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Hi, newbie here.
I am moving to Albuquerque soon and have found the perfect house in Ridgecrest. However after reading about the "war zone" on this forum and discussing it w/ friends, I am concerned that this neighborhood is not desirable to the majority of residents and will decline in quality in the future. Will someone please tell me I'm wrong?
Yeah, that area is really nice. I don't think there's much chance of a home in that neighborhood declining in value - and the "war zone" to the east is not really all that bad and is improving every day. As for desirability, Ridgecrest is easily one of the most desirable in the city...
@ Pershing and Graceland. Is this even Ridgecrest?
Yeah. Pretty decent part of the neighborhood - there are some neat houses back in there. As far as the "war zone," things don't get too spotty until you cross San Mateo.
I jog through there all the time, it's one of the most pleasant areas in town, very well-constructed houses and nice landscaping with mature trees. People really take pride in their houses in that immediate area. Excellent location, hard to do better if you want to be near Nob Hill, UNM, Sandia Labs.
I grew just a couple blocks away from your interested intersection. Yes, it is considered the Ridgecrest area. Overall the homes in the area have maintained their values quite well. A few years ago a family member drove by our old house and saw a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, so we looked it up online. We were very surprised to see that the high price for the home considering the market had turned. The condition inside the house looked great with some updates in the kitchen and central heat, but the outside looked horrible and there were bars on the windows. The grass was removed for rocks and the big pine trees were no longer there.
There was crime starting to move into the area before we moved, but it wasn't from neighbors. We had windows bashed out of cars, home break-ins in the area (not our home, but our car got broken into once), and there would be homeless people around Zuni & Washington. There was also some spillover of kids ditching school from Highland.
I still love driving through the area as it is beautiful, but I would not choose to live there again if I had a family. Those who live there with kids either home school or the kids go to private schools. I also would not want to go grocery shopping in the area at night. Up until 2 years ago my brother worked at a grocery store off of Zuni & San Mateo. The stories I heard about the crime were unnerving -- and I consider myself to be pretty independent and mostly fearless.
I don't like shopping along San Mateo at night either, although I still do occasionally. I live much closer to San Mateo than the property under consideration and usually go to the Co-op or Sunflower Market on Lomas for nighttime shopping.
But I think barring an economic catastrophe to the city or country, the housing stock in Ridgecrest will remain desirable, there is a critical mass of high-quality housing there (including million-dollar homes) with character, not the cookie-cutter barrenness of some of the newer subdivisions. This combined with the prime location near thriving Nob Hill create a lot of interest in the area. Despite the economic downturn, Nob Hill seems to attract more business all the time, it is really hopping compared to just a few years ago. Ridgecrest is not "perfect" by any means, no place is, there are some neglected properties, but overall it shows that people take a lot of pride in their homes and the neighborhood.
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