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Hi. We are a large military family (7 kids) moving to Ft Bliss in February. Housing on post is pretty small for us, so we have been looking for larger houses that we can get into and stay within our housing allowance. It seems there are more large houses for sale than for rent, but most in the price range we want are going to be located further away from Ft Bliss. We are currently looking at a big house on Aldrin Circle in Socorro. It is in the area of N Moon Rd.
Does anyone know anything about this area. Any overwhelming reasons why I wouldn't want to be there?
I lived there for 8 & 1/2 years (85-94) as a GS civil Servent. Office was on Biggs Field. I Lived on the west side. I liked El Paso....Socorro is a pretty good commute from Bliss.And, it is mostly farming as I recall....could have changed by now. But there were a few clusters of houses, neighborhoods of 6 to 10 houses, in that area.
If I were you I would contact Sellers real estate. It is owned by the family of a guy that worked for me in the Defense Investigative Service. He went to DEA but is now retired. The old man is a retired Sgt of some kind from the army( I was in the Air Force and never did understand Army rank). I do not know it they have a site or blog but I am sure you can find a ph. # for them in the Yahoo white pages.
I am trying to get back to Tx myself.....Fl sux.HA
Good Luck
Larry
Hey, thanks for the reply. We already have a realtor, but realtors are legally not allowed to tell you certain things about a property. They are not allowed to tell you if it is a high crime neighborhood, or lots of gang activities, or a known area for buying drugs -- those types of things. I can search public records for sexual predators, but a lot of times you will get more from people who know the area than you will from public records. So I was just wondering if anyone knows if that is a known bad area to live. If it is just a farming community, that doesn't sound all that bad to me.
I just posted this for another thread and a family considering moving here. I feel for you! I'm outta here in a matter of months....
Let me put it to you like this. I am a 10 year veteran of the Army and stationed on Ft. Bliss here in El Paso, I am a 29 yo white male and I don't stand a chance here! Avoid it at all cost! My wife has TWO specialized degrees and can't get a job here. She is turned away at every interview because she does not speak spanish. She has an illness that the Army hospital here cannot treat so they are sending her to a doctor here in El Paso. We called twice onc her once me. Neither time could we talk to anyone in the office thatspoke english well enough to even schedule an appointment. Are these the people you want treating your family?
Your car insurance will instantly go up a minimum of 25%(ours was $200 @ 6mo.) because the auto theft rate is so high, and the recovery is so low(they end in up in Mexico). Home owners insurance does the same thing due to theft. To make it even better after 3 years of looking here we have yet to find a home in the 100K range that does not have serious issues due to poor construction, no doubt due to illegal unskilled labor.
Prices are considerably high compared to pay here. The summers are a 115 degree minimum, with regular sand storms that will break the windows in your car, and remove the paint. There is NOTHING green here unless you spend a fortune and have imported dirt put down for your lawn; otherwise you have sand, rocks, and sand. It may seriously concern you also that "white" kids get beat up and left out in schools here since they don't speak spanish. Half the classes at schools here are in spanish! Most ALL people that I know here that have 3 or more children school age have pulled their children out and are home schooling.....
Wow! Sorry you had it so rough there. I don't really have a choice about where we are going. Uncle Sam says go, so I go. We'll just have to make the best of it. I'm not too worried about the school districts as we have been homeschooling for 12 years. I am a nurse, and I have already had a job offer for weekend work. They didn't say anything about having to speak spanish, but I'll be sure to ask about that. My kids are all looking forward to taking spanish lessons anyway.
Well, the purpose of the post was to find out if there are any high crime areas that I should avoid. I have an old 12 passenger van, so it isn't really a car thief magnet, but if there are known drug and gang neighborhoods, I'd like to stay out of those areas.
I would look in the Northeast. The East and West are too far from post. Good housing is very expensive. There is some 5/6 bedroom houses on post (or was before GMH took over, don't know if they are still here). Of course there is nice streets and blocks but they are few and far inbetween. Where will you be nursing?
EAKARD, I also have a large family of 5 dep (not quite 7, but close) and just arrived to Ft Bliss on 1DEC06. We are currently in lodging awaiting a 5 bedroom house on post. GMH housing said it wouldn't be ready until 20DEC06. We went to look at the house and they were very old and beat down, however it is still a house on post. It looks like it was a 2 br 1 ba duplex with the center wall modified with a walkway. There are maybe a dozen of these still standing on main post but will be torn down after a year or two. The GMH rep told me there are no new housing with over 4 bedrooms with no plans to build anything bigger. Feel free to contact me anytime if you need more information or if I can help in anyway.
I just posted this for another thread and a family considering moving here. I feel for you! I'm outta here in a matter of months....
Let me put it to you like this. I am a 10 year veteran of the Army and stationed on Ft. Bliss here in El Paso, I am a 29 yo white male and I don't stand a chance here! Avoid it at all cost! My wife has TWO specialized degrees and can't get a job here. She is turned away at every interview because she does not speak spanish. She has an illness that the Army hospital here cannot treat so they are sending her to a doctor here in El Paso. We called twice onc her once me. Neither time could we talk to anyone in the office thatspoke english well enough to even schedule an appointment. Are these the people you want treating your family?
