[fintstone]

I have also heard that the soil is worse farther west. The lots are not all necessarily smaller..the current builders in the west are just building subdivisions and are not doing much custom work. The price point is critical due to the low wages and no real housing shortage. There is plenty of land available. Prices have started climbing due to the improving economy and low interest rates. It is not that I don't think there is money in RR...there is. I just don't see the price realtionship between RR and the far NE changing. But, both are likely to go up if interest rates remain favorable and the economy stays good. There really is not much room left to speculate on homes in the NE so that may mean that the only real opportunity for new development is in RR (NW) or one of the closer, smaller towns in the south or SW of Abq. I am currently trying to decide if I should sell my home in abq and invest the tax free equity in the vegas market this summer (I am working there now) where I will be living/working..or to rent it out hoping for more appreciation...but have much less to buy with in a more expensive market. I already have three other rentals (all homes that I have lived in and then rented when transferred). The problem is that they are starting to make money (on paper) as they get fully depreciated and the mortgages are paid off. The taxes are killing me.
The vegas/abq similarity is not a difficult connection to make. Drive around in Abq and you see a quieter, cleaner, less congested, lower crime rate duplicate of Vegas. The current limiting factor is the low wages in Abq...much like it was in Vegas. The far NE Heights is certainly sufficient to accomodate the current group of high wage earners. Currently they come in in ones and twos and move to the areas where their similar salaried coworkers are (Far NE). The difference, like in Vegas, will be if speculators come in, or folks who have cash from equity in a more expensive area. I remember when I bought my house several years ago..I was actually tring to buy the house across the street that was listed for $310K. It was probably worth about $280K. The owner had to sell in two weeks and by the last day, I had him talked down to accepting my offer of $248k (if no better offer). On the final day, a guy from CA drove up and said.."Your asking price is $310k???I'll give you $312K. First time I ever heard of bidding more than the listed price. he could have taken it for $248k. The next week, I bought a similar house across the street for $235k. It is a crazy world.