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How many people here have a hard time living like this. I don't know how people do it there is no privacy. Heaven forbid if you have a barking dog or couples who argue all the time or loud music. This is what I'm going to have a hard time to adjust when the time comes. If you have good neighbors I guess it'll be fine.
First off, this is not something unique to New Mexico. I think that corporate builders have lost sight of what is needed to raise a family. Not only are these homes crammed together but they are mostly unaffordable. They come equipped with things that earlier generations saved for and added to their basic home as they could afford it. That drives up the price.
This is essentially a corporate feedlot. The sad irony is that it is actually an image of Cattle Drive, a street near me. The builders thought they were being cute. I must assume that builders expect kids to stay in their rooms and play on their cell phone or computer rather than venture outside. Why would you, as a kid go outside? Sometimes there will be a pocket park a few blocks away where kids are supposed to play outside.
How is this any better than living in an apartment? You are building equity, little by little. You can paint the walls. You can park on the front lawn. You can have a dog. That is where we are with the old picket fence notion of the American Dream.
Cultures change and maybe ours is changing. I have often wondered what life was like in the old multi-story pueblo towns and great houses where there were families literally living on top of one another with kids and dogs and a general lack of privacy. City planners are harping on the benefits of residential density. I was in Europe recently and, with few exceptions, the major city residents seem to live vertically in four or five story walk-up apartments and have little or no desire (or option) for a single-family home.
First off, this is not something unique to New Mexico. I think that corporate builders have lost sight of what is needed to raise a family. Not only are these homes crammed together but they are mostly unaffordable. They come equipped with things that earlier generations saved for and added to their basic home as they could afford it. That drives up the price.
This is essentially a corporate feedlot. The sad irony is that it is actually an image of Cattle Drive, a street near me. The builders thought they were being cute. I must assume that builders expect kids to stay in their rooms and play on their cell phone or computer rather than venture outside. Why would you, as a kid go outside? Sometimes there will be a pocket park a few blocks away where kids are supposed to play outside.
How is this any better than living in an apartment? You are building equity, little by little. You can paint the walls. You can park on the front lawn. You can have a dog. That is where we are with the old picket fence notion of the American Dream.
Cultures change and maybe ours is changing. I have often wondered what life was like in the old multi-story pueblo towns and great houses where there were families literally living on top of one another with kids and dogs and a general lack of privacy. City planners are harping on the benefits of residential density. I was in Europe recently and, with few exceptions, the major city residents seem to live vertically in four or five story walk-up apartments and have little or no desire (or option) for a single-family home.
My wife lived overseas and her Flat was shared by 3 other flats. All using a same kitchen and bath. I couldnt believe my eyes. But that was their way of life. These flats would be 20 floors up. If you had money you can have your own kitchen and bath. We are planning to move to NM but houses like that were you pretty much can reach your hand out the window and can almost touch the other guy. Nope not for me..But the prices they want for them $$ for 5ft of land around the house is nuts. But the people over there must like it...
My wife lived overseas and her Flat was shared by 3 other flats. All using a same kitchen and bath. I couldnt believe my eyes. But that was their way of life. These flats would be 20 floors up. If you had money you can have your own kitchen and bath. We are planning to move to NM but houses like that were you pretty much can reach your hand out the window and can almost touch the other guy. Nope not for me..But the prices they want for them $$ for 5ft of land around the house is nuts. But the people over there must like it...
I live in Placitas and we have 8/10 acre. Many lots here have more. You can also see larger lots in parts of Rio Rancho and, I suspect, parts of communities south of ABQ. It's one reason we didn't move to ABQ (city).
My wife lived overseas and her Flat was shared by 3 other flats. All using a same kitchen and bath. I couldnt believe my eyes. But that was their way of life. These flats would be 20 floors up. If you had money you can have your own kitchen and bath. We are planning to move to NM but houses like that were you pretty much can reach your hand out the window and can almost touch the other guy. Nope not for me..But the prices they want for them $$ for 5ft of land around the house is nuts. But the people over there must like it...
I live in Rio Rancho and have 1.3 acres and one adjacent neighbor. My road isn't paved but well maintained on a weekly basis. You just have to look around and avoid what you don't want. There are a lot of 1/2 acre lot homes in my area. There is a housing shortage and not much on the market right now that is affordable. Land is expensive but cheaper a bit in the East Mountains and Los Lunas. If you are not moving for another 5 years, just keep watching from a distance.
You wonder why they don't just make them townhouses. Part of the rationale is that they want to prevent people using water on landscaping, so they keep the yards as small as possible. Many people nowadays don't want a big yard to care for.
I lived in row houses in Boston, and here's an example in Portland, Maine also:
I live in Placitas and we have 8/10 acre. Many lots here have more. You can also see larger lots in parts of Rio Rancho and, I suspect, parts of communities south of ABQ. It's one reason we didn't move to ABQ (city).
I lived in Placitas when it was a tiny village of people whose ancestors were conquistadors who decided to stay in the area and blend with the natives. Now it is considered a Mc Mansion community so what ever your experience is not going to translate to anyone who can't afford a mansion.
There are still places in Albuquerque, old houses with yards, though a lot around them have been subdivded and any empty lot is being turned into an apartment complex. I am lucky and inherited a place that can't be subdivided without tearing down a perfectly good house and garage, so I have a yard (house is on 1/2 acre), used to be 3/4 acre but my siklly dad subdivided it and sold the 1/4 acre where the apple orchard used to be.
It is corporate insanity like SunGrins said. It started in the 60's in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and the west mesa which is now called Rio Rancho. It is driven by greed.
Albuquerque is still one of the least densely populated cities in the country. Tightly-spaced houses are found in many cities, where they are considered charming, like the famous Painted Ladies in San Francisco. Most houses in San Francisco have very little separation like this:
I lived in Placitas when it was a tiny village of people whose ancestors were conquistadors who decided to stay in the area and blend with the natives. Now it is considered a Mc Mansion community so what ever your experience is not going to translate to anyone who can't afford a mansion.
That all depends on how you define a mansion. There are some expensive homes here, but I wouldn't call very many mansions.
We've been here 25 years. I suspect that many of the houses that were here when you lived here are still here.
I grew up in an eastern-style city and city residents were very much used to close density. The post-war housing shortage pushed development into the (farming) suburbs where land was relatively cheap, and families got used to yards and less density. People bought cars. The freeways made it easy to get to the city. Now some of those inner urban density neighborhoods are trendy.
Not so much in Albuquerque. It seems that the idea of some space and a little less density was normal. Look at places like Barelas or Plaza Vieja neighborhoods -- both old and established 100 years ago. The city had under 30k population. Now you begin to see townhomes, almost like old-style rowhouses, in some areas.
People who grew up in the 1950-1970s are put off by the density of newer developments. Our parents might have been used to it and maybe our kids or grandkids are more tolerant of it.
It might become more accepted over time. Urban planners talk about transit-oriented development where residential and commercial development is clustered within walking distance of urban mass transit stops. You walk to the metro. You don't need a car. You live in a multi-family building (usually) and you adapt to a form of pedestrian street life. You need a reliable, cheap, and safe metro system. Planners talk like it is a new thing, but European cities have been doing this for generations.
Land is expensive in Albuquerque. As the RE agents say, they aren't making any more of it. The only way to build is city infill with apartments, condo/townhomes, or McMansions -- or move to the west side. The developers on the west side are a study in greed preying on homebuyers. Rio Rancho is just as bad or worse. There is a lot of open space in Rio Rancho but the commute times, given the bridge situation, makes it a difficult commute. The old 1950s homes in the city look very attractive now and their prices are equally out of whack.
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