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Old 06-06-2014, 11:41 PM
 
6 posts, read 13,713 times
Reputation: 32

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I lived in Santa Fe and worked for SFPS. I made about $50,000. a year. My monthly take home with the school district after all the standard deductions was about $2,400 a month. Remember in NM, the amount deducted for teacher retirement is mega. It is almost 12% of your pay. My rent for a decent 2 bedroom very safe non-section 8 apartment was 1200 a month. I thought utilities were fairly cheap in NM. Food was expensive with the exception of the Super Walmart or Smith's. My auto insurance doubled when I moved to Santa Fe and NM in general and I have never had a ticket on my driving record. Photo enforcement vehicles are on main roads everyday. Gasoline was slightly more expensive. The problem with moving to Santa Fe is that many apartments are section 8 which is fine but if you are a teacher, you will make too much money to live there. There are some homes being built on South Meadows but personally for $200,000-$250,000, there is no way I would buy a house in that neighborhood. It is a high crime area. There is concertina wire around many businesses in the area.... so much crime. To actually buy a house in a fairly safe area in Santa Fe, I would say you would need around $350,000 at least and don't expect to get anything larger than 1500 square feet. Houses are small. The lots are tiny. It is a great place to live but difficult to get ahead on a teacher's salary. I would probably consider purchasing a nice home in Rio Rancho and commuting to work in Santa Fe. Homes in Rio Rancho are much cheaper... $160,000 and up for 1800 square feet plus. While I worked for the Santa Fe Public Schools, I would never enroll my child in the SFPS in one of the high schools....NO WAY! Everyone I knew was always trying to get their kid in a charter school. The elementary schools are okay. I don't know about the middle schools. I think Rio Rancho schools would be my choice if I had children living in the Santa Fe area. Don't get me wrong....I loved living in Santa Fe and had an opportunity to enjoy its wonderful culture but long term....I think Rio Rancho and a commute would be my preference. I-25 is very busy between Santa Fe and Albuquerque but many people who work for the schools commute due to the outrageous cost of housing in Santa Fe. There is always the Rail Runner which runs throughout the day from ABQ to SF for cheap. Everything stated is simply my opinion based on my personal experience of living in Santa Fe for a few years. The people are the greatest in Santa Fe but realistically, even if my husband and I both worked full time as teachers and made about $100,000 plus having a retirement of $50,000....we would not have an extravagant lifestyle in Santa Fe. Rent if you move there to see how you like the schools. My experience is that I was so overworked when I worked for the school district that I had ZERO time to enjoy Santa Fe most of the time. I do mean overworked.....I went to work at 7:20 am and got off work at 3:05 pm. I would eat dinner and worked on paperwork most nights until 10:00 pm. By the time the weekend rolled around, I just wanted to rest. There is a teachers' union but in my opinion it was worthless. If your administrator assigns you extra duties...you HAVE to do them regardless of whether you can realistically accommodate the additional duties into your schedule. The district will pay you for the extra hours of work but hey....what is the point in living in Santa Fe if you are going to have to spend all your free time with an additional workload which you cannot refuse if you are told to do it. So goes the Collective Bargaining Agreement in Santa Fe. Many of the therapists who worked for the SFPS eventually quit when I worked there....not all but definitely some. The first year I worked for SFPS...it was okay...but the second year....awful! If you have never lived in Santa Fe, the winter months were very depressing to me. It was dark and I mean dark in December and part of January by around 4:45. The temperatures plummet as soon as the sun goes down. It snows sometimes as late as May. The summers are lovely. The fall is nice until late November or early December. It is very cold from December-March. Springs are very windy. Juniper pollen is horrible from February - end of March. May- October are lovely months in Santa Fe. It is sunny most days in the winter which is helpful. I hope this information helps anyone who is considering a move to Santa Fe. It is a wonderful city. I missed it greatly after I left initially. Would I move back there? Maybe for a short while but not permanently. The perception of Santa Fe for tourists is misleading. Santa Fe is an extremely poor community. Most of its citizenry lives in extreme poverty. There is a pretty high crime rate in Santa Fe. There are lovely museums and shopping opportunities. The restaurants are good but overrated in my opinion. The mall is....not great at all.
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:05 AM
 
Location: Burke, VA
41 posts, read 75,967 times
Reputation: 37
Thank you PeacefulHippieChick for the in depth response. We spent 5 days and looked all around Santa Fe, with and without a realtor. But we also talked to realtor from Albuquerque. The result was that we agreed to look at the Placitas area and we loved it! We loved Santa Fe too but the housing was much more expensive and our realtor there almost exclusively showed us El Dorado which is too reminiscent of our VA suburbs complete with highly restrictive HOAs. We are trying to leave that!

