Houses in Carlsbad (Las Cruces: renting, safe area, to buy)

[lastra]

Hi everyone,
My husband and I recently moved to Carlsbad. We were living in Las Cruces, and we moved here because my husband was offered a job. We are currently renting, and would love to buy a house. However, we don't know much about the area. We would love to spend up ( preferably less of course ) to $180,000. Are there "decent" houses in safe areas of Carlsbad for that much? Also, what are the safe areas of Carlsbad? Some people told us there are nice houses within our budget, but the houses we usually see are not such nice houses. Thank you very much for your comments. We really appreciate it.

[Sarahsez]

Living in Carlsbad, you learn to a new definition of 'nice'. It's a relative term. Houses in Carlsbad tend to be small and older. The 'nice' neighborhoods would be only considered 'ok' or 'average' at best in other cities. You should be able to find a 'nice' house in your price range, but as there usually doesn't seem to be much on the market, you usually have to act fast to get something. We moved before the current market slowdown so I'm not sure about how fast houses are moving now.

I would caution you to be careful about the condition of what you buy. Don't trust anyone including the sellers, realtors, or inspectors. It's a small town.

As far as safe areas, I would ask more about what houses are easier to resell. North of Church Street gets pushed a lot. I didn't really see that much difference. You may have a few nicer houses in an area and then something totally undesirable next to it. There were some areas I would flat out avoid like Happy Valley. You might keep tabs on the police beat in the newspaper to see what areas appear the most. The newspaper is online if you don't have a subscription. Also, I'm sure you've heard about the sinkhole in the southern part of town.

Good luck!

[lastra]

Thank you so much for your post!!!Rep points for you...

[mike b 1]

And MAKE SURE that you have a proffesional home inspection BEFORE closing escrow. Don't use the inspector that the realtor recomends, (he's trying to make a deal).