I've been wanting to move to New Mexico - seriously - for about 6 or 7 years. Joanne and I made a trip to Albuquerque in April 2007 and actually picked out a house we liked. Things don't work out sometimes. She passed away at the end of July that year.
Eventually, I decided that the move was still something wanted to do. If you know me or follow this blog you know the story so I won't go into details. I bought some land (1/2 acre) and found a builder and even got some plans. The problem was that I needed to sell my existing house to finance the new house in NM. It took three years to sell my house...more than that, actually. I sold it in November, 2012 and moved in to my daughter's house....now my home...with a commitment to stay until spring of 2014, when she will sell it (she has a place to stay in Columbia near her job).
The housing market in and around Albuquerque is depressed but coming back. I made a trip there in March, 2013, and almost bought a house...but someone else got it. Interest rates are creeping up, house prices are creeping up, more houses are being sold. I decided to keep looking and found a few that I liked. I made a 2nd trip in June to visit the houses I liked. Right away 2 were taken off the market before I could see them. One that I thought I liked was not what I expected once I saw it. One house that I was only slightly interested in looked very good....except for location. One house was hanging in as my first choice but I had some concerns. It was smaller than the others and pretty costly. It had well over an acre of land and was a quality-built house.
I made an offer on that house and we haggled back and forth but I finally got it at a price that is high but probably reasonable. We close in early August, assuming the inspections are OK.
UPDATE
Closing moved to July 19th. There are some problems with the well but the seller seems OK with getting that fixed. Has to do with the pressure tank, not the actual well. Seems like things will work out.
Here are a few pictures:
