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My casa is butted against the Manzanitas in the mouth of the canyon with Abq Open Space directly behind it. 3br/2.5 ba/1987 sf. I'm working in Germany but will be moving to the Colorado Springs area upon my return next year, so the house has to go.
My casa is butted against the Manzanitas in the mouth of the canyon with Abq Open Space directly behind it. 3br/2.5 ba/1987 sf. I'm working in Germany but will be moving to the Colorado Springs area upon my return next year, so the house has to go.
That's a really good looking casa you have there. Do you have a zillow link handy to it? Sorry to see you go, you sounded like the resident ABQ needs more of!
That's a really good looking casa you have there. Do you have a zillow link handy to it? Sorry to see you go, you sounded like the resident ABQ needs more of!
I like to think my casa (I called her "Casa de Tierra Roja" because of the stained concrete floors) was in a perfect location. Quick 3 min access to I-40 at Central/Tramway, ABQ Open Space was my back yard since my rear wall was the ABQ city limit, very and safe quiet neighborhood with the occasional road runner and mule deer, easy 15 min bike rideto Kirtland AFB/Sandia Nat'l Labs, large 2 car garage with an extra 8' on the side for garage toys (bicycles in my case)... yadda yadda.
We ended up buying two houses, and we love both neighborhoods. One we rent out (current lease is up in a few weeks) in the Uptown neighborhood, a relatively affordable but pleasant part of the Northeast Heights with good schools (Sandia High School). It is walking distance -- yes, walking -- to 3 different shopping centers including Winrock, Coronado, and best of all, ABQ Uptown, a nice new upscale outdoor shopping center with an Apple store and a Trader Joe's.
The other house, where we are living, is in the UNM North/Nob Hill area. Neighbors brought us homemade cookies as we were moving in, and we are currently organizing a block party with our lesbian neighbors across the street.
We ended up buying two houses, and we love both neighborhoods. One we rent out (current lease is up in a few weeks) in the Uptown neighborhood, a relatively affordable but pleasant part of the Northeast Heights with good schools (Sandia High School). It is walking distance -- yes, walking -- to 3 different shopping centers including Winrock, Coronado, and best of all, ABQ Uptown, a nice new upscale outdoor shopping center with an Apple store and a Trader Joe's.
The other house, where we are living, is in the UNM North/Nob Hill area. Neighbors brought us homemade cookies as we were moving in, and we are currently organizing a block party with our lesbian neighbors across the street.
We highly recommend both neighborhoods.
I'm looking for a rental for June when I arrive to ABQ, if you are seeking a great tenant, send me a PM! Thanks!
JBM and DesertSW77, so glad to hear that you to have also had a positive experience as LGBT people living in Albuquerque. Albuquerque seems almost post-gay, like Silicon Valley, in that gay people integrate pretty smoothly into the culture across neighborhoods such that they don't particularly stand out. A visitor might think that Albuquerque has very little LGBT presence because there are very few exclusively gay bars or other gay-themed commercial establishments. But then you go online and discover all the thriving local meetup.com groups such as "Albuquerque lesbian professionals" with nearly 600 members! I've made some good friends through the outdoor groups, like the meetup.com group "Gay Outdoors New Mexico" with nearly 200 members.
Albuquerque's level of gay-friendliness is considerably higher than one might expect, and it makes me think this reveals something bigger about Albuquerque that is underappreciated – it's quirkiness and warmth – that could present an opportunity to help promote Albuquerque among employers considering expansion to a new city. Quirkiness is a fundamental part of nerd culture that thrives in relatively few places – typically places that are winners of the new economy (e.g., Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Boulder, Minneapolis, West LA/Hollywood, various college towns, etc.). Appreciation of quirkiness goes hand-in-hand with a culture of creativity and innovation and openness.
Albuquerque is best appreciated by folks who value quirkiness, which includes just about every Silicon Valley professional I know. I suspect that a typical Silicon Valley nerd would be much happier in Albuquerque than in superficially similar but culturally conventional cities like Phoenix.
Sadly, people who value quirkiness also worship the dollar. Look at the escalating rents in the places you mention!!! Or, the super expensive loft apartments in Albuquerque. They also tend to be mostly Caucasian, and note that Silicon Valley makes things so expensive, on purpose, so that only Caucasian, or Asian, IT professionals live in their neighborhoods. These IT folks are resented by everyone else.
You will find that many conservative Albuquerque residents, won't appreciate your lifestyle or play with your kids. The city isn't really that liberal. When I lived in Albuquerque, on Nob hill, I complained to an employer how unfriendly the neighbors were, and they were Caucasians, just as I am. She said, oh, that's because you live on snob hill with an s.
I wish you the best but you may find yourself ultimately wanting a position in Denver, boulder, or Fort Collins, after 5 years. Denver is solidly Democrat but not so with Albuquerque.
Also, a lot of folks moving to New Mexico and also Arizona have the paradise syndrome. Once they arrive, things aren't perfect, they get depressed, and go back to one of the coasts. Local New Mexico folks hate Californians and their politics. The newcomers bring with them a sense of entitlement and superficial materialstic desires, that clashes with the hard work ethic of the locals.
When I moved to New Mexico, I did not have this attitude, but the locals born and raised in Albuquerque still didn't like me and it took forever to get a job. And before anyone thinks I'm being racist, nope, the prospective employers were white, I'm white, it's just that they prefer locals over newbies, especially if the newbies are from California. Vegas, I should add, is not this way, they hire the best qualified person.
And, avoid Rio Rancho if you are GLBT and also have kids. The city is run by the LDS, fundamentalists, and retired military, and the residents are largely LDS and retired military. much of western New Mexico was settled by the LDS.
Stay as close to the University as you can since you have kids. New Mexico overall is a republican, conservative state with much of the economy based on the military. It is not San Francisco, Portland, or Denver.
When I moved to New Mexico, I did not have this attitude, but the locals born and raised in Albuquerque still didn't like me and it took forever to get a job. And before anyone thinks I'm being racist, nope, the prospective employers were white, I'm white, it's just that they prefer locals over newbies, especially if the newbies are from California. Vegas, I should add, is not this way, they hire the best qualified person.
The working age population (25-64) in the ABQ metro is 477,687. The number in that age group born in New Mexico is 208,534, or about 43%. (SOURCE)
Do you mean to tell me that all those newcomers can't get jobs because they're not locals?
New Mexico employers prefer their own, same is true of Northern Arizona, but not so much in larger cities such as Phoenix and Vegas.
So who's employing the 57% of working-age residents that aren't from NM?
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