Moving to Albuquerque (South Valley, Los Lunas, Dora: homes, neighborhood, purchase)

[JstmeinVA]

Question I have three children, 19, 16 and 11, one has graduated but wants to move with us, and the other two still in school, one high school 10th the other middle school 6th.
Would like to know where would be the best place to move to , looking for a good school for both kids. We have never been to NM at all, we need help in finding a nice area to purchase a house. Any Ideas?

Thank you,

Darlene

[rybert]

Budget?

Industry?

Commute-tolerant?

[finmqa1]

I would recommend the La Cueva School District right off the bat, but depending on ryberts questions that could change.

[JstmeinVA]

My husband got offered a job working for the military in Albuquerque they are offering him 27.63 hr. start, not sure where the shop is he will be working in is somewhere near a military AFB. I hope thats enough info

[rybert]

Yes... that's in the SE of the city.

That will help everybody out a lot.

[lisdol]

Some people commute from Los Lunas to the base - its a straight shot up I-25 to the Gibson exit. The gates for the west side of the base are at Carlisle and Truman, where they intersect with Gibson. There is also a gate at Lousiana, but I have my doubts about the neighborhood by that gate.

Los Lunas is handy if your husband will be working on the west side of the base by the airport and you want to live out of the city.

If your husband will be working on the east side of the base (like where Sandia Labs buildings are), you might want to look at the Sandia HS district, which is, I believe, a straight shot up Wyoming or Eubank in the NE hts. That might also be the ElDorado school district. The main gate for the east side of the base is Wyoming. Eubank is also open daytime hours.

Manzano Mesa is a neighborhood right off of Eubank and Southern and is a popular place for those who work on base - not sure of the schools for that neighborhood though.

I do believe with the salary you mentioned that homes in the LaCueva district could be out of your price range, unless you bring a lot of cash on hand.

For your 19 yo, UNM is right in basically the middle of the city. CNM (the 2-yr college) is close to UNM and also has campuses in the NE hts and South Valley.

It takes about 10 min to get from the east side of the base to the west side, on average, so just factor that in if you are trying to figure out commute times.

[rybert]

There are multi-million dollar homes @ Gibson and Louisiana as well as poorer people. There is a very nice mix of homes (think $175k-$200k) in the area as well. This sweeping generalization of the Gibson/Louisiana area is very frustrating.

My father-in-law bicycles to work from Indiana St. to SNL (on the base) everyday, and has for the past 20yrs. I walked to Wherry elementary and Wilson middle school, and always felt very safe. There is a nice little Methodist church in the area as well.

[lisdol]

All I said was I had my doubts. The war zone is near there and I don't know enough of the neighborhood to delineate the bad from the good. I would not want to live there personally. My son's teacher went to Van Buren and did not have bad things to say about it. I live where I do because I did not want my child to enter 6th grade at Van Buren.

[rybert]

I understand the idea of not wanting to send your child to Van Buren (I had to file for a waiver to go to Wilson). However, I am certain that it is the quality of the student that dictates their future success.

The war zone is directly North of the Base on Zuni/Central.

[lisdol]

Originally Posted by rybert

The war zone is directly North of the Base on Zuni/Central.

So basically East of Lousiana, West of Wyoming, north of the Base up to Central?

Its not so great east of San Mateo along Zuni either, correct? I remember having my dh go down Zuni so I could show him where El Norteno was at Zuni and San Pedro (apparently it shut down) and it looked pretty run down around there.

Is the really nice neighborhood you are talking about south of Gibson, E of Louisiana, north of Bullhead Park, kind of by the VA/MTF? Has a little park.