Have you visited Santa Fe in the past?  If you have, I am sure you know it a warm and welcoming community with an outstanding climate, great arts community and excellent access to hiking and outdoor activities.

Also, it's a market with somewhat less exposure to the wild swings found in the market nationwide, especially recently.  Though we too are experiencing a less robust market, because we do not have a huge amount of speculative building going on here, and because we're such a "destination" city, our reductions have been far less than other areas in the country.

I'm a long time resident and broker covering the greater Santa Fe areas.  If you have questions please ask!  My direct email address is christopher@hometeamsantafe.com if you'd prefer to write direct and not use the forum.

Hi Christopher,

Yes, actually, I have visited Santa Fe - just last fall to visit a friend.  This was my first time there and she's lived there for 5 years and has loved the lifestyle, culture, scenic beauty - and had always wanted me to come visit.  I couldn't agree with her more after I arrived!  We attended the Santa Fe Wine and Chili Fiesta at the Opera House - wonderful!  And took a day trip to Taos, saw the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge (breathtaking!), and went to an outdoor art festival.  The adobe houses are so quaint and it's all very picturesque.  Also loads of places that serve great food!  And lots of quaint little inns and spas in Santa Fe.  I too highly recommend it as a low-key and romantic vacation spot.

 A great place to live if you can find the right kind of work for yourself out there.

BTW, my friend told me something interesting - maybe you can weigh in on this:  she said that the cost of living in Santa Fe is on par with some of the other more expensive U.S. cities - Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta.  I was surprised to hear that - I would have guessed it would be less expensive!

Thanks for your great response!  Yes, Santa Fe is special--and the cultural events here, especially in the summer, are simply astounding.  More than a normal human can attend or even pay attention to.  This summer Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens were here speaking about their work together at Bilbao Spain--and a lot of us are hoping that they will build a new contemporary museum for us here one day!

Prices here in Santa Fe for real estate usually strike east coast and west coast visitors as inexpensive, relative to what they are used to.  They think we're the best bargain around.  I'm talking about big towns, NYC, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles. On the other hand, we're not the mid-west as far as prices.  I'd say we run a bit more than Portland Oregon, somewhat less than Washington DC...our median price for a home (as many selling above the median as below it--NOT an average!) is in the low $400K range.  Last quarter perhaps $425,000--I can get the exact figure for you if it would be helpful.

Good to hear that people have good things to say about Santa Fe, I'm thinking about getting a second property there so this is good to hear.

 Any thoughts on the condo market there?

I'm sure it won't take Christopher long to weigh in on the answer to your question but it's a good one.  I know that my friend there told me that there are a lot of property owners who are either investors (i.e., rental property) and/or as a vacation home.  Based on my visit to Santa Fe, I can't imagine you could go wrong either way!  It is such a beautiful place, truly!

Hi "NextProperty"--

 At the moment there are just about 400 condo units for sale in the entire greater Santa Fe areas--including south of town 15 to 20 minutes away, and north in the Tesuque and so forth.

If my memory is correct on this, I'd say we're about 80-90 units higher in inventory than one year ago.  So yes, we too are in a buyer's market of sorts.

About 1/2 the properties are listed at under $375,000--and obviously 1/2 above.

One thing you should know is that we have some condos that don't in any way appear to the casual observer to be condos.  They are ofen 2 or 3 units complexes--usually a historically main house, and a small guest house that decided to "condo-ize" rather than go through the headaches of lot splits with the city, and the historic boards and so forth.  They are often very beautiful and old.  None of those in the under $400K range though.

If you'd like to contact me off-forum, please write me at christopher@hometeamsantafe.com and if you give me some idea of what you're really looking for, I can send you a dynamic link to the current properties that are on market.  And explanatory email describing the area, the quality of the build and so forth.

Thank you Christopher... I don't think I'm doing anything for the next few months but I will take a look at your site and see if anything peaks my interest.

Great.  You can also click here to search the entire MLS for Santa Fe...without any signing in--let me know if anyone has problems searching and I'll help problem solve.

http://www.hometeamsantafe.com/files/177031/santa-fe-mls-listings.html

Very good site...I plan on checking the site regularly to see if anything catches my eye. Thanks again.