Moving to Santa Fe

[kklinebryan]

Hi folks! In response to those of you considering moving to Santa Fe / Eldorado, congratulations, it is certainly a beautiful place to call home. Eldorado is a very nice mid to upscale community with about a 10-15 minute commute to Santa Fe. There is a shopping center out in Eldorado with a video store, grocery store, fed-ex mailing center, coffee sho, a couple of restaurants and a few other nice little places.
Another nice community about 20-25 minutes from Santa Fe is Pecos. It's a beautiful, located in the foothills with a gorgeous river and lots of tree cover. It's kind of a hodge-podge community with 3/4 of a million dollar homes located next to trailers, but then again much of New Mexico is that way.
There a a few nice communities North of Santa Fe as well along the way to Taos. These communities are older with a lot of families that have been there for generations. South of Santa Fe there are some really neat and quirky (quirky in a good, kinda artsy way) areas like Madrid which is inhabited by a lot of artists and Cerillos which is a beautiful area and has some unique and beautiful traditional Santa Fe homes.
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[633red]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my husband and I were planning a trip to Santa Fe to explore the home buying options in Eldorado. We did it! We found a beautiful home - actually our "dream home" in Eldorado, and it's under contract. We pinch ourselves everyday when we consider the price, the location and the wonderful people who made this all possible. The broker, the listing agent, the seller herself and the bank have gone beyond our expectations. I am from Northern California, and I am very honest when I say that the same home in this area would have sold for at least $1,000,000, but we were able to buy this home for under $400,000, and we are still in a state of shock. I would be happy to relay any information about Eldorado to anyone who is considering a move. For those of you who think that Santa Fe is for the wealthy or that there is some sort of snob appeal, believe me, we found nothing but very caring and down-to-earth folks when we were exploring. We can't wait to share our lives with the people and beauty of Santa Fe.

[Towanda]

633red!!!!!!

How exciting!!! When will you be moving????? I want to hear about every single step in the process, as we will be moving to Eldorado later this year!

[TheFamousAJ]

Re. healthplans: definitely stay away from Lovelace; they're TERRIBLE. Good luck getting adequate care at any Lovelace hospital; all are woefully understaffed. Also, most private practice physicians won't take Lovelace insurance.

Presbyterian is alright, but if you ever travel, you will not have coverage despite how they say that you will. And their billing IS messed up.

I'm on Blue Cross (PPO) and am very satisfied. I have a wide range of providers to select from and have coverage when I travel, too. It is more expensive, but hey, you get what you pay for, right?

Congratulations on getting your house! The market is down in Santa Fe right now but will probably pick up when the Fed cuts rates this summer.

[633red]

TheFamousAJ,

Thanks for your information RE health plans. It is a bit overwhelming with all the other details involved in moving. I think we will get all the info. we can about Presbyterian. Thanks again.

[tito]

I consider anyone able to afford 400,000 for a house, on a wealthy side; of course there is nothing wrong wth that, and I hope that you and your family will enjoy your new residence.

[633red]

Tito,

I can understand how you might feel that someone who can afford a $400,000home is wealthy. I am 67, and my husband is 64. We have been working our "you know what off" ever since we can remember, and we have been saving and investing wisely. We don't have the benfit of a rich benefactor leaving us a fortune - actually not one person is leaving us anything. I am very fortunate to have a husband who understands the stock market and can make some very rational decisions. We come from incredibly humble beginnings, and we do not consider ourselves part of the "privileged class." That's a real turnoff for us. We feel that we are blessed to be able to move to Santa Fe and if there is any privilege, that is to be able to be in an area that we both respect. We hope to be part of the community and do whatever we can to make Santa Fe (Eldorado) an even better place to call home. Thanks for wishing us good luck in our new home.

[Towanda]

633red:

Honestly, I could have written that post myself it is so identical to my situation. Right now we are negotiating with a couple of builders because we still are right on the very border of being able to have a house built in Eldorado. We also are not the privileged class; this is something we have been saving for for many years now. I have a husband who did some good investing through the years, and also who knows exactly what we can afford without having to sacrifice a good annual income in retirement.

633red ~ I am looking forward to meeting you when we get to Eldorado!

[tito]

I meant no offense for those people that can afford to buy a house in expensive Santa Fe; of course, I never insinuated that your money was made easily, but the truth of the matter is that many people that reach retirement age, after having worked very hard and responsibly, cannot afford a house of 400,000. The ones who can, are indeed very fortunate and clever in money management; certainly, they deserve my respect and admiration.

[Towanda]

I cannot say we were "clever in money management"; we just had a goal to retire in Santa Fe, and we knew we had to save a lot of money; and yes, like 633red, we also worked our butts off and made saving money our priority. We have led a very simple and frugal life, without many of the amenities of living that others find necessary. We drive a car for ten or fifteen years, and no expensive cars for us; we live in a very small home that was paid off years ago, we don't go out to eat a lot, we don't buy expensive technology or go on expensive vacations, we do lots of bargain hunting and buying nearly everything at sale prices, shopping at discount stores, etc. I am not saying that any of this applies to anyone here, but it makes me smile to read "clever in money management" after years of doing without the things many other people have had. And....we plan to enjoy our new house knowing what we have had to sacrifice a lot through the years to barely save enough money to get it built.