Las Cruces for Young Families (real estate, military, jobs)

[USNavyJapan]

Hi everyone. I just found this site and was hoping you could help me a bit. My husband is in the NAVY, and we are currently living in Japan. He told me last night that one of the jobs he is looking out when he gets out of the military would have us living in Las Cruces or there abouts. I know NOTHING of NM. I am originally from CA, but we have lived in Ohio, FL, DC and VA. New Mexico never occured to me and Las Cruces, never paid attention to anything about the city.

We have 2 young children that will be school age when we move there. We also have 2 large dogs so we would be hoping to find a nice size home with a good backyard for the kids and dogs, in a good school district. Oh, and we would prefer to stay far far away from Home Owner Associations. Is that possible? What are the schoold like, and what is just a general range on the cost of a 4 bedroom home? Another silly question...do homes in NM have basements?

Sorry for all the naive questions, Hubby just pulled this on me last night so I am starting out fresh on research.

Thanks for any help you can send my way.

[Mark S.]

Compared to California, Las Cruces real estate is dirt cheap. But the area is booming right now, so real estate prices are climbing. You should be able to check a place like realtor.com and get a rough idea of house prices

Basements in New Mexico homes are rather rare. Not unheard of, but rare.

I don't know much about the public schools. Sorry. By the time I spent much time in Las Cruces, I was already out of school.