Northern New Mexico

[Boatz]

I was wondering if there is anybody out there living in the Santa Fe, Pecos, Angelfire area? Retirement is coming soon - looking for an area that's not too hot, not too cold and is accessible enough when I'm really old... How are things out there?

Thanks.

[spinnm]

Depends upon what you call "cold"  and what you mean by accessible.

Angelfire lots colder than the other two.  Taller pines, much more snow.
Pecos warmer.  Would have to go to SF for anything other than bread and milk.

Angel Fire has the the basics.  Red River more of a real town.  SF would still be the major shopping, tho RR/Taos has most of the things that one would need.  You can really live anywhere with Ebay and UPS.

Santa Fe...how liberal are you and how much $$ you got?

I've pretty much been up every pig path in the Four Corners.  What do you have in mind?  Might be able to offer some alternatives.

[Boatz]

Thanks, Shelly - By accessible, I mean getting to a doctor when needed, not having to shovel 10' of snow every week when I'm 75 and having a real road to get to the metropolis... Liberal is not an issue (I'm in CA now)... Money? I'm retiring from the school system, so it will need to stretch... Cold? Lived in Maine for 10 years and can't deal any more with endless winter... and no sun... and only 2 weeks of summer, fall and spring - brr!

[spinnm]

Sun is no problem and with the altitude even the snowy areas have plenty of light jacket time during the warm part of the day. And, the snow will melt in a few days except in the hard core ski areas.  But, the altitude brings cold nights even in the warmer areas.  

I'll try to chunk it up.  Eastern part of the state say East of the longitude that Roswell and Santa Rosa are on...is preparing to be Texas and Oklahoma.  Flattens out, lose the mountains.

Northwest.  Only town of any size is Aztec/Farmington.  San Juan river.  Quality trout waters.  Navajo Lake.  River running on the San Juan and Chama.  Skiing in Durango, Co just up the road.
To the West and South is Navajo reservation, thus the lack of towns.  Plenty to do if you enjoy the outdoors.  Up the road in Co is Cortez.  Another big lake and more rivers.  I prefer the look and feel of Cortez over Farmington, but services there are limited.  They do have a small hospital.

Santa Fe/Taos/Los Alamos are getting very pricy. Locals can't afford to live there any more.Pecos is better, but you'd be coming to SF all the time for everything.  Up the road is Espanola.  Used to be able to find a deal there, but there's so much overflow from Los Alamos that the prices have gone up.  Don't know how much.

Las Vegas is interesting.  Big enough to have a small hospital.  Almost 1000 structures on the historic register in a small town.  Old RR town.  Brick victorians.  Unusual for NM.  On I-25. About 1 hr to SF, two to Abq.  Go in the back way to skiing at RR/Angel Fire.  Small ski area not very far.  Sipaupu.

Angel Fire/Red River get beaucoup snow.  Kind of remote.

Raton is on the cusp of being cute.  Just over the pass from Trinidad Co....which has become totally yuppified in the last 10 years.  Same kind of town, but as yet undiscovered.

Albuquerque, of course.  Approaching a million.  I just left.  East of town, say 30 minutes out there's still uncrowded affordable stuff.  Might explore South.  Belen is 40 miles on I-25.  They're just starting a commuter rail line that will go from Belen to Abq.  Eventually go to Santa Fe.  But the Belen-Abq leg is supposed to be up and running in a year.  Using existing rail lines.  Socorro another 30 miles South.  Just got a Walmart.  Small university.

Roswell is at the edge of the hill country.  Ranching town.  And the aliens, of course.  West of there is Lincoln County.  Billy the kid, Peter Hurd, Smoky Bear country.  Maybe 30 minutes from town.

North of Abq will be 40s day/teens 20s night.  But, 40 degrees at 7000' on a sunny day is pleasant.
Farmington slightly warmer.  Abq high forties, mid twenties.

Nothing really interesting South of Roswell, East of I-25.

Las Cruces warmer than Abq.  50s now, 30s at night.  Smaller.  Maybe 250k in the metro area.  Has all the chains.  Lots of Docs.  Retirees moving there like mad.

