Austin To Santa Fe (live in, areas, county)

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by smcdow

I'd be happy if Santa Fe never experienced the sort of growth that Austin went through. But, it certianly could happen.

Well, be happy then. Santa Fe City and County won't approve the housing construction to support a population as large as Austin's.

[Xavious Orgus]

Originally Posted by southernjedi

I've always wanted to have a folk art/craft/primitives shoppe.

Primitive handmade dolls, quilt fabric, felting wool, treenware, reproductions and paper mache craft supplies

Do you think this would do well there?

Yes. Absolutely!!

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford

[SonomaCo]

I agree that Santa Fe will never grow like Austin. I moved to Austin in 1975 when it was 305,000, and left in 1984. My daughter still lives there and does love it, but for my husband and myself, it is just too overwhelming now, especially the traffic. We are considering retiring in Eldorado, and I have read the posts about it. Are there other areas in that price range that are recommended? We have visted Santa Fe many times over the years and love it.

[santafescribe]

Originally Posted by SonomaCo

We are considering retiring in Eldorado, and I have read the posts about it. Are there other areas in that price range that are recommended? We have visted Santa Fe many times over the years and love it.

You might consider Aldea, in the north, just off 599. Very different feel than Eldorado, so it's a good comparison. Some great buys there at the moment.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by SonomaCo

I agree that Santa Fe will never grow like Austin. I moved to Austin in 1975 when it was 305,000, and left in 1984. My daughter still lives there and does love it, but for my husband and myself, it is just too overwhelming now, especially the traffic. We are considering retiring in Eldorado, and I have read the posts about it. Are there other areas in that price range that are recommended? We have visted Santa Fe many times over the years and love it.

You could look at the Pojoaque Valley. It has some homes offered in the same price range as Eldorado and about the same distance from the Plaza except that it is north. I mentioned a couple of interesting looking genuine adobes in another post. I want to follow the rules of the forum and not post urls of agencies, but the two houses were on Sarma and Christmas Lanes.

If you should be interested, I do know a trustworthy agent who is very familiar with the area. Send me a direct message if you are interested.

You should know that the Pojoaque Valley is much more of a hodgepodge than Eldorado. A nice home might be next to a large estate, it might be surrounded by similar homes, or it might be next to a trailer. I live in an area of five acre properties with loose covenants, but that is unusual for the Pojoaque Valley. There is a lot for sale here with great views, but prices have escalated in this immediate area.

Incidentally, the Pojoaque Valley has five traditional areas -- moving from east to west these are Nambe, Pojoaque, Jacona, Jaconito, and El Rancho. Generally, the places east of 84/285 are thought to be more desirable -- but some of that may be simple snobbery.

Also there are three pueblos here -- Nambe, Pojoaque, and San Ildefonso. Thus Nambe is a traditional area where you can buy land, but you can't buy in neighboring Nambe Pueblo. It sounds confusing but it is not -- nobody is going to list Pueblo land with a realtor or put up a sale sign.

Incidentally, I would not expect any great growth in the Pojoaque Vally. The PV is a narrow sliver of land pretty much surrounded by pueblo or federal land -- there is not much land to develop. Since I have been here, all I have seen is individual homes built on a vacant lot.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by southernjedi

Vinegaroon -- we're looking for jobs in the tourism industry (me) and government (hubby). Our relocation is going to take a while anyway. We'll visit in December and see if Santa Fe is a good fit for us. You know, I just talked to a couple of people this morning on the bus during my daily commute (takes over an hour and a half and 2 buses to get to work within the city limits - about 20 miles) and they were mentioning that they're thinking of moving to Santa Fe. What are the odds?

