Off-the-Grid Earthship Home in New Mexico Is Easy on the Planet and Your Wallet

A wallet-friendly home in Tres Piedras, NM, designed for off-the-grid living is full of colorful quirks. While the exterior of the earthship home blends into its surroundings, its interiors stand out.

“It’s really beautiful and it’s colorful,” says listing agent Alicia Bomhoff, with Taos Sage Real Estate, who helped the original owner do the mosaics in the house. “But the main beauty of the house is actually its functionality, because it doesn’t have any utility bills.”

This 1,400-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath home comes with 3 acres and is listed for $399,000. Solar panels provide electricity, and a catchment off the roof collects water, which is then stored in a 5,000-gallon cistern.

“After you wash your dishes, that water runs into the planter, which is currently growing tomatoes and geraniums,” explains Bomhoff, who also lives in an earthship. “Then the water runs into the septic or outside. The water from the shower also goes into a planter. You could take a big bath and water your plants for a long time.”

An earthship home is constructed from natural and recycled materials and designed to be sustainable.

Take the green coating atop the house, which is a type of stucco.

“That’s like a cement plaster with cans and bottles in it for structure, so the house is made out of tires, dirt, cement, cans, bottles, and that’s about it,” Bomhoff adds.

Tires?

“The tires are rammed with earth and are made into bricks. The house is bermed into the earth, which has a constant 57 degrees. So if you berm into the temperature of the earth, the house can really never get too cold or too hot,” Bomhoff explains.

This 2004 build is one of about 85 earthship homes in the area’s Greater World Community.

“When I first saw it, I thought this was the prettiest earthship in the whole community. The exterior is beautiful,” Bomhoff says. “It’s in a gorgeous location where you have 360-degree views of the mountains all the way around.”

In fact, according to the listing, the home has had a history as a successful offering on Airbnb.

As for the next owner, the buyer will most likely be someone interested in the earthship life.

“The concept is to work with nature instead of against nature,” Bomhoff explains. “You just live a little bit simpler life. You still have all of the same conveniences, but you’re not paying for them each month.”

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