Silver City is interesting and not as discovered as other places.  Small university.  After a fire in the 1880s, ordinance passed that all buildings had to be brick.  Lots of Drs.  Small hospital.  Not too many chains, but lots of services for a town its size.  Smack dab in the Gila wilderness.  Cliff dwellings.  Decent lake to fish.  Gila river is runnable in the spring.  Higher than Abq, but farther South.  Climates about the same.

Anything 4000' or better will be fine sleeping in the summer regardless of the daytime temps.  Higher the altitude, more snow & tall pines.  So much of NM is owned by the Feds or the Indians that there are big chunks of undeveloped land.  There aren't that many towns....especially ones with services that one wants as they age.

Then, there's me.  I live in funkytown.  But, we're having a great time.  Just wish we didn't have to keep the road hot to Las Cruces all the time.  I pray to Homer nightly.  Upend my Homer bucket, light a little orange candle.

[Boatz]

Thanks - I'll take a little drive through this summer. You've given me some areas to focus on. I love the mountains and the altitude and I don't mind some snow. I do need the sun though. In Maine, I'd get to about February and have a permanent case of hypothermia - it seemed like I could never get warm. On the other hand, endless heat can be tough too (especially paying for the a/c!) - I'm living in an area with 100 degree summers - makes it hard to go outside and play!

I figure I will have to sacrifice some $$ to get close enough to a city for services. It all still beats the cost of most of California. What are property taxes like in NM? Also, I suspect the water issues are as gnarly as they are here in So. Cal.

[spinnm]

Property taxes low...except SF and Bernalillo counties...and even they don't come close to many other states.

Water not much of an issue...assuming it's there.  Some larger pieces still have irrigation rights.  Water controlled by the state.  House well can pump 1 acre foot/year.  No meters, no throttle on pump size yet....so no one's checking how much water you're using.

Water hookups Abq are about 5k.  That's how they pay for infrastructure for development.  Don't know about the other metro areas.

[Boatz]

Huh! Water is so huge as an issue out here, I would have thought it was bigger in NM... How deep are they having to go with the wells? 50'? 800'? deeper? ("Water is for fightin' over, whiskey's for drinkin'" - Mark Twain)

$5k seems about average for a water hookup in many states... some places around here, for water and sewer, it's 13-15k... YIKES!

[spinnm]

Well, my caveat was "if it's there".  

Depth depends upon location.  Up in the mtns, may be hard to find to find at all.  There are huge underground acquifers in the lowlands and along the river valleys.  Just to give you an example, in Abq, the water is under the Rio Grande.  Live along the river and you may hit wet sand at 20', good water and plenty of it, less than 150'.  Live in the foothills on the East or West sides and you have to go to the acquifer to get it...600-800'.  If you don't all you get is a few gallons/min running in the crevices in the rocks.

You must be careful b4 you buy.  Don't believe the realtors.  Check it out yourself.  What I meant was that as long as the area has water, the extraction of it is not a hassle.  Colorado has made it a major hassle.  Not so, NM.

[Boatz]

That's about what I expected... I'd read about the water issues in CO, but I'm glad to hear that thinking hasn't hit NM yet... Right now, the Pecos area is looking pretty interesting to me... closer to the river seems like it might be better.

Thanks for all the info - it is very helpful.

[spinnm]

Not too close....there's no dam.

[glenn-k]

That's one thing that gets me around here - I built on top of the mountain - good wind - solar -views- drainage- warmer than valleys - etc.

I can't understand the logic of building too close to a creek or river bottom.  Nice when they behave themselves, but we constantly have people flooded out by building in flood zones.  Kinda like the people who go to the beach to view the tsunami. :-/

Even a sidehill seems like a good choice compared to building where there is a chance of flooding,my preferences  but then again - consider the source- I'm a troglodyte.

[Boatz]

Yup... I did kinda get the giggles looking at some very expensive "riverfront property" near the Pecos (more like riverbed!). I sit on a side of the mountain here in So Cal - believe me! I looked all around for mudslides, floods, fire danger before I bought.... I do think about those things... (so far, so good)

8-)