New in Las Cruces NM (Albuquerque, Dona Ana: 2009, attorney, home builders)

[Van Lawick]

Moved here from Green Valley AZ over 55 year community, but after 4 years between old folks, it was time to move on to a place with younger folks. We picked Las Cruces and like the place. We are picking up a lot of the Spanish language which we need as we did live a couple of years in Puerto Vallarta and return often. We purchased a quality home here in Las Cruces and have lived here now for about 2 years. We thought we purchased a qualty home, but it now appears that the stucco on the outside walls is buckling . cracking and falling of the walls. Not nice it is going to cost a lot of money. So anybody wanting to move here, be careful who you buy from.Stay away from this builder.The building boom is going forward here in the Enchanted Land. Houses are completed in 90 days. Does that tell you something. Any questions????

[tecpatl]

I'd be doing everything possible to make your builders life completely miserable if he doesn't make things right with you. There are home builders associations, both locally and at the state level, the NM attorney generals office, local newspapers, better business bureau and, of course, the courts. No mercy.

[Van Lawick]

Am trying to get other people in the same street together with the same problem and go after this builder. We will see what happens. Good feedback. will try whatever we can.

[nmmama]

You didn't say who the builder is. We have a homesite in The Pueblos at Alameda Ranch and Desert Sage will be building our home. We will be starting in March 2009 and moving in 2012. Any advice?
Thanks

[Van Lawick]

The house we purchased was built by New West Homes in the High Range of Las Cruces. The area you describe is a nice area about a mile East from us. The Pueblos are smaller townhome type houses. Nice area. We should have bought in the Pueblos, However when we moved here early 2005 the inventory was very low and they just started to built the Pueblos. It is a different day today, inventory is very high. No buyers as the snowbirds cannot sell their houses. Building goes on and on as if there is no end to it.They built very fast. Contractors sprinkle the lot a day or 2 and pour the slab and the next day the framers have the house practically framed. New West homes have their own subcontractors and I don't know what their qualifications are. All labor speaks Spanish. Many live in Mexico and work here. Don't know what their status is. I guess it always is a gamble. It is a different world here, but we like it. The weather is great starting in September. It is nice to be away from here from June until the end of August and head North to cool of and see some greenery unless you like the heat. May and June can be very, very windy with lots of dust from the desert. Can be depressing, probably worse than in Wyoming. However dust is part of life here in Las Cruces, better than snow and ice. Sounds like you would spend the winters here for a while. You will like it. Make sure you get a solid warranty on your stucco and tile work. In the Pueblos are many snowbirds wintering here. Best regards.

[homeboundVA]

My girlfriend and I were just visiting Albuquerque for a conference this weekend, and during a break we decided to go for a walk through one of the adjacent neighborhoods. As one would expect, the architecture was more or less the same, but on most of the houses, the stucco and finishing were cracking and peeling off, making the houses look fairly hideous in their otherwise beautiful scenery. We've noticed this trend among several of the houses here in Las Cruces as well, even a friend's house that he constructed himself with professionals behind the helm. Pretty nasty cracking.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm no expert when it comes to these matters, but this style of architecture, or at least the finishing applied to the outside walls, has an extremely short longevity that in my opinion is more of a negative than a positive no matter how good it looks during its early years. If there's a way to avoid this unsightly and unfortunate occurrence?

[domino]

Cracks and stucco go together like peeling paint and weatherboard. It's all part of nature's grand scheme. I've lived in NM and the deep south; I've seen cracks and I've seen peeling paint. To me, peeling paint is more offensive.

[KimK]

There is a little game some builders do here in Dona Ana County (and possibly elsewhere). They do not finish your exterior of your house adequately. They will put a cement scratch coat on over the chicken wire and then slap some elastomeric paint on it and call it a day. This doesn't leave much room between you and the outdoors. It does not have the finish coat on it which is a plaster based material. Some people (those among us who enjoy conserving energy) even like to put on exterior insulation which adds a whole other layer. As you might guess I have now had some experience with this problem. I found out about it before the purchase so I was able to get a chunk knocked off of the purchase price. The builder/owner never mentioned this to me; he feigned surprise when we brought it up to him. To finish my house with a 1 inch insulation also included is around 30,000.00. Interestingly, when the appraiser did his job, he didn't even notice and appraised it very close to the original asking price. So, when I asked him if my house would be worth $30,000.00 more when it was finished he had no answer. I have since heard that this is not uncommon in our area. So, beware.

[wanna_get_out_of_NM]

Originally Posted by Van Lawick

Moved here from Green Valley AZ over 55 year community, but after 4 years between old folks, it was time to move on to a place with younger folks. We picked Las Cruces and like the place. We are picking up a lot of the Spanish language which we need as we did live a couple of years in Puerto Vallarta and return often. We purchased a quality home here in Las Cruces and have lived here now for about 2 years. We thought we purchased a qualty home, but it now appears that the stucco on the outside walls is buckling . cracking and falling of the walls. Not nice it is going to cost a lot of money. So anybody wanting to move here, be careful who you buy from.Stay away from this builder.The building boom is going forward here in the Enchanted Land. Houses are completed in 90 days. Does that tell you something. Any questions????

Hi
I live in LC too. I know what you are talking about with all the construction of new houses. May I ask if it was a home from a builder or company that buys a bunch of land and builds homes but with the same basic layouts and designs?

I have heard good and bad about those builders. Honestly though, I would rather buy an older house here in LC in a nice area for the cost of these new homes.