Moving to Enchanted Hills Home ????? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: for sale, lease, custom home)

[osuredcobra]

Hi,

My wife and I will be relocating to Albuquerque, we visited the city over the holiday and fell in love, so for us it is a no brainer. What we did notice is that homes for sale and rent are all over the place, What is UP with that.

We found a home in Enchanted Hills, Rio Rancho, close to HWY 550. The house is nice and big and is going for about $92 per square foot. Is this a good/fair price for the area ????????? Or is the price to much???????, How good is the house market, any of you have relocated and got great deals on homes. We do not want to rush into anything, but at the same time we do not want to miss out on a market that is low, and miss the up turn. Later we will not be able to afford a house this big, if lets say the square foot price goes to 105 or more.

Any of you live in this area, do you like it or does it suck. Like I said previously we fell in love with the town and the area, because it is close to the Sandia Mountains, Santa Fe, and Durango (I have family in Durango), but I would love any input any of you have.

Thanks

[GregW]

I suggest you buy a house you like in a location you want at a price you can afford with a fixed rate and duration mortgage. Don't be too concerned with appreciation because IMHO prices all over the country are going to stay level for quite a while.

[osuredcobra]

I am reading what you are saying, and thanks. But I am trying to get some hard core input, from hopefully a local person that can give me some real advise on the area. Once again thank you, and I am NOT trying to be a smart ass with my above stated comment. We are in a time crunch, either we go and rent or we do the lease with option to buy deal.

[finmqa1]

That area of Rio Rancho is booming, and at $92/sq ft I would say that is a good deal. The schools in the area are good, pleanty of outdoor activities nearby. They are constantly building retail in that area as it is booming especially with high-end custom homes. The only drawback to that area is the commute to ABQ, but if you can utilize the Rail Runner Commuter Rail, it's a quick 30 min trip to Downtown via the rail.

[osuredcobra]

FINMQA1, thank you for your reply. Very good stuff..........

[finmqa1]

PS - You have two GREAT golf courses very close by, Santa Ana Golf Course and Twin Warriors Golf Club.

[Vpuccetti]

Where would you be working? Do you like commuting? The biggest thing I dislike about Rio Rancho is how far it is from anything fun. I will probably never live in Rio Rancho, nor will I ever have the intention of doing so because it's just so far away for me.

[mortimer]

osuredcobra asked:

> What we did notice is that homes for sale and rent are all
> over the place, What is UP with that?

Where are you coming from? There is practically no place in the whole country that is not like that in some parts of the (pick the place) city.

In places that have experienced a lot of growth like Rio Rancho, Las Vegas suburbs, Tampa suburbs, Denver suburbs, etc there are a forest of [For Sale] signs.

In some places in the midwest, there are whole neighborhoods where the abandoned houses have been stripped of aluminum siding, copper wires/pipes, etc. In some neighborhoods in Phoenix thieves are stealing the outside parts of air conditioner systems for the scrap metal value.

There's a reason that the price you are paying is so reasonable. There are other parts of Albuquerque where the price per sq ft is more than double what you are paying.

As long as your new place gets a good inspection, it will probably be a good place to live, but it might be another year before the forest of signs finally starts looking like a tiny grove.

[gs2offroad]

osuredcobra asked:

> What we did notice is that homes for sale and rent are all
> over the place, What is UP with that?

I recently relocated and am staying in the Enchanted Hills area, but for now I am renting. There are so many homes for sale out here that there has to be a crash coming, I'm going to wait a year and see what happens with the market. Lots of houses for rent if you want to try out the area before you commit. It's a 30 minute commute to and from the Journal Center in ABQ during rush hour, the hardest part is getting through Bernalillo on 550 to I-25. There is not much in the way of "culture" out here but the services of suburbia are convenient.

[osuredcobra]

Originally Posted by gs2offroad

osuredcobra asked:

> What we did notice is that homes for sale and rent are all
> over the place, What is UP with that?

I recently relocated and am staying in the Enchanted Hills area, but for now I am renting. There are so many homes for sale out here that there has to be a crash coming, I'm going to wait a year and see what happens with the market. Lots of houses for rent if you want to try out the area before you commit. It's a 30 minute commute to and from the Journal Center in ABQ during rush hour, the hardest part is getting through Bernalillo on 550 to I-25. There is not much in the way of "culture" out here but the services of suburbia are convenient.

Thanks for your input, we currently live outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma and love living out in the sticks. The great thing is that we are withing 20 to 30 minutes of everything and that is how we want to keep it. I do not like living inside of a city, I like having the feeling that I am out in the sticks, but being able to get to stuff like Home Depot, Restaurants, Best Buy etc withing a short time period. It seems that Enchanted Hills offers that. So do you think that the bottom has NOT fallen out in the area. That is my biggest fear and that is why I wanted everyones input on this, I do not want to buy a home and then have the bottom fall and I am upside down on a 300+K home.