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In my opinion, second homes--other than modest "primitive" cabins--are a blight on the landscape and a complete waste. One of the saddest things that has happened in the last 20 years in the Rocky Mountain West is the proliferation of "trophy" second homes throughout the most pristine rural areas of the region. Nor are they environmentally benign, as many of their owners would like to believe. They are having adverse effects on everything from game migration routes, to native wildlife and plant communities, to water quality, viewsheds, and--not inconsequentially--the social fabric of many of the communities they invade. All for no real purpose other than to give someone a place to goof off. By the way, I'm not some raging environmentalist--far from it--but I've seen too much damage from this kind of development go on unchecked for too long to keep my mouth shut about it. It's a scourge--every bit as damaging to the cultural and natural heritage of the Rockies as any other highly exploitive industry ever has been.
I love so many places in NM. We have a small home in Bloomfield where we completely "unplug". Bloomfield itself is pretty rural and simple but definitely close to "wide open" spaces, quality fishing waters on the San Juan River, Navajo Lake and only 30 minutes to Durango, Colorado. I recommend anything in the four corners area for a complete "New Mexico experience". Best wishes to you!
> ... second homes ... are a blight on the landscape and a complete waste.
I tend to agree, but believe that people should be able to do that with their own property. I don't agree that we should be subsidizing that behavior with tax law, however. We do and I'm against that.
I just don't understand why anyone would *want* a "second home." You are never *really* home. Just find a place and live there. If you want to see other places, well ... that's why hotels/motels/bed&breakfasts were invented.
With a second home, you are limited to *that* one other place. My way, I can visit Wyoming one year, Alaska another year, and N. Carolina the next.
I just don't understand why anyone would *want* a "second home."
I don't either. I live in Ruidoso and about half the houses here are 2nd homes. People tend to visit a couple times a year, and the rest of the time the house sits empty. I figure they spend most of their "visit" cleaning and mending things. I could see it if you spent all summer there or something...
BTW, there is plenty of land around here that would fit the bill. The best idea would be to buy a plot next to a large BLM or National Forest land. Somewhere around the Capitan Mountains would be ideal (the north and east side are more remote), and it wouldn't take more than an hour to get to either Roswell or Ruidoso.
I agree with Jazzlover 100%!
One cannot argue the fact that the second home scenerio across the western us has caused great devastation to the environment, and like jazzlover stated the social fabric of the communities are suffering greatly.
I live in such a community. The population of my area increases almost ten times, maybe more, during the summer season. Jobs for full-time residents can be readily had in the summer, doing various odd jobs such as house cleaning, raking yards, repairing gutters, furniture delivery and such for the people who own the very large summer 'cabins'. But during the wintertime here, forget about a job, unless you work at walmart or a fast-food establishment. The foodbanks cannot keep up with the demand for food, property taxes have gone way up, and the abuse of meth has caused the courts and jails to be overflowing with people who chose this means of escape from proverty amist a sea of million dollar empty mansions sitting high on the hills.
Why does anyone want a second home? IMO it only causes more stress to have to worry about that grand home sitting empty for most of the year. Why not just settle down into the place that you dream of, and sell off all those other posessions that keep you up at nite worrying if someone may be be stealing them from you. Having a trophy second home with a big Elk head mounted over the granite mantle may give you something to showoff, but will it give you peace of mind?
Remember that Northern N.M has lots of snow and cold winters and maybe 3 or 4 months of nice weather the rest of the time you will spend feeding your horses. I would say rent in N.M. and explore it before you try having a second home here. My favorite area is the East mountain area for a Country type of living check out the East Mountain Telegraph or The Independent. Anything from the Central part of N.M. North have their First snows in October and their Last Snow the End of May. el pintada kid
Remember that Northern N.M has lots of snow and cold winters and maybe 3 or 4 months of nice weather the rest of the time you will spend feeding your horses. I would say rent in N.M. and explore it before you try having a second home here. My favorite area is the East mountain area for a Country type of living check out the East Mountain Telegraph or The Independent. Anything from the Central part of N.M. North have their First snows in October and their Last Snow the End of May. el pintada kid
I have lived north of Santa Fe for three years now and there has never been a year where I have seen anywhere near as much snow as you say. Typically, the first snow is after Thanksgiving. One year of the three we had NO snow the entire winter. I have gotten a sunburn working in my yard in my shirtsleeves in February. A snow in May? Not once. In April, the year before I came here -- not once in three years since.
Right now, in February, I look out my window and don't see a patch of snow anywhere except on the mountain tops -- and it is beautiful.
> Originally Posted by Pintada Kid
> > Remember that Northern N.M has lots of snow ... First snows
> > in October and their Last Snow the End of May. el pintada kid
> I have lived north of Santa Fe for three years now and there
> has never been a year where I have seen anywhere near as
> much snow as you say.
If you have only been there three years, that isn't much of a survey. I'm not really an old timer, but since 1985 I remember it more like Pintada Kid describes it rather than the way that Devin Bent does.
My second October *in*Albuquerque* the Balloon Fiesta was shut down the second weekend in 1986 due to a 10" snowfall on that Friday and we were skiing in the streets.
I've also had to get out of the bus and walk home in the early spring more than once due to snow.
When I first moved here, people told me that it was possible to have snowfall *in*Albuquerque in June and July.
The memory tends to hang onto the extremes, but there are plenty of stats so we don't have to rely on memory. Santa Fe airport reports avg snowfall of 17.7 inches per year, with an avg of zero from June through Oct, with only .1 inches in May. The avg snow depth is zero all year:
We had a big snow storm here once since I moved here. (That is, a big snowstorm by NM standards.) But an occasional snowfall of, say ten inches, many years ago, tells you very little about your average or typical weather. You remember it because it was exceptional. In places where there really is a lot of snow -- a ten inch fall is barely noticed and soon forgotten. And yes, more than once, the bus stopped. And how often did the bus make it home over this many year period that you have observed?
Look at the data.
Here is the data for average snowfall by month for the years 1972 through 2005. (This is a different data collection station with probably a different time period than the one referred to by rruff above.)The latter year is the year before I started my sample. Also it is Santa Fe, at 7,000+ feet
The first month shown is January. The last is December.
The number for May is 0.0. That is the 33 year average. The number for October or April is 4/5 of an inch. The snowiest month is December with 3.8 inches.
If you look at the snow depth, it is 0.0 for every month. That number cannot get smaller.
Perhaps you get more snow in Albuquerque. But I don't think you do. What do you get, 10 inches a year?
Mortimer, isn't you who occasionally publishes the ratio that 1,000 feet of altitude is the equivalent for purposes of temperature of 300 miles? Doesn't that suggest that altitude has more impact than latitude? That north-south comparisons don't mean that much? Altitude and perhaps geographical configurations mean more. Who gets more snow -- Santa Fe or Ruidoso? Actually, Santa like Ruidoso is near a ski resort. Santa Fe skiers might prefer more snow.
(If it wasn't you or I got the comparison wrong, then apologies.)
Last edited by Devin Bent; 02-22-2008 at 12:31 PM..
Reason: add info
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Second Home in N.M.
Look at the data about snow
