Silver City Here we Come! (Ruidoso: transplants, sales, rental)

[newmediamave]

I have a little story to share.

Last week Hubby & I did a survey on a website called ****.com. A list of cities came up and one stood out for me - Silver City "Four Gentle Seasons"

We read everything it had to say and it sounded WONDERFUL. Stayed up all night reading excitedly!

So the next morning I woke up and said, God, give me a sign.

We live near the top of a really tall high rise in downtown San Diego. That afternoon I took my preschooler to the pool. On the way I picked up a magazine from the pile that was in the rec room and guess what it said?

"America's Ten Coolest Small Towns"

Silver City was listed of course. The mag date was in 2007. God works fast!

So, on Friday we're driving out to Silver City to check it out! Moving there for the affordability, quality of life and hope that we can start over after the devastating loss of everything we worked so hard for our entire lives.

I have my own business as a New Media Consultant (social media, online internet marketing stuff) and I have a few dependable clients. Hubby is a stay at home Dad but we would like to be able to buy and fix up homes at some point and build ourselves back up to a place of security again.

Soooooo, any comments from the Silver City crowd? We are very happy to see a Co-op there, we would like to find a rental to be able to have a space to garden and maybe even have chickens. =) Both of us come from small towns and want a safe, loving community to raise our child (hopefully children). We are in our 30's-40's and want nature and peace... we'd like to put our daughter in a loving preschool too - moving there would enable us to afford to do that, and perhaps buy a home again someday...

[Poncho_NM]

We are experiencing some Winter weather right now in New Mexico. And our local weatherman are happy with all the snow, but we have experienced some accidents due to the weather.


Right now the weather for Silver City, NM is 18°F, Clear, Wind: N at 8 mph Humidity: 73%...


You might read through this thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-m...lver-city.html


Rich

[rruff]

Originally Posted by newmediamave

Both of us come from small towns and want a safe, loving community to raise our child (hopefully children). We are in our 30's-40's and want nature and peace... we'd like to put our daughter in a loving preschool too - moving there would enable us to afford to do that, and perhaps buy a home again someday...

I hope you aren't expecting Mayberry... because Silver City is not that. Don't know what small towns you and your husband are from, but the small towns in NM (especially the trendier ones) are nothing like the small towns in the midwest (where I grew up), where families have lived there for several generations, everybody knows everybody, crime and drugs are nil, etc. It is also very isolated... it is a 2+ hr drive to a bigger town.

There are a substantial number of CA transplants in SC, but it still hasn't gotten off the ground. It is stuck at 10-12k population. Yes, and there have been national articles praising it's virtues for a couple of decades at least (which is how long I've been going there). What this has done is inflate the RE prices... which are still low by most standards, but not nearly as cheap as they used to be. Jobs are tough to come by, but if your money comes from elsewhere, that won't be an issue.

I like it though, and wouldn't mind living there myself. It has a good mix of different sorts or people and a reasonably progressive vibe. The Gila Forest is awesome. For various reasons me and the wife landed in Ruidoso instead, and that might be worth a look as well. Also, I think you should consider the Sierra Vista - Bisbee AZ area.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by rruff

I hope you aren't expecting Mayberry... because Silver City is not that. Don't know what small towns you and your husband are from, but the small towns in NM (especially the trendier ones) are nothing like the small towns in the midwest (where I grew up), where families have lived there for several generations, everybody knows everybody, crime and drugs are nil, etc. It is also very isolated... it is a 2+ hr drive to a bigger town.

There are a substantial number of CA transplants in SC, but it still hasn't gotten off the ground. It is stuck at 10-12k population. Yes, and there have been national articles praising it's virtues for a couple of decades at least (which is how long I've been going there). What this has done is inflate the RE prices... which are still low by most standards, but not nearly as cheap as they used to be. Jobs are tough to come by, but if your money comes from elsewhere, that won't be an issue.

I like it though, and wouldn't mind living there myself. It has a good mix of different sorts or people and a reasonably progressive vibe. The Gila Forest is awesome. For various reasons me and the wife landed in Ruidoso instead, and that might be worth a look as well. Also, I think you should consider the Sierra Vista - Bisbee AZ area.

Rruff's post is a very good one. I've been to Silver City a few times, and it's a very tough city for me. I think it has the potential to be one of the really special places in New Mexico, but when you approach it, your first reaction, given your residency in San Diego, is likely to be laden in disappointment. Not so much that you are expecting a cute small, artsy town. As Rruff says, that has been achieved in Bisbee. It could be like that in Silver City as well, though the terrain in SC is not nearly as dramatic as it is in Bisbee, which gives it a different look/feel. To me, it's a schizophrenic place. The area that most will be pulled toward is the area near Broadway and Bullard, which is in proximity to the University. However, the greater surrounding area to me is dreary and depressing, at least the neighborhoods. The scenery is beautiful however. How many other areas in NM, incidentally, match my description?

Google Maps Street View should always be used to get a teaser on what an area looks like. Silver City has street view. Around the older center of town, it is very quaint. Here is an example:

482 W Broadway, silver city, nm - Google Maps

However, the greater perimeter is not so nice. A different example:

1732 N Virginia st silver city, nm - Google Maps

I think the first area I have posted, the property values are way higher. I've checked home sales in that area, they aren't very plentiful, and seem to be overpriced, relative to the job market.

[Fleeby]

My husband and I lived in Silver City for three years from 2005 to 2008. Silver City is a really cool little town, but it isn't for everyone. When I was there I loved the diversity and southwestern culture, the food, the art, the proximity to spectacular wilderness, and most of all, the weather. If you love the outdoors and are good at making your own fun, you'll do well. The people are more or less friendly but there does seem to be more crime than in the small towns in the northwest that I'm used to. The place is full of active retirees and new transplants to the area. A drawback to me was the lack of young professionals in the area. There seemed to be a relatively small proportion of educated 20 and 30 somethings around. I never really found a social niche. That said, I may have not looked hard enough.

Parts of the town are really charming and funky in a good way, parts are just run down and trashy. It's not a pedestrian or bike friendly town. There are some people working to change that, though. If you're planning on gardening for food, be prepared for lots of challenges. Finding really good produce can be a challenge also. If you need green and blooming scenery for more than a few months out of the year, look elsewhere. The desert and the mountains around Silver are beautiful, but the landscape is pretty brown most of the time. If you want to explore the Gila National Forest, I recommend getting a high-clearance 4WD vehicle. The road are few and far between (a good thing, in my book) and pretty gnarly for much of the year.

If you like to shop anywhere but Walmart and take in concerts and plays and festivals, you'll have to do lots of driving. The cultural events in Silver, while lots of fun, are limited and it is a long drive to any sort of population center. Also, the nearest real airport is a three hour drive away.

If you are ready to live in a small town, you like the southwest, and you don't mind living in the middle of nowhere, Silver City is a great place to be. We moved away from Silver City for a job and to be closer to family in the NW, not because we didn't like it. Good Luck.

[r&d gardin]

My wife and I are looking for a place to retire where our retirement dollar will go a little further. Just looking for opinions about silver city???

[rruff]

Where do you live now and what are your desires and priorities in a place to live? Stuff like climate, environment, culture, politics, shopping, isolation, price etc.

[Kevin and Amy]

We plan on relocating to Silver City, NM ASAP. We just hope that there are enough local alterative folks so that we're not the only freaky couple in town....LOL