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Greg - I am in the Financial Services industry, the reason they will even consider paying relo $$ is because towns of 800k+ people are much easier to hire for than towns of less than 2000 people.
CAVO - I thought of Durango, my concern is Winter time. We get snow in Jersey, but certainly not at the level of a ski resort town y'know? So if it's snowing like gangbusters out there and I have a 30 mile commute to Aztec it's probably not going to work.
If Albuquerque is where you really want to be, I would forego the $15,000 and move to Albuquerque. Life's to short to compromise for that small amount (my hapiness is worth more than $15,000).
Since you are coming from New Jersey, I would say wait. If it was almost any other place, I would probably side with many here and give the slight nod to Aztec. However, New Jersey is not like many other states in the country (as an entire state anyways) : it's very suburban, and it's very wealthy. Albuquerque, at least at the beginning anyway, would better ease the culture shock that will be palpable upon your arrival. Rio Rancho might be a good plan B. Moreover, I'd probably focus on the NE Heights area.
1-2 hours? Yeah that dog aint huntin. Where are the schools if not in town? Are there towns in the immediate area to these locations that are commutable?
I'm not a huge fan of resorty type places, even as a tourist myself. It just seems to me that when you spend most of your time trying to impress people with your town, that becomes part of your persona. It's almost cultish..kinda creepy.
The elementary and middle schools are Eagle Nest (15-20 miles away) and the high school is in Cimarron (40 miles away). Moreno Valley Charter high school is under construction in AngelFire, but won't open for 18 months or so.
BTW, who is trying to impress anyone with anything? AngelFire is about as unpretentious as a place can be.
I would try to talk my boss into Las Vegas (NM) or Socorro as good possibilities for developing financial services. Particularly Socorro, because NM Tech attracts fairly well off teachers and students as potential customers. On that basis Los Alamos/White Rock may be a possibility.
CAVA - Yeah..bummer I know. Durango seems like a nice town.
Domino - Fair point, ABQ was always the top choice for many reasons. But familial health reasons are what's truly motivating the move, so I may not have the luxury of time to wait for my home to sell here in Jersey. So worse case scenario if I pick a remote spot and I hate it, I wait out the 18 months to pay for the relo and go back to the original plan. I wouldn't buy right away anyway, wherever I land, so if we wind up with ABQ in our sights it will be substantially easier to move in state without a house to sell.
Mike - The culture shock will indeed be palpable, both for myself and my direct reports that now have this intense east coast guy at the helm. But my wife is a native New Mexican so she'll help me with the transition. Funny that you mentioned the Heights, because that's where she grew up and that's where we were planning on going prior to this recent curveball.
Jiminnm - Please don't misunderstand, it is not my intention to impune your integrity, or that of your town as it may very well be my home shortly. The point I was trying to convey is that typically (sterotype, i'll admit) the native residents of resort towns tend to be really into being a native of the town. That's all. It's been my experience that when you travel to places like Martha's Vineyard, Montauk, Bar Harbor, Lake Tahoe, even larger places like San Diego that there is a prevelant "greatest place on earth" mentality among the locals and seasonals..that's all. No offense intended.
But I know exactly ZERO about the towns I listed above except the raw data I can pull off of this sight.
If you haven't attempted to "explore" these locales using the GOOGLE STREET VIEW features, that's where you might want to begin. By "walking" down the streets in each town and swiveling around 360 degrees as you do so, you can get a pretty good feel for what it's like there. Some of the smallest bergs in NM have been photographed by GOOGLE - as well as some of the least traveled back roads.
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