It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and then, a client walks in (or in this case, cold calls me), who knows what they want and has done their homework. This was recent Santa Fe transplant, Paul McCord.
An attorney who’s spent decades shuttling between Metro Atlanta, the Florida Panhandle, Orlando, Tampa, and most recently, Fort Lauderdale, Paul has been practicing law since the early nineties. He made partner, checked the boxes, and then realized that none of it mattered the way he thought it would.
“I hated the politics of Florida, and I no longer felt like the job was enough to keep me there,” Paul told me flat-out. “I thought ‘I’m about to turn 60, and I’m not living the life I want to be living’.”
Sound familiar? Well, that’s Santa Fe. However, unlike so many people who move to The City Different on a whim after a long weekend of opera, food tours, and gallery walks, Paul played the long game.
“I actually first came out here during law school for a mock trial competition,” he told me. “I immediately fell in love with it. And just 35 years later… I got here.”
In the Beginning
The son of a Delta Airlines pilot, Paul grew up in Hapeville, Georgia, right by the Atlanta airport. He went to the University of Georgia in Athens where he majored in German, then UGA Law School. But Georgia, despite its reputation for manners and gentility, never fully fit.
“People in Georgia are very friendly, and Atlanta is a beautiful city in the middle of a forest, but there’s a historic undercurrent of racism once you get outside of the metropolitan area,” Paul said. “I really disliked that aspect of living in the South. Politically, I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum. It always rubbed me the wrong way.”
But there were other challenges that Paul faced in Georgia that transcended race.
“My sexual orientation was always going to be a limitation in the South,” he admitted. “In the 1990s and early 2000s, there were simply no opportunities at the top of the legal field for an openly gay man.” Time proved Paul wrong. He eventually made partner at a large firm in Florida. Still, he felt that things could be better.
A Tipping Point
Two years ago, during Indian Market weekend, Paul returned to Santa Fe. He’d just lost both parents within three months of each other. And even though he was living in the notably gay-friendly city of Wilton Manors near Fort Lauderdale, it felt empty. “I wasn’t happy with the job situation in Florida, even as a partner at a large law firm, and the political direction the state was heading felt like a dead end” he remembers.
“While I was walking around the Plaza, I realized I wanted to be here, not where I was,” he said.
He started looking at properties online; cold-called me, and sent me a list of homes he wanted to see. That was November of 2024.
Now, here’s why Paul is a realtor’s dream. Before taking him around to see any homes, he was honest with me about the lack of urgency of his situation. He said: “I want to be respectful of your time. I haven’t put my house in Florida on the market yet, so I’m not ready to buy something in Santa Fe just yet. But I have made my decision to move, so it’s going to happen eventually.”
About a year later he was ready. In anticipation of a cooling real estate market in the Sunshine State, he “renovated the daylights” out of his place in Wilton Manors. It sold in less than two weeks.
And then, he had a frightening thought: “Oh my god, I’ve only got 45 days to move.”
The House He Needed, but Didn’t Expect
Here’s another thing I loved about working with Paul. He came to me convinced he wanted to be in town and that he loved the South Capitol area with its walking distance to everything. But, after looking around, he saw the possibilities of other areas
He bought a small 2-bedroom house in Rancho Viejo South. Windmill Ridge, to be exact. And although it doesn’t fit the usual checkpoints, it’s a great home for him and his two three-year-old cats, brothers Buddy and Kit.
“It’s my Santa Fe starter house,” he said with a grin. “My long-term goal is to custom build a house out here. But for now? This really meets my needs, and allows me to get oriented to everything Santa Fe has to offer.”
Fast forward to moving day, when he pulled up in the moving truck, a neighbor was standing twenty feet away. Also gay. Also a cat person. “All my neighbors have been great so far.”
The Life He’s Finally Living
Now he’s settled in and will be sworn in to the New Mexico Bar Association in June, but he’s not so concerned with work at this point. He’s breathing mountain air and enjoying life.
“One of my big reasons for moving out west is snow skiing,” he said. “The access here to Taos and Ski Santa Fe is superb. I’ve also already been up to Telluride, which is just 5-6 hours away. That’s one of my big, big passions.”
He also just bought an electric bike, which he enjoys riding on Santa Fe’s many off-road trails, without ever hitting traffic. “People absolutely value quality of life here more than in any of the big cities I’ve lived in before, and that shows in the way Santa Fe’s residents treat each other. I already feel more a part of the community than I even imagined, and I’m thrilled to finally be here.”
Welcome home, Paul. It only took you 35 years.