Sorry if someone already mentioned this, but, one of the major differences between Santa Fe and Austin is that it gets really, really cold in Santa Fe in the wintertime. Given the altitude, it is likely that there may also be snow in December - there was already snow on the mountain tops first week in October - which would be absolutely beautiful, but, something to think about if you aren't a 'snow driver'.
Also, as someone who has visited both cities, but lived in neither, some quick comparisons:
Landscape and Weather:
Santa Fe - high altitude, no humidity, mountainous desert landscape
Austin - lush, green, kind of flat, high humidity, rainy in the spring and summertime

General Size and Feel:
Santa Fe is a tiny town compared to Austin, it is also (IMHO) very intimate (due to the scale of the buildings and narrowness of some of the streets near the plaza), and has a very distinct cultural 'feel' that I think is unique to New Mexico.
There are no skyscrapers, few big box stores and no major airport. However, given the traffic in Austin it may take less time to drive to Albuquerque from Santa Fe than it does to drive from the Austin airport to North Austin or Round Rock and it is a much less stressful and much more beautiful drive.

BTW, there is not a single IKEA in all of New Mexico, the closest one is in Tempe, AZ.

Enjoy your visit and good luck!

[Devin Bent]

We get snow in Santa Fe City (~7,000 feet) there is no doubt of that, but unless the ground is shaded snow tends to melt quickly -- on a traveled road it tends to melt as it falls. Actual snow on the ground so that it impacts on driving I see in a few places:

1. roads that slope down to the north e.g. Bishop's Lodge Road or 84/285 between Tesuque and Santa Fe
2. roads at higher altitudes -- say 7,500 feet and up -- eg, Rancho Encantado.
3. roads constantly shaded by buildings or trees.

If you are retired and can hold off driving for a few hours, snow is not a factor when driving. If that is too much snow for anyone, then they should look at lower altitudes, which are usually in southern New Mexico.

The mountains of course get snow sometimes earlier than October -- Santa Fe Baldy is 12,600 feet, the Truchas are 13,000 feet. IMO the snow capped mountains adds greatly to the beauty of the area. Below are the Truchas in March -- shirtsleeve weather down here.



I have lived here through three winters -- I lost my heavy coat and my snow shovel and haven't missed them. Pojoaque Valley is about 6,000 feet, so we are marginally a little warmer than the city in the winter -- but also a little hotter in the summer -- that is the trade-off anywhere in New Mexico.

[southernjedi]

We’ve lived in the Midwest and Colorado before moving back to my native Texas. I’ve been through winters where I’ve had to drive in sleet, snow, both and it’s horrible, a true white-knuckle experience where sometimes I thought “am I going to make it home alive?”. I’ve also experienced extreme heat while walking downtown Austin to take buses or run errands. I’ll take Santa Fe anytime of the year. A big city is not for us at all, it’s way too overwhelming and stressful. I don’t care if we have to set up a taco (or green chile stand) in New Mexico to make a living. LOL

We love nature and the mountains and let me give you an example of a surreal experience that happened to us last weekend. Well it’s surreal for us anyway. We decided to drive to San Antonio just to visit some family. So we got on hwy 35 south and drove….and drove…and it felt like we were still in Austin, no country side patches anywhere in sight. Just strip malls and the same fast food restaurants. So after driving about 60-65 miles of sprawl, there was a 5 mile respite and we saw some farmland/open countryside, finally. The sprawl between Austin and San Antonio is getting out of hand and you can’t tell one town from the next.

[Devin Bent]

A very positive thing about Santa Fe weather is that in three years I have seen no sleet or freezing rain. I've lived in Vermont, Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and the worst driving ever was in freeze raining or ice storm in Atlants, Georgia of all places. The roads were absolutely slick and the drivers were totally unused to it. It was like a demolition derby on the interstates.

Maybe I have just been lucky, but have not yet seen it here.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by santafescribe

You might consider Aldea, in the north, just off 599. Very different feel than Eldorado, so it's a good comparison. Some great buys there at the moment.

SFS gives us a great deal of useful information, but I have to respectfully disagree on this one. You pay what you would in Eldorado, except that you get a much smaller lot, the views typically are not as good, and you pay 200K more simply for the snob appeal of being near Las Campanas which is much pricier and also overpriced.

Oh yeah, the shopping area is a bust.