Considering moving to Santa Fe: Advice? (Albuquerque, Espanola: find a job, to buy, floor)

[Devin Bent]

Pretty much an exact ditto on ziaAirmac's response on the Airport Road area.

I believe that a few more flights are supposed to starting coming into the Airport some time this summer -- service to Denver and Los Angeles, I think. Maybe with two convention centers coming into Santa Fe we can look forward to better air service.

On the other hand, two convention centers opening up in time for a recession and high gas prices -- maybe they won't do that well.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by ziaAirmac

Like any spotty area, I wouldn't give it a blanket 'undesirable' but would absolutely not buy/rent sight unseen.

Damned with faint praise.


I'm sure I speak for everybody who tries growing their own, but home grown, vine ripened, freshly picked tomatoes are lightyears better than store bought. It's so simple to grow your own even if you don't grow anything else. Just plant a couple vines in a corner of your back yard (buy them small at a nursery). Give them a reasonable quantity of water and in a couple months you'll be in tomato heaven. And tomatoes are so, so expensive at the market. In fact I think it's a pretty good idea if I go buy some right now! (baby vines, not tomatoes)

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

they wanted to make one of my other recipes (My Big Fat Greek Hamburgers) and couldn't even find ground lamb in Silver City. He says that their supermarkets don't have quite the variety that big city supermarkets have. I don't want to live in a town that doesn't have most of the big city benefits. That's one reason that Santa Fe appeals to me.

My wife makes what she calls Greek Meatballs and I absolutely love them. It is funny, there use to be sheep all over where I live now (north of Santa Fe), but lamb didn't seem to survive as a big item in the local cuisine.

But now a local restaurant does a good job with lamb and of course in the city is a different matter entirely.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by Devin Bent

My wife makes what she calls Greek Meatballs and I absolutely love them. It is funny, there use to be sheep all over where I live now (north of Santa Fe), but lamb didn't seem to survive as a big item in the local cuisine.

But now a local restaurant does a good job with lamb and of course in the city is a different matter entirely.

I'd be interested in seeing wifey's recipe. If you wouldn't mind typing it out, please send it to me either via PM or via email thru CD or use the contact form on my website.

You know what they say about lamb. Not baaaaaaddd!

[Devin Bent]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ziaAirmac
Like any spotty area, I wouldn't give it a blanket 'undesirable' but would absolutely not buy/rent sight unseen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovehound
Damned with faint praise.

I'm not so sure. In Santa Fe, you have different types of areas --

1. You have a very few wealthy areas where you might be able to count on landing in a good neighborhood -- even though you bought unseen. You might also find that you dropped a bundle for not much house and not much view.

2. There are planned communities -- like Eldorado -- where you will find consistent quality.

3. But then you will find some nice areas that are still spotty. For an extreme example -- Tesuque is a prestigious area close to the center of town with some very very expensive but also very very nice housing, a range of views going up to fantastic, etc. It is the wealthiest CDP in New Mexico. But you could spend a fortune sight unseen and get there, look around and think -- what have I done?

So I wouldn't rule out areas of type 3 without taking a look first. I think this is the type of area where you can find bargains.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

I'd be interested in seeing wifey's recipe. If you wouldn't mind typing it out, please send it to me either via PM or via email thru CD or use the contact form on my website.

You know what they say about lamb. Not baaaaaaddd!

If I can get it out of her, of course.

[Towanda]

We took a look at the housing area off Airport Road a few years ago.

I was less than impressed.

Cookie cutter houses on tiny lots is right!! Lots of pavement, not much personal space per lot. How many years would it be before trees would grow there?

I have lived in subidivisions on fairly small lots for nearly all my adult life. I don't want my neighbors right on top of me anymore. I am not going to live like that again.

I am sure some people like places like the Airport Road housing and Rio Rancho, but it is not for me any longer.

The only thing I can say for it is that the prices are more affordable than other parts of town.

[Vinegaroon]

The neighborhoods off Airport Road are turning into Little Juarez.

[ziaAirmac]

Originally Posted by Devin Bent

... In Santa Fe, you have different types of areas --
...

Right on. I think it's one of the reasons why so many natives have this impression that they're being 'bought out' of their town. You can find original, diminutive homes literally living under the shadow of trophy estates. In Albuquerque the neighborhoods are much more homogenous, but in Santa Fe, many people have taken advantage of a relatively inexpensive lot (the structure on it many times is almost moot) to build their dream home in a place where only original, little adobes used to be. Once you build 3 or four of those on the block, with their requisite privacy curtain of adobe, the original residents start to look/feel like the interlopers. Of course this is all water under the bridge these days. Most of this transition has already taken place, but you can still drive the hills around the plaza and see a hint of what the town used to be like. I always loved walking along where the Acequia Madre ran through. Quiet, tree-lined, the babbling of the water over the flagstone and impossibly small and twisted, flying in the face of civil engineers best efforts. When I used to walk it as a kid, I imagined I was experiencing some of what Santa Fe was.

[Vinegaroon]

Yeah, I think Santa Fe is changing quickly. What you are describing is what many people moved to Santa Fe for decades ago. Quiet, tree-lined and quaint. Now Santa Fe is moving to big box development and subdivisions. Once mostly an artistic/bohemian/spanish community, Santa Fe is sprawling and searching for its identity. In the years that come, I think the downtown area will retain a little of the old Santa Fe because of the historic zoning, but the rest of it will come to resemble any other town.