Has anyone checked the prices for homes in Ruidoso area? (Las Cruces: for sale, real estate)

[Northanna_2001]

We are retiring from federal jobs and are looking to live in the mountains around Ruidoso --- be it Capitan, Tinnie, Alto wherever. Checking the prices for homes in the area on real estate web sites --- totally ridiculous! Prices for the decent homes in the mountain area are above $200,000! What is happening up there? Why are the realtors pricing the homes so high? I can understand now how our friends up there in Alto brought a manufactured home and moved it up there. We would check the mountains of Colorado where we lived 20 years ago (Woodland Park) but Colorado is too cold for us and we love NM. It looks like we're going to be priced out of getting to live in the mountain areas around Ruidoso. Sad.

[songinthewind7]

Woodland Park is a whole lot more expensive than Ruidoso. We've checked out both places and they are both overpriced but the water is cheaper in Colorado.

[JDTH]

I use the following site to keep track of properties selling in Ruidoso.

https://www.city-data.com/real-estate...-NM-88345.html

The median home price is about the same as it was almost 4 years ago. The price has flucuated some in the past four years, but it is only slighty higher now than it was back in 2006. We purchased our place in Ruidoso in February 2007 and I am always looking for additional property in Ruidoso, but now is not the right time for me. I want to wait and see if the economy recovers any before we purchase another house/cabin.

It should be a buyers market in Ruidoso as there are many properties listed for sale and not many are being sold.

[Northanna_2001]

Song in the Wind - we were fortunate in 1990 to move to Woodland Park CO --- We got a gorgeous house for not much. It was really an amazing house and for an affordable price. When I look up there for information purposes only, I look at the whole Ute Pass area (Cascade on up - Chipita Park, Green Mountain Falls, Wdland Pk, Divide & around). We are retiring to hopefully Ruidoso. JDTH, if you look at current house prices in Ruidoso on nationwide Remax or Coldwell Banker, the prices are just out of this world (awfully high.... $ mil - $700,000...300,000). I'm looking for something below $200,000 .... I'm not seeing much for $200,000 and below. It's far better priced in other places like Sierra Vista AZ and Las Cruces NM; but our first pref is Ruidoso (or environs including Capitan, Lincoln, etc.). I bet nothing is selling up there in Ruidoso; the prices are out of site.

[JDTH]

Originally Posted by Northanna_2001

JDTH, if you look at current house prices in Ruidoso on nationwide Remax or Coldwell Banker, the prices are just out of this world (awfully high.... $ mil - $700,000...300,000). I'm looking for something below $200,000 .... I'm not seeing much for $200,000 and below. It's far better priced in other places like Sierra Vista AZ and Las Cruces NM; but our first pref is Ruidoso (or environs including Capitan, Lincoln, etc.). I bet nothing is selling up there in Ruidoso; the prices are out of site.

Of course real estate in Ruidoso is higher priced than Sierra Vista or Las Cruces. The weather in Ruidoso is pretty much perfect year round with mild winters and mild summers. At times it seems like we are living in the forest.

You must be looking for a much larger house than I am. When I go to a Ruidoso real estate site I set my top price at $250,000 and I find a lot of places that would suit me, but that's just me. I am willing to settle for less to live in a place like Ruidoso. Right now is just not the correct time for me to add more real estate to my limited portfolio.


I wish you luck in your search and hopefully you will find what you are looking for.

[JordanJP]

There is currently a house for sale in Capitan for 115k, but I dunno exactly what you are looking for. Ruidoso housing is very overpriced in my opinion and I feel you would be better off moving to somewhere a bit cheaper (Alto, Hondo, Capitan). Have you considered buying some land and then having a house build on it?

[jaxart]

Ruidoso is first and foremost a TOURIST TOWN! Prices in tourist towns everywhere are higher than in non-tourist areas. Same goes for "lots with a view." People pay a premium for view lots. Some people are willing and able to pay a premium to live in PARADISE!

That having been said, house prices in Ruidoso are all over the chart! If someone is willing to put in time and money on a "fixer upper" there are properties inside the Ruidoso village limits that sell for as little as $50,000. Lower priced properties usually imply older neighborhoods with non-code conforming structures, mobile homes, etc. - but they are there and available.

