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...the Talavera area...There's one way in, and one way out of that area, unless you have a 4 x 4.
I don't like the actual Talavera area because of the rocky unpaved and un-maintained roads one must drive to get to their residence. Wash-outs are common in the late summer when there are heavy thunderstorms and residents must cooperate on keeping the roads passable. A high clearance vehicle is certainly best for avoiding large rock damage to the vehicle's undercarriage, but a 4WD is not necessary.
The smaller and newer subdivisions off of Dripping Springs Rd. do have paved streets but also smaller lot sizes.
PS My friends have a five acre lot in the original Talavera area. His car goes in the garage but hers was being parked outside. Several times the pack rats got into her car and chewed the wiring insulation, resulting in hundreds of dollars in repairs. This happened on more than one car model over time. Now they satisfy themselves with just the one car. Oh yes...the cats stay in the garage at night!
I don't like the actual Talavera area because of the rocky unpaved and un-maintained roads one must drive to get to their residence. Wash-outs are common in the late summer when there are heavy thunderstorms and residents must cooperate on keeping the roads passable. A high clearance vehicle is certainly best for avoiding large rock damage to the vehicle's undercarriage, but a 4WD is not necessary.
The smaller and newer subdivisions off of Dripping Springs Rd. do have paved streets but also smaller lot sizes.
PS My friends have a five acre lot in the original Talavera area. His car goes in the garage but hers was being parked outside. Several times the pack rats got into her car and chewed the wiring insulation, resulting in hundreds of dollars in repairs. This happened on more than one car model over time. Now they satisfy themselves with just the one car. Oh yes...the cats stay in the garage at night!
We've had our experience with pack rats too. Probably a sub species of new mexico pack rats. One built a huge nest on the manifold of my wife's car, plus ate the insulation blanket from under the hood. The car was parked in the garage while we were travelling. $1800.00 worth of damage. Insurance covered it but they acted like I was nuts when I first reported it.
It was just an observation and a question Pancho. I just don't se bars on doors and windows here so I was wondering if it was an issue. I've been burglarized here once so so I'm sensitive to such things. I never meant any criticism.
Your observations are spot-on. Nowhere I have lived were there bars on doors and windows, esp on new construction. There is a lot of crime around the state (look up the individual towns for the info - even small towns have huge crime rates). People will tell you that <100,000 the stats are skewed but we can all find examples of equally small towns (even in the same state) where the states are 1/2 of the high-crime towns. My suggestion is to spend time on the ground and make sure you investigate the neighborhood thoroughly and of course, go to the local police department to have a chat. That's what we did in Silver City after visiting and seeing the "drag" being driven in the afternoon by what looked like unfriendly gang-member faces. The local detective explained that the drag had been there for generations and that it is local teens having fun. He also told us about what the crime is there (mostly drugs and some gang related crime). This was back in 2010.
Talavera in Las Cruces - I did not like it much, it is in a pretty setting but it appears very unplanned and looks like the "slums" with all the homes in the way of your views. Many of them are high end homes on 5 acres but the density just makes it look like Bombay.
I don't care for Talavera either, but it's awful popular. The north valley is more my cup of tea.
Due to the drought and the amount of ag land around Cruces, specifically the pecans which have to be watered as they represent a big investment, the water table has gone down dramatically. Surface water has been just a fraction of normal for a while. I know of several people that have drilled or are looking at drilling new wells. The water isn't that good either but if you go down deep ($$$) enough probably be ok. There is water service available to most properties. Water is something to look at closely for a specific property for sure. The NM state engineer's office could probably answer some general questions about well depth in the lower Rio Grande Basin (the aquifer). Many people have wells for irrigating their property but not for drinking.
Medical care is ok. Some specialities don't have many choices. I go to Mayo in Scottsdale once a year to see the neuro. El Paso has a lot more available within an hours drive. There are other threads here about medical concerns in Las Cruces and, while it's adequate, most seem to agree it could be better.
Deming water is regionally famous and for a while they sold it bottled here in Las Cruces. Very tasty. Not sure on well depth. Deming is a slow, slow place. An hour drive to anything. If that's your cup of tea the people are friendly and price is certainly right.
Talavera in Las Cruces - I did not like it much, it is in a pretty setting but it appears very unplanned and looks like the "slums" with all the homes in the way of your views. Many of them are high end homes on 5 acres but the density just makes it look like Bombay.
Are we talking about the same place???? I would never ever use the term "slum" for the high end homes in the area of the Talavera development. Nor do they look anything like Bombay structures. See the typical view I have attached to this message. Others can judge for themselves about "the view."
