Inventor wrote:
It does get hot in the summer, but not too cold in the winter. Southern New Mexico.
No place is perfect. This one has what counts, pure water, fertile soil, and low price.
Summer days will hit 100, but with low humidity it feels like 85 in New Orleans or Florida. Nights are cool.
Winter low is 32 overnight. 355 days a year of sun.
It is the only place where aspies could afford to live. And then only if we make it so.
Reasons,
It is on I-10, Amtrak, Greyhound, 100 miles from the El Paso airport.
It is close to the Mexico border town of Puerto Palomas, the only 24/7 port of entry.
Doctors, dentists, glasses, perscriptions, cost about one-third. So do food and beer.
There is trade potential with Mexico. It is cheap because there are no local jobs.
We need to form an economy anyway.
With staples from Mexico, corn, beans, rice, and local produce, no one will go hungry.
Houses start at $10,000. There are some strange land sales, but good land, power, phone, fertile soil, irrigation water rights, wells, in 100+ acres is $1000 an acre.
New Mexico has easy building codes. Adobe is fine. There is an intentional community there, they build in papercrete, recycled paper and cement.
It is 30 miles from the I-10 to the Mexican border, for about a hundred miles.
It is 200 miles east of Tucson. 100 miles west of El Paso.
At almost 61 I am looking to retire, and spend a long time rock hunting, the place is known for geodes, agate, opal.
It has what I want, post office, UPS, and Internet. I sell on ebay, so that covers my world.
Puerto Palomas is known for wood work. doors, windows, tables, chairs, beds. Mexico also has pipe, plumbing fixtures, so building gets cheap.
The big cost are a well, $8000 and septic tank, $2000, but a group of houses can share a larger system.
One place to build an economy is construction.
I am going soon. My plan is to buy something in town.
What I found was I can afford most of it. I have an outside income.
It has range, from being on the edge of a town with a Walmart, to being on the edge of a town in Mexico.
There is room to form a colony, and be within fifteen miles of both worlds.
The best deals are above 100 acres. irrigated working farms. It seems the border control has gotten rid of farm workers.
The housing bubble is breaking, so land prices are dropping to what can it earn, and that is not much.
Buyers are few. Most are snowbirds that want a place to park the RV near the senior center.
Out there is wide open.
Wealth is income and outgo. Here land can provide homes, food, and employment. When money flows in and stays, you get rich. When your main expenses are low, you get rich.
I see this group as suited to working the world from their computers, and there are thousands of things to sell.
Some excersize would be good, great hiking, horses, parks, National Forests, nature. It is all close.
For most, an acre is large. Most homes are on 1/8 acre. Here we can buy in, and just keep buying.
Running water and sewer, mutual defense, houses should be close. The village design works, but around it are open fields. They can provide most of the food.
I would think a land trust, an investment, then selling homes on the edge. It allows for secure investment,
Buy land, they don't make it any more. Fertile land with water will always go up. and homes can be owned as private property.
Some people do not want a home with land, just a room in the village. We can have a range.
Now comes the hard part, who would put up money, and who would build?
The deals come with group buying power, and making it something takes work.
I am going to buy a house, wall the yard, and build some aspie pens out back.
I would post land deals, for those who would go it alone.
Those who can buy a section, 640 acres, can see a realtor.
Forming a group from aspies, and getting them to do something, I am only human.
You will have to be self motivating for this.
Buying a section, running water and sewer, is going to cost $100,000, with a $500,000 debt.
It is not much for a hundred people. $6000 buys 6 acres with improvments.
A land trust is backed by land, which is better than dollars. It can pay a dividend, you do not own the land, just the value, so it can pay like a bond or CD. The land is security for the debt. It is great when the land is paid for in full. The only liability is taxes, where the investment is for the down payment, the monthly payments also have to be made.
The best deals are for cash. All cash today and prices drop. Make your money when you buy.
Now comes herding cats.
Make sure you can get water, Inventor. I grew up in that part of the world and you can have all the water rights on the planet, but if you don't have a good, solid water source fertile soil won't help you much. You'll also want to be off the power grid, as it's pricey. Are you talking out by Lordsburg?
28 Sep 2007, 6:35 am
)