Site built homes constructed in the last 20 or so years are not going to be giveaways. There has not been a large drop in selling prices like there has been in large metro areas elsewhere. Houses are MOSTLY second homes in the Ruidoso area, and people who can afford to own second homes that are seldom occupied aren't worried about economic downturns like they are in other locales.

Houses out in the county are often required to have very expensive deep wells for water. And septic systems today are very expensive as well and must conform to newer state standards. To say nothing of bringing in a road and power, etc. Land that was once remote is no longer. Developers have spread the sprawl even to land that was once suited only for cattle raising, and not that great for forage either!

Just my tuppence worth from personal observations.

But here is information taken from the national Multiple Listing web site:

214 Hemlock Cir Ruidoso, NM 88345 $54,100 8/17/2009
102 Porr Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $157,000 10/2/2009
219 Hemlock Cir Ruidoso, NM 88345 $69,540 8/28/2009
117 Juniper Rd Ruidoso, NM 88345 $122,000 8/27/2009
116 2nd St Ruidoso, NM 88345 $173,447 9/28/2009
421 White Mountain Meadows Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $315,518 9/3/2009
206 Coal Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $210,000 9/24/2009
222 Sunny Slope Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $106,250 7/29/2009
120 Davis Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $125,000 8/17/2009
108 W Redwood Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $115,000 7/27/2009
204 Mcbride Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $265,000 9/14/2009
330 5th St #7 Ruidoso, NM 88345 $105,000 8/28/2009
127 Meadows Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $168,750 8/13/2009
196 Spring Canyon Rd Ruidoso, NM 88345 $239,000 7/24/2009
165 Deer Creek Rd Ruidoso, NM 88345 $121,101 8/31/2009
530 2nd St Ruidoso, NM 88345 $142,000 9/9/2009
120 Birch Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $26,141 7/24/2009 (Yes, this is a residence)
132 Cedar Pl Ruidoso, NM 88345 $85,000 8/31/2009
106 Hobart Dr Ruidoso, NM 88345 $207,500 8/10/2009
116 White Pine Rd Ruidoso, NM 88345 $150,000 9/8/2009

[rruff]

Originally Posted by Northanna_2001

I'm looking for something below $200,000 .... I'm not seeing much for $200,000 and below. It's far better priced in other places like Sierra Vista AZ and Las Cruces NM; but our first pref is Ruidoso (or environs including Capitan, Lincoln, etc.). I bet nothing is selling up there in Ruidoso; the prices are out of site.

I think you've been mislead. Here I did some checking for you. Did a search for homes under $200k from Ruidoso proper, north to the Bonito River... this is the nicest (and most expensive) part. No mobiles or double wides... all site built. There are 122 homes currently for sale that meet this criteria. That should be enough to get you started.

Ruidoso Board of REALTORS

For what it offers Ruidoso is a bargain... one of the few nice mountain towns with a great climate where the price of real estate has not gone crazy. Don't expect it to stay that way forever.

We bought 16 acres of great land for $79k a couple years ago... paved roads, utilites, etc... 25 minutes from downtown. Check around CO if you think that is expensive.

Here is a pretty nice one I checked out recently... right in town, good access, great sun, nice decks with view down the valley... 3bd 1.75ba, 1150 sgft, $129k asking price.
http://www.usamls.net/ruidoso/defaul...26626&sortby=2

[Cathy4017]

Well, coming from Texas (where RE is relatively cheap), Ruidoso has always seemed expensive to me.

But y'all are correct--there ARE quite a range of prices, but I have not been able to find what I want--and my expectations are unrealistic for the area. I'm talking type of construction, not price. About the only way I can get flatlander construction (stucco/brick with slab, relatively level lot) is at one of the country club places.

It is a MOUNTAIN town, after all.......

I also don't want to be covered up with trees and not be able to see out--it just bugs me, LOL!! I enjoy a number of trees, but not the smothering cover I've seen on many properties.

So, what I want is out of whack with what is normal for the area. Steep driveways, few garages, pier and beam construction, T-11 siding, etc. etc. I check at least weekly, and have been doing so for the past 2 years. With the newer open, flatter developments, you run into restrictions on animals, so that rules it out for a few years.

I also don't want to deal with wells/septic, so I'm not likely to ever find anything there. But that's OK....I'll just enjoy it from a distance!

[rruff]

Plenty of lots for sale Cathy... why not buy the land and build exactly what you want?