Homes by Hostetler Jack Hostetler, President

"Twas a dark and stormy night." Actually it was a stormy Sunday noon in Huntington Beach in March 1993 when Jack suggested that he would build a roaring fire in the fireplace if Ann would fix an in-house picnic. And they would spend two hours in front of the fire with the picnic, an atlas, and The Places Rated Almanac deciding where they wanted to live and work. Several hours and a bottle of wine later, they had narrowed the continental US down to Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, all places where they loved to vacation.

In June a visit to Albuquerque and Santa Fe confirmed Jack's choice. As they returned from Santa Fe one afternoon, rather than turn right to the Super 8 at Exit 242, Jack said. "I wonder what's up this way to the left?" A move to New Mexico followed in September, 1993. In February, 1995, Jack built his first New Mexico spec house in Ranchos de Placitas on Cienega Canyon Road, which seemed a small start after his building over 800 homes in Southern California. Ironically, on September 11, 1997, Jack and Ann moved into "The House that Jack Built" in West Trails, four years to the month after they had settled in Albuquerque.

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