Wanting To Buy Land In New Mexico (Albuquerque, Los Lunas: sales, home)

[Abraham]

I have a cousin who took a trip to Angel Fire. They said the experience was so unique and beautiful. The people were friendly, but the small size of most of the towns made what crime happened there very evident. The people are very territorial but living there is quite harsh.

[meflyfish]

Just bought 10.6 acres 18 minutes from Super Wal-Mart in Silver City for $50K.
Where in the US are you gonna find a deal like that???
Silver City is a wonderful place for retirement.
Was surprised to find gourmet resturaunts at reasonable prices. Great small town.
Building costs are very reasonable.
Check it out!!

[tomcat]

I love Deming nice small desert town.just bought 5 acre cornor lot with beutiful easterly views of Florida mountins,just 5,ooo dollars.to get power to lot will cost 5,ooo from pnm electric.Deming is just being discovered. city leaders understand this enacting ordenance 37, building restrictions/covenents.minum of 2 acre to build.Deming is a retirement haven,attracting many to small town living modern medical facilityin mimbress hospital offering a wide spectrum of services.Many things to do and see museums art gallerys nice restrunts gereat food.nice helpful frendly people mexico only 33 miles away offering low cost scripts. shopping and great food.in local paper a Texas developer is ready to build a 10 expandable to 14 bowling lanes and 4 to 6 screen theater/sports bar complex. new munisable buildinge posied or growth a super investment dont wait too long........

[sanjon]

Check out eastern NM. Big development going in at Ute Lake - Logan, NM at the lake. Land in this county is cheap, taxes are low and great opportunities. Great place to live.

[Siouxlander]

Originally Posted by Crackerjack

Four places come to mind for real estate value. One is Edgewood, NM. It is growing and will continue to grow because it is near ABQ and has all the pretty mountain scenery, but be sure you have property with a good water well. Two, Silver City is becoming a popular retirement city, so it will hold value really well. Three, Ruidoso has been and will continue to be a popular place to visit, live and retire. Four, Cloudcroft is a popular place and it is still small. I would caution on Ruidoso to buy land not covered in pine trees so thick as to be a fire hazard. It can have droughts and could be in a fire, so I would go more for open or pasture land and maybe some trees. There are others but these cities are a good place to start.

I'd pick Edgewood, too. It's close to Albuquerque without actually BEING Albuquerque.

And no offense to user "Sanjon" but she's a bit of a one hit wonder. I know she's lauding her town for the benefit of her town, but avoid the East at all costs.

[slk45]

This is my first post; so bear with me, please.
I've been looking for a minimum of 5 acre to a maximum of 20 acre parcels in new mexico to retire on. I'm only 45 yrs old now; so it will probably be at least 20 yrs before I retire. I live in Eastern OK on the border with Arkansas. Life is not too bad here, but the temps in the summer and the humidity can be tough; so I'd prefer not to retire here.

I've searched hundreds of sites on the internet, but haven't really found the right spot. I don't mind some snow and I'd like to avoid places with temps too far above 90 deg. I'd like to stay in the $1,000/acre range(approx).

I've been reading a lot of posts from people with similar questions and have noticed quite a bit of negative feedback about NM; although my wife and I visited Santa Fe a few years ago and really loved the scenery. We are planning a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for or 25th wedding anniv. in May and hoped to find some property in NM to stop and look at on the way.
I guess what I need to know is:
1. Are there any particular areas I should stay away from?
2. Are there any real estate agents(good or bad) or other land "scams" I should know about?
3. Should I even be looking at land now; since my retirement is so far away?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

[GregW]

SLK45-
I think you will have to spend more than $5,000 to $20,000 to get any decent places in NM. Check Relator.com or Houses and Real estate on your browser and look at the smaller towns along I-40 or the central part along I-25 between Albuguerque and Las Cruces. Last I cheked there were a couple of ranches being subdivided around Mountainair, Carrizozo and Corona. If you don't mind cold the area north and west of Santa Fe between SF and Chama have possibilites.

[oswald]

I'll also throw in to check EBay real estate too. I saw a 40 acre piece out towards Quemado go for about $350 per acre a few weeks ago. That's pretty, but remote, property in that area. There's also a nice ranch-split type development listed on Ebay now out towards Santa Rosa that has property as low as $500 per acre, but you have to buy 140 acres. You can split it though, so that might be something you want to think about if you're buying with a long term perspective also. Lots of different ways to do it.

I would think if you have a long-term timeframe and you won't be on the property for some time, it may be best to focus in larger developments (as opposed to a single small piece somewhere) so that you have some comfort nobody is living on your property of whatever if you are not there.

[slk45]

greg w
i had a feeling that my price range might be a little low.
thanks for the info on those locations.

[slk45]

oswald
i had come across several properties that were really nice, but were larger and therefore probably out of my price range.
could you elaborate on what you mean by "..split it though,..."? i've only bought property here in oklahoma from a friend; so i'm relatively inexperienced at this.

are you referring to gated communities; when you say "larger developments"?
i really appreciate your input.