Los Alamos is the #1 home for US millionaires

Interesting news today that Los Alamos is the #1 home for millionaires.  A story in Kiplinger pegs Los Alamos as the town with the highest concentration of millionaires in the US.  With its excellent school system, relatively affordable home prices and of course a steady high-tech employer, Los Alamos is certainly an attractive place for the uber-rich to live discreetly and without fuss.  Here’s Latest Homes and Real Estate Market report on Los Alamos, NM

 

But no Nordstroms?  Or even Whole Foods?  Luckily they’ve got Santa Fe….

 

Santa Fe has hosted a lot of movies – more to come!

Here’s a list I got from the Santa Fe film office of movies that have been shot around here:

Independence Day, Last Man Standing, Last Stand at Saber River, Wild Wild West, All The Pretty Horses, The Lazarus Man, Earth 2, The Cowboy Way, Natural Born Killers, Wyatt Earp, White Sands, City Slickers, The Missing, North Country, Into the West, Comanche Moon, No Country for Old Men, Wild Hogs, 3:10 to Yuma, and most recently Cowboys and Aliens with Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, who wrote a wonderful Love Letter to Santa Fe after shooting here.

An exciting new development in town is the Santa Fe Studios, going up now on the Turquoise Trail that runs between Santa Fe and Madrid. It’s planned to be the world’s first LEED certified industry standard film studio facility.  Already it’s terribly impressive, looming 5 stories tall over the plains.

Johnny Depp in Santa Fe

Johnny Depp during the Paris premiere of Publi...

Image via Wikipedia

Several sightings of  ”Pirates of the Caribbean” megastar Johnny Depp in Santa Fe recently, as he’s shooting Disney‘s The Lone Ranger here.  He is, of course, Tonto, with The Social Network‘s Armie Hammer as the Ranger.

Elsewhere around Santa Fe, it seems the adaptation of Dean KoontzOdd Thomas is back in production, after a short break, as is the production of The Boys of Abu Ghraib starring Sean Astin.

Santa Fe Home Sales – Steady as She Goes

Santa Fe Association of Realtors has just released its Q4 results.

Condo and townhome sales  rose in sales from last year with 60 sales in the 4th quarter of 2009and 76 in the same Quarter of 2010; however, the median price dipped from $250,000 in the 4th quarter of 2009 to $232,500 or an 8% drop in the same Quarter of 2010.  Land sales slowed from 43 in the 4th Quarter of 2009 to 32 in the most recent 2010 Quarter with prices down from a median of $160,000 in 2009 to a median of $134,500 in 2010.
“While Santa Fe City and County single family home sales slowed in the 4thQuarter, condo and townhome sales  showed a modest  increase perhaps the first signs of the return of the second home market,” stated  JoAnne Vigil Coppler, 2011 President of the Santa Fe Association of REALTORS®.

Number of sold homes in santa fe

santa fe median sales prices

“Sluggish sales in the 4thQuarter generally reflected the mood of the country as we settled in for the  national Election results.  More recently the market has shown an  upswing of activity and buyer interest especially when interest rates began to inch up,” she added.  “With a seasonal drop in inventory, single family home  sales  have  slowed  with values  holding steady in our housing market,” said Ms. Coppler.   “Buyers who are watching the market closely; particularly the increase in interest rates and stabilization of several federal tax policies, are beginning to move off the fence,” she noted.

Work Anywhere – From Santa Fe!

Downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico

Image via Wikipedia

For people who can work anywhere, Santa Fe is a great place to work! Santa Fe has business basics – the airport connections (Albuquerque and Santa Fe airports), the broadband capability and the highway infrastructure I-25 and I-40) – as well as the lifestyle that’s made Santa Fe such a magnet. Recently, I’ve helped two professionals relocate to Santa Fe – one is a software support engineer working for an Israel-based company. His ‘area’ is Central and South America, and he travels there from his Santa Fe home a couple of weeks every month, often taking the non-stop flight from Albuquerque to Mexico City. He moved here with his wife from San Diego, looking for a change of pace in a location that would still allow him to do his work. The other professional moved here from the Midwest with his young family. This guy manages properties throughout the South and Southwest for a large national retail chain. His team is based in the Midwest, and he’s within a few hours of most of his properties, which range from Louisiana to Arizona.

These relocations are the leading edge of the fastest-growing labor demographic in the US – the home-based professional. Whether working for a large corporation as an employee or consultant, or running an independent business, such people can choose to live pretty much anywhere there’s a fast broadband connection. They choose locations such as Bend, OR, Telluride, CO, Madison, WI, Tucson, AZ or Santa Fe, NM. Why, therefore, choose Santa Fe, all other things being equal. The answer tends to be a single word, lifestyle.

The oldest capital city in the US, Santa Fe recently celebrated its 400th birthday. Situated at around 7000 ft above sea level, it is blessed with clear blue skies 360 days of the year, and four wonderful seasons. It has a population of around 100,000, a mix of Native Americans whose pueblos surround the city, the descendants of the Hispanic communities that settled here when Santa Fe was the northern outpost of the Spanish Empire, and the “Anglos” who started arriving down the Santa Fe Trail just over 100 years ago. This blending of histories and experiences forms the basis for a kaleidoscope of culture, from the world famous Santa Fe Opera to incredible museums and of course Santa Fe’s art market, celebrated as the third largest in the US. We have great music venues that nurture local bands and attract touring artists year round – most especially during the summer’s Santa Fe Bandstand series.

Outdoors, as befits a town at the foot of the Rockies, the hiking, biking and rafting are magnificent, with trails starting minutes from downtown, and Pecos and Rio Grande rivers less than an hour away.

Life is more than an office, a desk and a phone. Today’s professionals are motivated to combine excellence in their job with a desire for balance, ‘authenticity’ and just plain fun. Santa Fe’s a great place to do all of that, in a uniquely rich, beautiful, welcoming and special environment.