As for salaries, we will have an experienced nurse's salary plus a teacher's salary. In Placitas I will be able to access a number of school systems. I am not sure how I will enter the NM system or at what level. I know at the Tier 2 (even Tier 3), I will take a big pay cut as an art teacher, but I will also work on getting licensed in NM as an art therapist. (VA won't license art therapists.) That may help in the future.

I'm sure we will need to visit again before we move and this time get a better feel for Albuquerque as well. I love that in Placitas we can access both cities at a reasonable price.
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Old 07-22-2014, 09:03 AM
 
138 posts, read 269,194 times
Reputation: 109
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeacefulHippieChick View Post
I lived in Santa Fe and worked for SFPS. I made about $50,000. a year. My monthly take home with the school district after all the standard deductions was about $2,400 a month. Remember in NM, the amount deducted for teacher retirement is mega. It is almost 12% of your pay. My rent for a decent 2 bedroom very safe non-section 8 apartment was 1200 a month. I thought utilities were fairly cheap in NM. Food was expensive with the exception of the Super Walmart or Smith's. My auto insurance doubled when I moved to Santa Fe and NM in general and I have never had a ticket on my driving record. Photo enforcement vehicles are on main roads everyday. Gasoline was slightly more expensive. The problem with moving to Santa Fe is that many apartments are section 8 which is fine but if you are a teacher, you will make too much money to live there. There are some homes being built on South Meadows but personally for $200,000-$250,000, there is no way I would buy a house in that neighborhood. It is a high crime area. There is concertina wire around many businesses in the area.... so much crime. To actually buy a house in a fairly safe area in Santa Fe, I would say you would need around $350,000 at least and don't expect to get anything larger than 1500 square feet. Houses are small. The lots are tiny. It is a great place to live but difficult to get ahead on a teacher's salary. I would probably consider purchasing a nice home in Rio Rancho and commuting to work in Santa Fe. Homes in Rio Rancho are much cheaper... $160,000 and up for 1800 square feet plus. While I worked for the Santa Fe Public Schools, I would never enroll my child in the SFPS in one of the high schools....NO WAY! Everyone I knew was always trying to get their kid in a charter school. The elementary schools are okay. I don't know about the middle schools. I think Rio Rancho schools would be my choice if I had children living in the Santa Fe area. Don't get me wrong....I loved living in Santa Fe and had an opportunity to enjoy its wonderful culture but long term....I think Rio Rancho and a commute would be my preference. I-25 is very busy between Santa Fe and Albuquerque but many people who work for the schools commute due to the outrageous cost of housing in Santa Fe. There is always the Rail Runner which runs throughout the day from ABQ to SF for cheap. Everything stated is simply my opinion based on my personal experience of living in Santa Fe for a few years. The people are the greatest in Santa Fe but realistically, even if my husband and I both worked full time as teachers and made about $100,000 plus having a retirement of $50,000....we would not have an extravagant lifestyle in Santa Fe. Rent if you move there to see how you like the schools. My experience is that I was so overworked when I worked for the school district that I had ZERO time to enjoy Santa Fe most of the time. I do mean overworked.....I went to work at 7:20 am and got off work at 3:05 pm. I would eat dinner and worked on paperwork most nights until 10:00 pm. By the time the weekend rolled around, I just wanted to rest. There is a teachers' union but in my opinion it was worthless. If your administrator assigns you extra duties...you HAVE to do them regardless of whether you can realistically accommodate the additional duties into your schedule. The district will pay you for the extra hours of work but hey....what is the point in living in Santa Fe if you are going to have to spend all your free time with an additional workload which you cannot refuse if you are told to do it. So goes the Collective Bargaining Agreement in Santa Fe. Many of the therapists who worked for the SFPS eventually quit when I worked there....not all but definitely some. The first year I worked for SFPS...it was okay...but the second year....awful! If you have never lived in Santa Fe, the winter months were very depressing to me. It was dark and I mean dark in December and part of January by around 4:45. The temperatures plummet as soon as the sun goes down. It snows sometimes as late as May. The summers are lovely. The fall is nice until late November or early December. It is very cold from December-March. Springs are very windy. Juniper pollen is horrible from February - end of March. May- October are lovely months in Santa Fe. It is sunny most days in the winter which is helpful. I hope this information helps anyone who is considering a move to Santa Fe. It is a wonderful city. I missed it greatly after I left initially. Would I move back there? Maybe for a short while but not permanently. The perception of Santa Fe for tourists is misleading. Santa Fe is an extremely poor community. Most of its citizenry lives in extreme poverty. There is a pretty high crime rate in Santa Fe. There are lovely museums and shopping opportunities. The restaurants are good but overrated in my opinion. The mall is....not great at all.
This^^^^ I totally agree!!

Yes, there are some "affordable" neighborhoods in Santa Fe, but you don't really want to live there. When I was looking at houses in Santa Fe and would come across a home in our budget, my realtor would usually tell me "A home in that area will only decrease in value." Which I quickly learned was realtor-speak for "bad neighborhood". Not that I didn't already know, I've lived here my whole life but I thought some of the newer areas were a little better than they apparently are.