When I scouted out Las Cruces last summer the security bars and fencing did catch my attention as well. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I did notice it. When we moved down our belongings in the fall we placed them in storage for a few months at a facility just off of Interstate 10 on the west side of town (just north of Mesilla). Normally, I would have chosen a climate controlled indoor unit, but with the dry climate (no risk of water damage) I figured I'd save a little cash since it'd only be for a few months at most. What I didn't know when I arrived there with the UHaul was that my unit had two doors. That proved to be significant later because I only had one disc lock on me and one common padlock. So of course before I left I secured one of the doors with the disc lock and the other with the padlock. Well, about a month after placing our things in storage we got a call from the storage facility informing us that our unit was broken in to and that we needed to check to see if anything was missing. Apparently someone had used bolt cutters on the padlock of our unit and two other units. They stole about $3,000 worth of stuff, mainly electronics including a 50 inch plasma and a 55 inch LED TV and also some of my wife's medical supplies (syringes and such, probably druggies). There was a wall around the storage facility with security bars, a vehicle gate which required a PIN number, and cameras every where which apparently are worthless at night. I tell you all this because it was obviously a planned job, no way could someone carry away 2 TVs on foot. When I was moving my stuff out of storage I talked to a guy that operated a vending/snack business who stored his product in a couple of units. He told me that he had already switched storage facilities several times because the problems he had experienced with his units getting broken in to. He also told me that the problem is not really a priority with the police. I tell you this because my experience apparently is not an isolated occurrence. Based on my experience with the local police I'd say that it is definitely not a priority for them, but I don't want to bash the local PD because I don't know if they are adequately funded and staffed. There definitely is an element of property crime, at least in certain areas of the city which could probably be said about the average city in any state. When this happened it was tempting to let it skew my outlook on Las Cruces. I decided to chalk it up as a lesson learned and to move on. Use disc locks! Anyway, I just thought I'd share my real world experience for what it's worth.
I like living on the east side of town in the Sonoma Ranch area, but if I was looking for an acre or two I'd probably look a little further east in the Talavera area which is basically in the foothills of the Organ mountains. My wife and I are considering the idea of purchasing a home here as well and if we do Talavera and the surrounding developments will be high on our list. From what I've seen 300k will probably get you what you're looking for right now, but who knows what the market will be like in 2 years. I am of the belief that the country as a whole is in an asset bubble right so maybe in 2 years you will even get more bang for your buck, tough to tell.
Just curious Bruce, what area of Montana are coming from?
Are we talking about the same place???? I would never ever use the term "slum" for the high end homes in the area of the Talavera development. Nor do they look anything like Bombay structures. See the typical view I have attached to this message. Others can judge for themselves about "the view."
I know. When looking for a home last summer, there were very few available, the lowest was just a hair over 200k. There are none, as many times as I have been there, slum like homes. It's very much a well to do area.
Are we talking about the same place???? I would never ever use the term "slum" for the high end homes in the area of the Talavera development. Nor do they look anything like Bombay structures. See the typical view I have attached to this message. Others can judge for themselves about "the view."
When you stop at the bottom of the development and look towards it, there are a gazillion homes and it appears dense. I know it is not dense since they are all acreage but it is just the appearance of it. We looked at a few homes there and it was just not our cup of tea, we felt like the houses at the "bottom" all have views of their neighbors at the "top". It is just personal preference, when I referred to "Bombay slums" I meant the density of housing not some kind of trashiness
...when I referred to "Bombay slums" I meant the density of housing not some kind of trashiness
So you don't like developments that require lot sizes to be a certain minimum acreage. Your descriptions evoke developments with homes on lots measured by square footage, with houses so jammed together you can hear your neighbor's snores at night.
Your descriptions of the Talavera area make no sense at all to me. Good luck in finding your utopian ideal.
So you don't like developments that require lot sizes to be a certain minimum acreage. Your descriptions evoke developments with homes on lots measured by square footage, with houses so jammed together you can hear your neighbor's snores at night.
Your descriptions of the Talavera area make no sense at all to me. Good luck in finding your utopian ideal.
Come now. Yes, I like to have some space around me, so shoot me . I am not knocking the neighborhood, it is a personal preference thing - if you like it, all the glory to you. I stand by the observation that there were way too many homes obstructing the views - it is not a serene view to the mountain from the bottom - it is a view of hundreds of homes up on top. Am I lying? Maybe I was taken to the wrong development and were told it was Talavera
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