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My husband, daughter, 2 dogs, and I are moving to Albuquerque beginning of July. We are coming in 2 weeks to look for a house to rent. (We will only be living in Albuquerque for 1 year.) We have been looking for houses on line, but it would be helpful to know what areas are best and also zip codes! My husband will be working in downtown Albuquerque. We would like somewhere that would be close for him, but he is willing to move out further to be in a safer area. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Okay, The further north you go, the safer the city is (with exceptions). The Far Northeast heights is oft considered the most desirable part of town to live in (most expensive zip is 87122). The N.W. is less expensive but less scenic--but overall a very nice part of town as well. Try mortimers advice, if you do a little searching you will find much more thorough answers.
> ... from Rio Rancho, how long is the commute during rush hour?
> What about Ventana Ranch? Is it worth the commute?
To downtown, you might as well allow for an hour. If it's 45 minutes or 1:15 what's the difference at that point? Since Albuquerque is small, you can change this by a lot by varying the timing since the really congested peak doesn't last that long.
The thing is that you need to actually test the commute yourself at the hour that you are likely to be making the trip - both ways.
When pricing homes be sure to take into account the cost of driving *and* the cost of losing an hour or more *each day* you make the commute. Getting a home 1/2 hour closer gives you five hours more free time at home.
Note that for those who work downtown there are mass transit options that most people do not have:
(1) Railrunner
.... (a) from Belen/Los Lunas
.... (b) from Bernalillo
.... (I'm deliberately leaving off Santa Fe as a commute option. Don't go there.)
(2) Academy Commuter (express) bus from all along Academy Rd into Sandia Heighs and High Desert.
If you work downtown and you have the option of plopping down anywhere, then not thoroughly investigating mass transit options displays a critical ignorance of the value of your time or the ability to make intelligent transit choices.
There's no way I'd commute downtown in my car unless I had really different hours than most people working there.
There are nice subdivisions in the SW part of town. However, there's also a significant shortage of services in the SW, such as restaurants, shopping, theaters, etc. Friend of mine has a very nice house near Unser & Sage, but we end up going to Coors & I40 or Cottonwood if we want to eat on her side of town. Traffic is very congested over there as well (IMO anyway).
For the question you have about the Southwest quadrant of the city - read this thread closely - lots of great discussion about the Southwest (pros and cons along the lines of what you are asking / noticing):
For the question about best zip codes - go to this thread - plenty of great and thorough zip-by-zip comparison - START AT POST #4 (skip the first three for time savings) and read #4 through the end! - ...
I think there are plenty of houses for rent just west of downtown, ranging from 6th street to Rio Grande Blvd. They're old, but they're trendy, and a lot of the old structures are giving way to new ones in their place. The neighborhoods are gentrifying, and you might be surprised just how nice the space can be. Best of all, you can walk or bike to work.
Commuting into downtown is very frustrating for most. The traffic is bad, gas isn't getting cheaper, and then you have to find and pay for parking. If you don't mind spending the first hour or two of your day paying for the drive to and from work, then maybe it's not so bad. Outstanding bus service along the Central Ave. corridor if you have to live a little further out, though it does get icky in areas.
A lot of transplants to Albuquerque bring an "I have to commute 20 minutes each way to work" mentality and there are many areas of town that cater to this. Am not saying don't have a car, am only saying try making not using it to commute to work an option.
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Answers to most of your questions