Santa Fe is DREADFULLY in need of nurses and teachers, so you should have no problem finding employment. I don't work in either field, but I know many nurses at St. Vincent's who are very unhappy working there so that is something to consider as well. I think the teachers in our public schools deserve a lot of respect, it is not an easy place to work, either.
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Old 07-23-2014, 07:07 PM
 
Location: Burke, VA
41 posts, read 75,967 times
Reputation: 37
Thanks, Dagny!

Placitas may be a better fit for us and it is certainly a gorgeous place to live. Having Santa Fe near enough to take advantage of it's culture, spirituality, the arts and eats is important but ALB may be better for jobs. Plus, I'm sure there is lots of culture in ALB we haven't discovered yet.
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Old 07-24-2014, 12:38 AM
 
Location: Lakewood, Ohio
560 posts, read 1,711,919 times
Reputation: 422
Quote:
Originally Posted by artrx View Post
Thanks, Dagny!

Placitas may be a better fit for us and it is certainly a gorgeous place to live. Having Santa Fe near enough to take advantage of it's culture, spirituality, the arts and eats is important but ALB may be better for jobs. Plus, I'm sure there is lots of culture in ALB we haven't discovered yet.

Good call on not coming to Santa Fe. Not sure why your realtor was showing you Eldorado as it sounds like you're on a bit of a budget. Eldorado isn't Beverly Hills or anything, but it's far from cheap. It's even worse when you factor in all the constant driving to and from Santa Fe you'll probably do at today's gas prices. I lived in Eldorado for about 10 years, lots of snotty jerks, and would not recommend it or Santa Fe to anyone. Don't get me wrong, lots of people come Santa Fe and are happy as a clam, but it is called The City Different for a reason. In my case, it was just too different from me. Albuquerque has been a much better fit for me and you can still get that neat southwest / NM feel Santa Fe has depending where you live or where you go.

Although others have disagreed with me in the past and called me nuts, you've hit on one of the problems I've observed about Santa Fe... a disappearing middle class.

I don't know from personal experience or anything, but from what I've heard about the public schools in this state, I don't think I recommend those to anyone either... students or teachers!
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Old 07-24-2014, 01:04 PM
 
138 posts, read 269,194 times
Reputation: 109
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdmagana View Post
Eldorado isn't Beverly Hills or anything, but it's far from cheap. It's even worse when you factor in all the constant driving to and from Santa Fe you'll probably do at today's gas prices. I lived in Eldorado for about 10 years, lots of snotty jerks, and would not recommend it or Santa Fe to anyone.
I agree with you! I don't think Eldorado had that vibe in the late 80's but it sure does now. People have called me crazy, but I swear that the Eldorado store is the only one in Santa Fe where if you say "Excuse me" to someone in the aisle, they are more likely to pretend you don't exist than acknowledge you. And don't even get me started on the chicken thing......
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Old 07-25-2014, 10:13 PM
 
Location: Santa Fe, NM
974 posts, read 2,338,448 times
Reputation: 1122
Ah, alternative universes. I guess it all comes down to how one experiences and views life - and places.
It seems every time I'm in the Agora (Eldorado supermarket), I get into little conversations with total strangers; the people I meet couldn't be nicer. And no, I don't talk about real estate. Maybe it's my torn jeans and cowboy hat (or sometimes my "dressy" clothes)? Maybe it's because I usually have a smile on my face? Maybe I just live in an alternative universe....
These discussions are akin to Liberals and Conservatives living next to each other yet seeing things totally different. For whatever reasons if Santa Fe works for you, great. If it doesn't, great. I lived in Placitas for 7 years in the 90s. It was a great place back then. Now, to me, it's too developed; and Albuquerque has traffic jams it didn't have 20 years ago, and it's too hot for me in the summer. Yet, it's a terrific city with wonderful restaurants and lots to do. For me, I'd rather live in a small town and ride the hour it takes to Abq, when I want a big city vibe.
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Old 08-07-2014, 02:03 PM
 
Location: Burke, VA
41 posts, read 75,967 times
Reputation: 37
Thanks for all the opinions! We still are working on getting this transition going. Right now we're getting our townhome in VA ready for sale and still looking at jobs.El Dorado had some beautiful homes but the suburban feel with all the HMO rules was exactly what we wanted to leave. We're nudging our SF realtor to look a little more in other areas, maybe a bit farther out. Placitas still seems to be calling us but that does not mean we won't be active in Santa Fe as well. It's nice to hear from some, including a private messenger, that Santa Fe is easy to get to and that Placitas has a community vibe as well.
As for the shaky school system, I know iIm going to have to take a big cut in pay but working with a high needs population is what I do best. I'll definitely have to find summer work. My partner will have the better job opportunities.
I love hearing all the takes on both areas!
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