Clovis (Portales, Elida, Hope: apartments, for rent, crime)

[staceyann1020]

Alright I am needing to get info on Clovis we are moving to town soon...my husband is military and will be stationed at Cannon....what is there to do for fun? What about housing are there decent houses for rent? Or apartments and if so what is the cost? Is it expensive to live there? Anyone have pics of the town..??? And what about the job market what is it like???

[newmex]

Check out the Clovis, Portales, Elida anyone? thread a little ways down. I've been here 6 months from Akron Ohio. It's a bit of a change from there ...slower paced in this area, but the nicest people anywhere. Hope you like the outdoors, it's just drop dead beautiful, 2 to 4 hours by car gets you into some real beautiful country.

Unemployment is under 3%...housing costs are going up a bit, stay above 14th street to live to avoid any mischief.
Poke around in these New Mexico threads, don't get discouraged about people posting nonsense about rampant crime. Get a map, talk to people here to get your bearings and plan some good times!

[BrianH]

As far as I know when you get there, there will be a welcoming / "all about NM" seminar of sorts. The State hired a firm to go to various towns all around Clovis (within driving distance) to let you guys know what there is to do around.

Housing is quite expensive from what I have been told. There are alot of european people there too, I know of several that married American soldiers when they were stationed over there. Clovis Chamber of Commerce Thats the Chamber of Commerece, you can call them too, the girls that work there are very nice.

[droys]

I used to live in Clovis many years ago and still have a lot of family there. I really wish I could go back. Clovis is really growing quickly now and seems everyday something new is being built. The area surrounding Clovis is by no means the prettiest country but just 2 hours away you will be in an area that is just beautiful. I like the size of Clovis, not to small and not to large. You will be about an hour and half from Lubbock and a couple of hours from Amarillo. They are both large towns with wonderful a lot of entertainment choices, parks, medical facilities etc.

A lot of people don't like Clovis because of the dairies. I have heard stories of crime areas but have not seen anything there that is not in every other town. The people there are very friendly. The cost of living is much cheaper there than where I live. I am from Texas and I know for a fact that property taxes, utilities, groceries and clothing are much cheaper. In fact upon our retirement we are headed to New Mexico as fast as we can get there. And the green chile is to die for. Hope this helps you. If you have any other questions I can probably get answers for you. My bother is a police officer in that area and has lived there all his life. He is a wealth of info. Will you be living on base? There is a lot of new housing there now and it is just beautiful.

Good Luck with your move and Welcome.

[kathyc06]

I live in Clovis now, and I hope your stay here will be better than mine. Since the base has recieved a "new mission", housing prices have gone up. The houses are not that great unless you pay a lot more for a newer one. My fiance is ex-military and talked me into moving here to be near his family, I have regretted it ever since. The only thing I enjoy about this area is the ENMU college, I'm going for a bio-chem/biology bachelors(great programs).
If you have children-BE VERY CAUTIOUS- An extremely high number of child molesters are registered for clovis and surrounding areas! Most can be checked on the internet with pictures and LAST known addresses.
Jobs are a joke with current salaries being well below the average. An example is my future mother-in-law, she is a bank vice-president, compliance officer and makes about half the starting salary of comparable jobs in other cities.
I am not trying to down talk the town- well not to much- but these issues (had I known) would have kept me from saying I DO. Good luck- and YES, visit before committing.

[PinkDog]

The original poster's query is pretty old, so she's probably already IN Clovis, but for those preparing to come here: PREPARE. Prepare your mind. I know that some people really love it, but to me, this is the most desolate, smelly place I have ever lived.

At a glance, you think, Oh, Okay, I can do this. But then the weeks wear on...well...here are some things that I dislike about this town:

--The stench. Almost every evening the stench of cow patties wafts over the town. For the first week or two, I was all, Oh, this isn't so bad. But you know what? It is. It is very bad. The smell wears you down.

--The flies. With the stench come flies. I don't know how they get into town. I guess they blow in on the breeze, and then they look for living beings to land on. So you sit outside in the tiny backyard of your $150,000 home and eight thousand flies land on you. You can't relax. It's disgusting. Or you go to a fancy outdoor dinner for work and there are eight thousand flies standing all over the food. And the locals have grown numb to it! They will eat a piece of pie that literally just had thirty flies standing on it, and no, I am not exaggerating.

--The trashy gas stations. I hate going into a gas station and seeing shoeless young ladies carrying shoeless babies while buying 6-packs. I also hate the fact that these gas stations smell like months-old grease and oil from the frying they do in the back. You literally smell like the bottom of a freaking fryer when you get back in your car. Our family has set up a rule about gas stations--if you can't pay at the pump, you can't use that station. And forget about "running in" to get a soda--you'll reek when you come out.

--The poverty. I don't hate poor people; every town has a poor side, and when I was a younger gal, I lived on the poor side of town for a few years. But you know what I used to do then? Look at the nicer sides of town and dream...dream of moving up, to a place with space and trees and loveliness! Here...there's not much to dream about. What (to me) has always been considered middle-middle class is as good as it gets. In all the driving around, I have not seen a single property that took my breath away. It's depressing.

--The dining. My family are vegetarians. There is almost nothing for us to eat here. So much of the stuff is fried in lard, and there's always meat stirred into everything. We have not had this problem to such a severe extent in the other states we've lived in (Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Louisiana). Plus, you just know that most of the stuff served in these restaurants rolled right off the Cisco truck. Yuck.

--The shopping. Mainly, that there isn't any. If there were, maybe I could distract myself from some of this other stuff. Let me give you an example: Hey, I'm expecting a baby! Let's see...where do I register? Babies R Us? No, that's two hours away. Target? No, that's two hours away. Walmart? Yes. That's it. Effing Walmart.

My husband and I moved here because the people he met when interviewing for a new job were so incredibly nice. They really were, and still really are. Some people might be able to develop a "sense of community" that would counterbalance all these negatives. But me? I'm sort of a solitary person. I like to sit outside and enjoy the day, then maybe go wander the stores and have supper with my husband. I can't do any of that here.

If you're anything like me, prepare. Prepare your mind before you come here.

[clairz]

Originally Posted by staceyann1020

Alright I am needing to get info on Clovis we are moving to town soon...my husband is military and will be stationed at Cannon....what is there to do for fun? What about housing are there decent houses for rent? Or apartments and if so what is the cost? Is it expensive to live there? Anyone have pics of the town..??? And what about the job market what is it like???

Well, Staceyann, just in case you haven't moved to Clovis yet, I just listed some very recent prices for both renting and buying a house, and for renting an apartment at: http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-m...-what-you.html

~clairz

[GregW]

According to Pink Dog, Clovis sounds like just about any other agribusiness town in the West. That is, a good place to stay away from. Hey, PD I suggest encouraging hubby to find a nice employer somewhere else.

[clairz]

Originally Posted by GregW

According to Pink Dog, Clovis sounds like just about any other agribusiness town in the West. That is, a good place to stay away from. Hey, PD I suggest encouraging hubby to find a nice employer somewhere else.

Yep, and according to newmex, droys, and me it's a perfectly fine place to be. Clovis is just one of those places you either love or hate. So don't take anyone's word for it, check it out yourself. We all are looking for something different, otherwise we'd all be living together in one big crowded heap o' humanity.

~clairz

[GregW]

I work in one big crowded heap of humanity and can barely wait to get out!