Datil (Albuquerque, Ruidoso: how much, mobile home, utilities)

[corel]

Hi All,
I'm looking for some information on cost of living in Datil. I just visited the area last week (my first visit to NM) and my husband and I completely fell in love with it. His family has been in NM for generations and his mother and he both want to move back.
Can you offer me some info on the cost of utilites, propane, fire wood, electric... and anything else I may have left out?
Can you also give me an idea of what is available for internet acess, and the cost?

Thank you,
corel

[Canine*Castle]

Click on the categories to the left-hand side of the link's page, and you'll find out some information about the area. Wow, property taxes are extremely cheap, but the median cost of a home isn't, at least to me.
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

[GregW]

Check out the info on this website under NM small towns. You do realize that Datil is not the edge of the earth but you can see it from there. Very pretty Pinon Pine country.

[Towanda]

Pretty country indeed but very very remote.

I couldn't do it.

[corel]

We loved how remote it is, but still Albuquerque is just 2 1/2 hours away. Housing cost won't be too big a problem since we plan on building so we can keep cost affordable.

Thank you for the link Canine*Castle, very helpful I actually thought there were a lot less residents.

[corel]

Can anyone give me an idea of how many cords of wood is typically used in this area during Winter? The rest of the utilities I can call up to get an average cost, but I need some help with the fire wood. Thanks for the help.

corel

[gitana]

It would be hard to estimate how many cords of wood per season you would use, because it all depends on how much square footage are you heating, is your wood stove a good late model unit and efficient, are you home all day and need a good fire flaming constantly, will you have more than one unit?
If you are building a home or placing a mobile home on the property, i suggest you orient your windows for the most solar gain as possible. Datil can get very cold, but with the sunshine in the daytime, the solar heat gain can be a great benefit, and its free!

[corel]

It will be a new model, as we're planning on building a home, about 1600 sqft., and I am a stay-at-home-mom with 2 young ones so we'll having one going I suppose often, just the one woodstove, most likely we will use solar gain as effeciently as possibly.
I just need a rough estimate as I really have no idea, will I need 10 cords, 50, 100... (I'm a bit naive in this area, can you tell?)

[gitana]

If you use a well built stove, I would guess you would use less than ten cords a season. We are a family of two and we both work at home, three cords of wood is usually enough for us, even with the very cold winter we have been having here in Northern AZ. When you go shopping for your stove, look for a stove that will hold large logs. I have found that many wood cutters simply cut very large logs to cut down on labor, and often times the newer wood stoves will not hold the large logs. Of course, if you will be cutting the wood yourself, no problem!

[rruff]

You can easily cut your heat load in half if you design your house for good passive solar gain. I recall reading about a house at ~8,000 ft in CO that got nearly all of it's heat from solar. Nothing fancy... just good insulation, low infiltration, high internal thermal mass, and lots of south windows.

I'm planning to build a house in Ruidoso (a little warmer than Datil), and it will only have a woodstove besides passive solar. No AC needed either... nice to not have that whole heating and cooling system.

I'm no wood expert, but I'd be surprised if you needed more than 5 cords. Datil isn't that cold, and there is lots of sun in the winter.
DATIL, NEW MEXICO - Climate Summary