For the love of land

From the desert rolling plains to mountaintop vistas, our varied topography provides stunning backdrops for our lives in Santa Fe. With approximately 30 percent of land in New Mexico being publically owned, it is a significant contribution to our economy, not only for tourism. Public opinion polls prove that people and businesses come to New Mexico and choose to stay because of the quality of life tied to our public lands. This has developed a strong correlation to the value of private land as it relates to the public preserved land around it.

In Santa Fe, a dream home can often start with a dream property. We fall in love with a piece of land, a view, and possibilities that offer the ability to create a unique residence tailored to a property’s contours and the owners’ lifestyle. There is currently a positive trend in Santa Fe for the number of land sales and new-home builds compared to the last ten years. With the ever increasingly technology available for the new smart home and the popularity of integrating state-of-the-art green features, the process of buying a lot and having a custom home built brings the opportunity to create a truly modern masterpiece.

We love the trend toward interior spaces that open seamlessly to the outside via disappearing retractable walls of doors and windows, offering the ability to envelop the view that made someone fall in love with the lot in the first place. The attention to outdoor living and entertaining spaces is vital in maximizing the home’s relationship with its land. Another positive new build trend that resonates well for our environment is an increased focus on quality and not just size— purposeful and efficient layouts becoming paramount.

While there are numerous considerations to ensure the viability of your build goals when buying a piece of land, from water rights to covenants and building restrictions, we have so many great resources and specialists in our professional community to help with the due-diligence process. An exercise we find so valuable to perform for our land-buying clients is a market analysis of the existing resale homes in their desired area, to serve as a gauge and reference point for what price per square foot range of investment is advisable for their lot purchase and build plan.

As we look at the advantages of living in a place with cognizance of our land relationship, there are great ways for citizens to help with preservation of both. As found on www.taxcreditconnection.com/ new-mexico, “New Mexico has an innovative tax program that allows the transfer of conservation income tax credits from landowners to taxpayers with New Mexico income tax liabilities. If you’re interested in reducing your New Mexico income tax while encouraging the preservation of scenic lands, wildlife habitat or working farms and ranches, consider purchasing New Mexico conservation income tax credits. If you’re donating either land or a conservation easement and want to receive immediate cash, consider selling your tax credits.” Additional great local resources: New Mexico Land Conservancy— www.nmlandconservancy.org

Santa Fe Conservation Trust— www.sfct.org

Galisteo Basin Preserve— www.galisteobasinpreserve.com

We bring a new look to real estate to help integrate you within our community. A profound love and knowledge of Santa Fe combine with a fresh outlook, vitality, experience, local insight and fun make Penelope and Drew your trusted real-estate advisors. Contact Penelope at 505-6903751 (penelope.vasquez@sothebyshomes. com) and Drew at 505-470-9194 (drew. lamprich@sothebyshomes.com).