Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No, because your comments obviously reveal a haughty, pretentious attitude. That is difficult to overcome. Your statements do not come from the type of person who does well in New Mexico, where modesty and lack of pretense are considered virtues.
As you have said, you think you would do well here as long as you can somehow escape interacting with the current residents of New Mexico as much as possible. Isolation doesn't sound like a recipe for happiness to me. You have placed yourself on a pedestal above the ordinary people of this state and that will come across in your inevitable interactions with them, which would not work in your favor at all.
If you look at his post history, he has a touch of survivalist, or isolationist, fever coursing through his veins. He has inquired about different locations in different states as he plots his future in an outpost. He wants to isolate himself, to separate himself from the criminal element, but be close enough to the action so he can run into town for provisions (as long as he can get back to the hideout by sundown).
Poverty, which I believe to be the root of the crime problems not only in NM but everywhere crime is found (and it is found EVERYWHERE), is often exaggerated in rural areas. So the thing he fears the most (CRIME!!!) is likely to be more of a problem for him out in the sticks than it would be in one of the larger cities. Isolation will not insulate him from crime; it may make him stick out more like a sore thumb in his $450k home in areas where the norm is much, much lower.
New Mexico is a little rough around the edges. But I admit, I do love New Mexico and am probably quite biased. But in the short time I've lived in Corrales, I've had great experiences with neighbors, strangers, and pretty much everyone I run into. Yes, there are beggars standing in the intersections where I shop in ABQ, but the have never approached me - they just hold up their signs.
Corrales is a mixed kind of place, million dollar horse ranches right next to a lot with a shack and 5 cars up on blocks - whose family has owned the property since the days of the Mexican land grants. The local vet has a goat that sleeps in the windowsill. I live on a dirt street. Some of my neighbors are extremely poor, and some very well-off. Everyone gets along. My mom will have a fit when she comes to visit - since we were purposely looking for "anti-suburbia" and she lives in a lovely (boring to me) planned community that keeps the "riffraff" out. It is what it is, and I wouldn't want to change my neighborhood for anything. We have sandhill cranes spending the winter in the orchard next door, I can walk the Bosque with the dogs and still have high-speed internet so I can work from home. (OK, work is not my favorite part - LOL) And no, I don't have bars on my windows and haven't had my car broken into yet. My main concern is the local coyotes getting into the chicken coop.
I really hope you find what you are looking for - a cleaned-up, gentrified area of NM with a strong HOA and covenants. Maybe Eldorado outside of Santa Fe? (But they might not allow horses.)
If you look at his post history, he has a touch of survivalist, or isolationist, fever coursing through his veins. He has inquired about different locations in different states as he plots his future in an outpost. He wants to isolate himself, to separate himself from the criminal element, but be close enough to the action so he can run into town for provisions (as long as he can get back to the hideout by sundown).
Poverty, which I believe to be the root of the crime problems not only in NM but everywhere crime is found (and it is found EVERYWHERE), is often exaggerated in rural areas. So the thing he fears the most (CRIME!!!) is likely to be more of a problem for him out in the sticks than it would be in one of the larger cities. Isolation will not insulate him from crime; it may make him stick out more like a sore thumb in his $450k home in areas where the norm is much, much lower.
^This is very true. I lived very remotely in northern Arizona, 35+ miles down a dirt road in a very safe county where one usually doesn't encounter any crime in the populated parts of the county. However, the fact that it was remote made it a magnet for crime in and of itself. A neighbor on my ranch had a whole entire steel building completely stolen off his property. They took it down piece by piece and that had to take some time. The usual would also go missing like water containers and solar panels as well. The criminal element knows that when you leave your remote property, you are going to be gone for a quite a while. Better make real good friends with all your neighbors because you are going to have to leave eventually. I was always nervous whenever I had to leave for more than a day but luckily had nothing stolen. (In full disclosure I'm poor and live very modestly with not too much to steal besides tools ) Also nothing goes unnoticed when you build that far out. Your neighbors will know every time you come and go and will want to know what you are up to.
Anyways.... I am very interested in this thread because I currently live in Alaska which was rated the most dangerous state and also have a secret love affair with a NM. Despite the statistics I personally feel very safe in Alaska and love it. I also really love the high desert of the SW and have always wanted to buy remote as you can get property somewhere in Catron county and drive around forest service roads all day in an old Suzuki Samarui I came close to taking a job sight unseen in Silver City a while ago but for various reasons did not. Yes, when the money boat comes in I think I will buy a 40 somewhere in remote New Mexico for winter living. After spending lots of time in the SW and the better part of two years in Alaska, I think I know a little of what to expect though
Crime is crime. Avoid it if you can or deal with it if you must. New Mexico sounds just like anywhere else. I have noted the first effect of an organized "War on Crime" by the authorities is an increase in crime. This is because, in order to justify the policy, the authorities suddenly find more crimes. Take all these statistics with skepticism.
Slightly off topic but FWIW a 450k house isn't how I would build in rural New Mexico. It will be a scar upon the land and be an eye sore from far away. I would build smaller, cheaper and make sure the building blends in to the surrounding nicely. Then I would spend the extra money I saved on by not building a ridiculous McMansion on better and more land, a big barn or shop, outbuildings, and improving the property (airstrip, fences, solar systems, etc) Money will go faster than you think building far out like that. Especially if you aren't doing all the work yourself. Not to mention all the money you'll save by having to heat and cool a smaller place.
Obviously no one can stop you from building as big as you want, just food for thought. Your neighbors may also be more apt to think you are not just another rich guy from the city if you build somewhat modestly. If you are going to spend that kind of $$ look into an earth bermed home so you don't ruin for others the very thing you are looking for out there. Good luck.
Unfortunately for rural areas the process is almost always opaque.
This is how I behaved when I lived in a rural area. First know your neighbors. Second keep a shotgun handy, and if you see something suspicious, go check it out yourself. Third, call the cops if necessary.
Now I'd do the same only I'd leave the gun at home.
You should be able to get a killer piece of remote acreage for that price in NM, when I was looking at land there it was more in the 60k range and still really nice for that price.
I come from a family of frequent hikers and nobody in my family has ever had their car broken into while at a trailhead at any point in the last 40 years.
I solve that problem by just leaving the doors unlocked...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) Also nothing goes unnoticed when you build that far out. Your neighbors will know every time you come and go and will want to know what you are up to.