Your car insurance will instantly go up a minimum of 25%(ours was $200 @ 6mo.) because the auto theft rate is so high, and the recovery is so low(they end in up in Mexico). Home owners insurance does the same thing due to theft. To make it even better after 3 years of looking here we have yet to find a home in the 100K range that does not have serious issues due to poor construction, no doubt due to illegal unskilled labor.
Prices are considerably high compared to pay here. The summers are a 115 degree minimum, with regular sand storms that will break the windows in your car, and remove the paint. There is NOTHING green here unless you spend a fortune and have imported dirt put down for your lawn; otherwise you have sand, rocks, and sand. It may seriously concern you also that "white" kids get beat up and left out in schools here since they don't speak spanish. Half the classes at schools here are in spanish! Most ALL people that I know here that have 3 or more children school age have pulled their children out and are home schooling.....
Good luck to you in your future endeavors
I am born and raised here, I am 36 years old, married 3 kids.. and this person speaks only the truth.. Avoid El Paso if you can help it.
EAKARD, I also have a large family of 5 dep (not quite 7, but close) and just arrived to Ft Bliss on 1DEC06. We are currently in lodging awaiting a 5 bedroom house on post. GMH housing said it wouldn't be ready until 20DEC06. We went to look at the house and they were very old and beat down, however it is still a house on post. It looks like it was a 2 br 1 ba duplex with the center wall modified with a walkway. There are maybe a dozen of these still standing on main post but will be torn down after a year or two. The GMH rep told me there are no new housing with over 4 bedrooms with no plans to build anything bigger. Feel free to contact me anytime if you need more information or if I can help in anyway.
Make sure to tell them you have to pay for the lodging up front, and dont get paid back until many months after you leave. I am a DA Police officer on Post by the way. Fort Bliss and Biggs are undergoing some major changes.. and new houseing is being built really quickly.. but the old wll be torn down soon, to make way for newer homes.
My husband is on terminal leave from the Marines after 21 yrs service. We moved here a few weeks ago as I am going to school at a local birth center to become a midwife. We originally planned to move away after my 1 or 2 yrs of school, but we are seriously considering staying now. We really like many things about it.
It is true that speaking spanish is a real asset and I am sure that many jobs do require it. I had to learn for the birth center because 95% of the clientele is spanish speaking, but I had fun learning. I understand people's frustration with that, but then again there is another side for those who don't mind it. It is a valuable asset anywhere in the country anymore! What a skill to be able to add to a resume. Our children all want to learn it, too.
As far as doctors' offices, we have called to several and also to dentists' and not had a problem, they all spoke english. Same goes with all the businesses we have contacted.
From our research and keeping track of the weather at the weather channel website all last summer (also winter, spring, fall) and from talking to those who live here we never saw that it reached 115, so if it reaches that at all I don't think it is very common, DEFINITELY NOT the minimum temp in the summer! Also, never heard of anyone having wind blow their windows out. Though I know it does get very windy here. Not saying it never happens, but I was on a local list since last summer before we actually moved here, not to mention having many people I've talked with from the birth center, and never heard of it. So again, I don't think it is the norm.
In NC (Camp Lejeune area) our insurance was $75/month and when we moved here it went down to under $50/mo, and that is for a brand new '06 Grand Caravan! We have USAA.
We looked up city info here at this website and compared it to other cities, some larger and many smaller cities across the country and it was the second "safest" city to live in that we looked at, especially for having as many people as it does. I'm not saying there are not safer cities, but the crime rate was low. We live in a housing development here and it feels like you are in the country. Very quiet, very peaceful. Of course EVERY city has its bad areas and its criminals.
Home prices are pretty comparable to other areas, and in many cases even better! In NC we own a home in a little town near Camp Lejeune. We have 1.86 acres, but the home is over 20 yrs old and is only 1375sf. We are selling for $132900. We have found homes here that are around that price, on big lots in the city and that have well over 2000sf and even 3000sf. Some are even lower priced than what we are used to in NC. And there is a home that has 1 acre that is not much more and has a 4 bay workshop out in a quiet area. So, it isn't bad. Again there may be expensive ones, but you can find affordable things. It is hard to find homes at $100,000 that are real good anywhere, I think, unless they are real small. But look at ours in NC. You compare it to somewhere like Oregon or California, and those prices are WAY higher!!
And I would really recommend that you consider the eastside. It is not far at all from base! We live in the 79936 zip code (which is far east) and yesterday we drove to base for an appt at the clinic. It took us about 20 minutes. There are a lot of big houses over here. But the NE is pretty good, too. I am not familiar with the area you mentioned, though.
We know/have met many "white" families here who are doing great. Our realtor is white and so are all the people he has sent over to work on the house. There are many races of people here.
El Paso has beauty. It doesn't have lots of big trees nor lots of green, but there is some. But the desert has its beauty, too. The city lights are beautiful and the mountain is wonderful! There is so much to do around here and the outlying areas. Within 2 hrs all around you can do and see so much natural beauty, lakes, caverns, skiing, etc...
At any rate, you will see when you get here.
We have homeschooled for 10 yrs and just recently sold our 15 passenger van. We have 8 children (also 1 son-in-law, and 1 granddaughter), but only 5 at home now. I wish you the best! If I can help you in any way, please don't hesitate to ask!
Blessings!
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