-itis after living there a period of time. I have friends there though and after they got through the initial 'shock', they have learned to really love it.

[Dookus]

4. thanks shance....

actually, at the advanced age of 42, an active night-life is low on my list of priorities. You make it sound great.

The bf and I are hoping to travel there later this year to check it out. I'll check some of the places you mentioned. Thanks a lot!

[SoCalDem]

5. We lived in Belen..

It was a very laid back little sleepy town, with a restaurant named Pete's that has the best Mexican food I ever tasted.. Every time we traveled east we detoured through Belen, just to eat there :) Sopapillas to DIE FOR !!!!

Pete's Café
105 North 1st St 864-4811

We lived there a long time ago, but we rented a custom home with 3,000 sq ft..for $350.00 a month....and it included country club privileges... our "backyard" was 20 miles deep...all the way to the Manzano mountains..

I am sure it's grown, but it originally was built as a "commuter town" to Albuquerque, and then the gasoline crisis hit, so there was a whole subdivision that was built, but mostly unsold.. Rio Communities..(the locals called it "Honky Heights".:(

It was out in the middle of nowhere, then...but by now it's probably city all the way to Albuquerque.


edit.. they have a website.. Belen's coming up in the world http://www.belennm.com/


funny story.. when we first moved there, my friend from Chicago was coming to visit us.. She lived in a high rise in downtown Chicago.. I went to the chamber of commerce to get literature about belen, to send to her..

It was a single spaced, carbon copy and the main claim to fame (it was UNDERLINED) was that Belen had almost 40 % of the streets PAVED..

There was one grocery store, a safeway and it was on a gravel street with a gravel parking lot.. ever push a gorcery cart in GRAVEL??? with two kids IN it and another hanging on one side???:eyes:

---

Quality of Life, Housing 505-459-6159
Belen has several subdivisions within the City of Belen that is 80% built out. The average cost of a new home in Belen in 2002 was $90,000 and is infill of vacant lots within older subdivisions of Belen.
Clean air
Blue skies
Friendly folks
Culture
History
Shopping
Interstates
Views
Scenery
Good food


SUBDIVISIONS:
Jardin de Belen - 350 lots first phase was finalized in 1997
Rio Communities/Belen – 200+ lots for custom-built homes available. Approximately 2000 homes.
Las Maravillas/Pacitos de Cielo – Tome area

HOUSING COSTS:
Three bedroom, two bath, approximately 1,600 to 1,700 sq. ft. $90,000.00
Four bedroom, 2.5 baths, approximately 2,000 sq. ft. $125,000.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


100 South Main Street, Belen, NM 87002
Office: 505-459-6159 I FAX: [phone]
www.belennm.com
[e-mail]

---

2nd edit.. Here's the info on the country club..it must have spun off from Rio Communities and the golf course is now 18 holes.. The clubhouse is gorgeous;;

check out the ridiculously low membership rates

http://www.tdsgolf.com/

[SoCalDem]

6. All about NM ( tired of adding edits to above)

http://www.newmexicoet.com/nm_things_1b0211.html

[salmonhorse]

7. The Mecca of SouthWestern Art ~

My GrandMa is from New Mexico = home ground red chili powder um hum! Nice terrain round about Taos ~

http://www.nativeradio.com/artistbio.cfm?aid=0

http://www.cowboysindians.com/articles/archives/0799/mirabal.html

[punpirate]

8. One thing which needs to be mentioned right now...

... is that New Mexico is in the midst of a serious long-term drought. In some communities, the rationing has become quite serious. Northern cities such as Santa Fe depend upon spring run-off from snowfall for their water supplies, and there's been very little snow.

Where I live, the average rainfall figures have been revised downward twice in twelve years. Average rainfall here now is about 11.8" per year. By this time of year, rainfall should be about 10.5". It was 2.2" the last time I looked, a week ago. This on top of a shortfall of almost four inches last year and almost three inches the year before.

The Rio Grande is so low that it is short of reaching the Gulf by many miles now.

The cost of punching wells has gone up, too, in the last couple of decades, partly because there are not many water-well drillers, and partly because one has to go down so much deeper than usual.

If you're thinking about moving, before you consider a community (and there are many good ones here), ask first about availability of and cost of water. Also, try to find a community which does not hassle you about xeriscaping or use of gray water for lawn use, etc.

As for heat, in this state, the only way to escape it in the summer is altitude, and even in Santa Fe and higher elevations, it can hit the low 90s in summer. The sun is simply more intense here because, compared to places such as southern California, there's less haze and we're not that close to water, which moderates temperatures somewhat.

Another concern (given that this is DU) is that many of the more affordable places in the state are quite conservative, politically regressive, and, as one would expect, relatively poor. The politics are a bit schizophrenic. We have some of the highest rates in the country for poverty, school drop-outs, a very low per capita income, and we have the likes of Pete Domenici, Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce as three of our five representatives. (Maybe a connection there....)

Cheers.

[VermontDem2004]

10. That is the best preview of New Mexico I have read

I recommend that Dookus reads this before making a decision.

[VermontDem2004]

9. Beatiful Scenary everywhere

Looks alot like Arizona imo. I would live in Arizona but New Mexico wouldn't be a bad choice. My uncle has a ranch on the outskirts of Sante Fe and the scenary around the area is just amazing, I would recommend living there.