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As far as WHY anyone would want to pull an RV out there...to each his own. I like to just sit there and have peace and quiet and look out at the mountains. I have couple of lots near Taos as well. I go there in the summer when it is too hot every where else...I just like to run away every now and then.. and I like to be sitting on my own property when I do it!
I am a licensed California building contractor. I have a half acre in the Rio Grande Estates (handed down from my father who purchased it in the mid 60's for $200.00). I called the city development department a year ago and inquired about building on the lot. I told them I have a half acre and would like to know what is and is not allowable regarding buildings on the property. They said if you can build a self sustaining house on your land it is permissible but will take a number of hoops to jump through, and a long line of red tape to overcome. So if you have solar or wind powered electricity, and a water well (expensive to drill), and put in a septic system, you can use propane for cooking/heat, etc. They don't allow mobile homes on the lots, but manufactured housing is permissible, according to the agent I spoke to last year. NOTE: The only road leading into the estates is a one lane dirt road.
I visited the property in 1999, while I admit it was disappointing to see just how much "nothingness" is in that vast, empty plat, some residential building was going on in the surrounding and adjoining areas. I also learned after visiting a couple of local realty companies, a developer has been buying up the tax defaults for pennies. Most people have owned these lots for over 45 years and became disenchanted with the lack of value increases over the years, so they abandon them. I have not checked prices at which they may be currently selling for, but the value of my land has not gone up enough for me to get excited over (stalled at around $300-$400 per half acre), nor has the tax bill ($5.00 a year).
I took away a clue from the fact that some person(s), thinks enough to buy up the tax defaults in numbers large enough to eventually warrant utilities at some time in the future. How long that may take is anybody's guess, nonetheless, the possibility is real and growing closer with each default bought.
It makes sense that as soon as this developer amasses enough properties for it to pay off (bringing utilities to the area is prohibitive for individual lot owners), the building will begin, unleashing a buying frenzy in that community--shooting up the land values.
There is a golf course just down the two-lane highway by a couple of miles, and the new homes I eluded to above were being built just off that highway--directly in line with, but not in the Rio Grande Estates proper.
I am a licensed California building contractor. I have a half acre in the Rio Grande Estates (handed down from my father who purchased it in the mid 60's for $200.00). I called the city development department a year ago and inquired about building on the lot. I told them I have a half acre and would like to know what is and is not allowable regarding buildings on the property. They said if you can build a self sustaining house on your land it is permissible but will take a number of hoops to jump through, and a long line of red tape to overcome. So if you have solar or wind powered electricity, and a water well (expensive to drill), and put in a septic system, you can use propane for cooking/heat, etc. They don't allow mobile homes on the lots, but manufactured housing is permissible, according to the agent I spoke to last year. NOTE: The only road leading into the estates is a one lane dirt road.
I visited the property in 1999, while I admit it was disappointing to see just how much "nothingness" is in that vast, empty plat, some residential building was going on in the surrounding and adjoining areas. I also learned after visiting a couple of local realty companies, a developer has been buying up the tax defaults for pennies. Most people have owned these lots for over 45 years and became disenchanted with the lack of value increases over the years, so they abandon them. I have not checked prices at which they may be currently selling for, but the value of my land has not gone up enough for me to get excited over (stalled at around $300-$400 per half acre), nor has the tax bill ($5.00 a year).
I took away a clue from the fact that some person(s), thinks enough to buy up the tax defaults in numbers large enough to eventually warrant utilities at some time in the future. How long that may take is anybody's guess, nonetheless, the possibility is real and growing closer with each default bought.
It makes sense that as soon as this developer amasses enough properties for it to pay off (bringing utilities to the area is prohibitive for individual lot owners), the building will begin, unleashing a buying frenzy in that community--shooting up the land values.
There is a golf course just down the two-lane highway by a couple of miles, and the new homes I eluded to above were being built just off that highway--directly in line with, but not in the Rio Grande Estates proper.
What would stimulate the place is for some type of steady employment to be in the Belen area, and I don't mean some types of high skill jobs that most people here couldn't get. Also, if they would allow mobile homes, more people would be tempted to maybe try something in R.G.Estates. I have walked through the areas many times, and while the land is better than the nearby rio del oro lots, the land is still rough and more suited to the hermit types or off the grid. If the county is hoping for an expensive subdivision to be built so they can rake in the taxes, that is not going to happen any time soon and they need to revisit letting people go there and live the way they want, just to maybe get some electric lines in place and to give the land some life.
I am laughing because that same salesman got ahold of my Grandparents in Long Island as well. Still paying the taxes in hopes of someone getting their act together and developing "Rio Grande Estates!"
What would stimulate the place is for some type of steady employment to be in the Belen area, and I don't mean some types of high skill jobs that most people here couldn't get. Also, if they would allow mobile homes, more people would be tempted to maybe try something in R.G.Estates. I have walked through the areas many times, and while the land is better than the nearby rio del oro lots, the land is still rough and more suited to the hermit types or off the grid. If the county is hoping for an expensive subdivision to be built so they can rake in the taxes, that is not going to happen any time soon and they need to revisit letting people go there and live the way they want, just to maybe get some electric lines in place and to give the land some life.
Please, no, don't let the people live the way they want: there is too much of that in the area already, this is one reason we choose to relocate out of the Valencia county area.
I am laughing because that same salesman got ahold of my Grandparents in Long Island as well. Still paying the taxes in hopes of someone getting their act together and developing "Rio Grande Estates!"
Fingers crossed!
and they got us back in the early 70s. We had a lot in Rio Grande and 3 in Rio Coummunities. Luckily we have been able to dump them for very little money, but something anyway. The only good thing that came out of it was, we found Belen, NM and lived there, after retirement for 7 years. NM has a lot of positive things to offer. The sad part about the lots, like your grandparents, we had hoped to sell them and help put our kids through colledge, well, we now have grandkids who are through college and we certainly never used the vacant land to put them through...
I have read almost every newsletter for the past 20 years and they continue to hang on to this space station. Will that really happen and will it help?
I'm looking for a couple of lots if anyone is interested in selling. I need a place to park an RV for a month or so. I seen and acre for $1000 on ebay. I'm short on funds and could pay $500. Please let me know if you have something to sell.
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Rio Land
