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I was recently selected for a job at LANL. My wife and I are familiar with Santa Fe as we've visited it a few times and I pass through the area 5-6 times a year on my way to northern NM. I have spent a lot of time near Chama as I snowmobile in the southern San Juans. However, I am totally unfamiliar with the Los Alamos area. I know it's a mountain town, crime is low and the schools are good but that's about it.
Here's our predicament. My wife can transfer her job to the ABQ area but that would require a commute to downtown ABQ. Therefore, I assume we'd have to live somewhere near 599/I25 for us to each have a reasonable commute. Her commute would certainly be longer but perhaps she could use the RailRunner a few days a week. However, with both us us being 30 minutes or more away from the kids, it would present a problem if one of them got sick while we're at work. We've also considered living in LA and letting her look for another job, perhaps in Santa Fe. However, this would significantly reduce our income.
Our two boys are 1 and 3 years old. It will be a few years before the oldest starts school but we want to enroll him into some kind of prep school and then hopefully a good public school when his time comes.
We would like to stay under $350K when looking at homes. If my wife doesn't work, our income will be reduced by a 1/3, which will certainly affect the range of homes that we look at.
Presently I commute 75 miles, which takes me about 1:30 minutes while my wife's commute is about 30-35minutes.
What would you all recommend? Can we find decently priced housing with good schools that would provide a good mid point for commuting?
That's a tough one, timandkat! You might want to look at Aldea which is just off 599, or La Cienega, a community more or less at the junction of 599 and I-25. For school information, take a look at Great Schools.
Last edited by santafescribe; 07-20-2010 at 02:44 PM..
Reason: bad URL for Aldea
What's a realistic commute time from I25/599 to downtown ABQ? Let's say one would leave SF at 6:45am. Is traffic significantly heavier after a certain time?
What's a realistic commute time from I25/599 to downtown ABQ? Let's say one would leave SF at 6:45am. Is traffic significantly heavier after a certain time?
You wouldn't be able to live exactly at the intersection of 599/25 (of course), but there are houses about 5-10 minutes from the highway, so you can plan on an hour to downtown ABQ. There will be very little traffic most of the way but your wife would start hitting ABQ commuters when she enters the northern fringes of ABQ. Leaving SF at 6:45 would make a lot more sense than 7:45, since traffic heats up in ABQ around 8ish.
It's a very doable commute - my husband did the reverse for three years when we lived in ABQ and commuted up to SF. If you're headed to Los Alamos, your commute will probably be about the same - except in really snowy weather when it's tougher to get up the hill to the Labs. Something to think about, though... you'll both be an hour away which might be tough for daycare/school. You might want to think about getting a nanny until your kids are elementary aged. That way you wouldn't have to get them ready and out the door by 6:45 when you're leaving for work. We did this for two years and it was a lifesaver to be able to leave sleepy kids in their PJs rather than rush them out of the house.
There are quite a few private preschool options in Santa Fe, but I didn't find any that took kids before 8am. Down by 599/25, I think the public elementary is a new school called Turquoise Trails. I've heard nothing but good things about that school, and several parents at my kids private school are moving their children to TT in the fall. If you're interested in that area, check out the neighborhood at the far south end of Richards Avenue, north of the Institute of American Indian Arts and south of the SF Community College. It seems quite family friendly.
If you need any info about living in SF with small children, feel free to PM me.
I think Cyanthus is talking about the new Amy Biehl School at Rancho Viejo. Turquoise Trail is an existing school on, well, the Turquoise Trail! Here's a story from last yr about the new principal - I've heard great things about her and about the school, also.
Homes in that area could flt your budget - look for properties in Rancho Viejo, Oshara Village and Nava Ade.
Or you can look at living in Santa Fe; 50 miles from ABQ and 30 or so from L.A.
You can buy pretty much a large new house in the price range you mentioned or a nice condo on the East Side. You'll spend a lot less in a regular neighborhood. Around $275K or so. I'd avoid anything down airport road if possible. Rancho Viejo is a good option. Public schools aren't good here but there's Saint Michaels although I don't know how picky admissions are.
I'd avoid that neighborhood- lots of property crime there
Really? I had never heard of that... and have friends who are very happy there. I guess wherever you move, it's worth checking out the crime reports.
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