Quiet neighborhoods for apartment hunt ?s (Albuquerque, North Valley: apartments, rent, co-op)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi all,
Haven't been to this board in a while…My husband and I are finally making the move to Albuquerque in October. We're renting for about 6-12 months to make sure we like it, then will try to buy. Our apartment hunting trip is in early September. I have read almost all the neighborhood threads on here but want some advice on what neighborhoods might suit us specifically.
We'd like:
-- Fairly quiet (not too much traffic frenzy or cluster*&%$ intersections)
-- Near at least one major highway/thoroughfare (since I'm not sure where I'll be working yet, he works from home)
-- Solid restaurants within 2 or 3 miles (don't have to be fancy, a couple good casual diners would be great)
-- Cheap golf nearby is a plus! Not required though.
-- Price range is about 650-800 for 2 bedroom place (including pet rent for 2 kitties)
My first choice is the area South of Arroyo Del Oso park. Seems fairly centralized, not crazy congested and good grocery/eats nearby. Second choice is North Valley because it seems so peaceful and pretty, and I like that little co-op store (Montanita?)
Uptown and UNM seems busier than I would like (though my husband would probably love it.)
Four Hills seems too far away from everything.
West side of town seems unappealing. We drove up Coors one afternoon (section just north of 40) and I was like "Aw hell no! Where did all these people come from?!!"
The entire SE quadrant baffles me-- based on posts here, there are micro-pockets of safe/unsafe and busy/quiet. Made my brain hurt comparing maps to posts here. I'm tempted to avoid it altogether.
Foothills/Far NE seems nice but pricier.
Still trying to stay open to different possibilities....Our poor AirBnB host doesn't know what he's in for. I'll be asking more questions than a three year old!!!
QUESTIONS:
My husband LOVED Puerto Del Sol golf course when he visited. What do you think of that neighborhood, and what do you call that area?
What is the area North of Arroyo del Oso park called? (Academy?) Is that quiet or busy? (1-10 scales, percentages, etc, appreciated!)
Is Paseo Del Norte a pain, or does it move fairly fast?
What is the area around Balloon Fiesta Park like? (Willing to put up w/ traffic there during October of course.)
What are some other suggestions you can make as far as neighborhoods?
Did I mention I hate traffic? Should I just move to the Siberian woods or a remote part of Alaska? (Don't answer that one.)
Lastly forgive any ignorance I've expressed here, it's a damn big town to get familiar with. Thanks for reading!
First, you are putting the cart before the horse; figure out your work situation, then look for a neighborhood. You say you "hate traffic" so you need to be very careful where you live vis-a-vis where you work, especially if you put yourself into a commuting situation that involves I-40 and I-25. Reverse commutes are not bad, though (live centrally, work out in the 'burbs).
As for traffic, I find it is much heavier in the so-called "NE Heights" and as you found on Coors than it is around UNM, at least north of Lomas and east of the north campus (the hospital, etc). I recommended looking at apartments along Indian School Rd in another thread, west of Washington/Carlisle and over to University or so - this key stretch of Indian School almost never has any traffic on it, even in rush hour. If your job ends up being downtown, your commute via Indian School would be measured in single digit minutes...
Puerto del Sol golf course is near the Southeast Heights neighborhood and also near the south UNM area. It is hard to find good apartments in the area, there is a lot of student-type housing around. Close by is the Hyder Park area with some pricier homes, but as you've observed, there is a patchwork of desirable and less-desirable housing in the area (that is true of just about all ABQ neighborhoods).
But I'm unclear if your overall question is about where to find an apartment or where to look to eventually buy a house.
There are a couple of decent apartment options in the Arroyo del Oso golf course area if you don't mind complex-style apartments.
Poncho, thank you so much for that neighborhood map it clarifies a lot! Very handy. Traffic map is great too.
Westbound and Down, you are right but my best guesses will have to do for now until I make connections. My work situation does not lend itself to long-distance searching. I will check out Indian School Road it looks very convenient. Which parts of NE Heights are worst, traffic wise? All of it?
aries63, thanks, my husband appreciates that! Walking distance to a course he likes would be a dream come true. I will look at Hyder Park and south UNM. We might tolerate a less upscale neighborhood for other perks. Right now we are only looking for a rental-- buying would come later once we know we like NM.
A lot of people incorrectly call the area Northeast Heights..
What do you mean incorrectly? That is the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque. The unincorporated area further north and east is usually called North Albuquerque Acres, but some people have taken to calling it simply "Albuquerque Acres".
Every neighborhood in the city limits in that part of town is within what has always been known as the Northeast Heights and more specifically, the Far Northeast Heights, which is part of the overall Northeast Heights that also includes the Mid-Heights and Near Heights further down around Menaul and Lomas respectively. The Foothills area is included in the overall Northeast Heights as well. And, actually, unincorporated North Albuquerque Acres and Sandia Heights can also be included within the overall Northeast Heights, but are usually referred to separately since they are not part of the City of Albuquerque.
Everything east of I-25, north of Central Avenue and south of Sandia Pueblo can be classified as being in the Northeast Heights.
In fact, everything east of I-25 and north of the airport and the air force base on what used to be referred to as the "East Mesa" of Albuquerque can be referred to as simply "the Heights" since it was the land that was higher than the rest of town in the valley and which was separated from the valley areas by the sand hills which pretty much lie along the routing of I-25 today.
Since Central Avenue is the north-south dividing line in Albuquerque the area south of it on the East Mesa takes the name Southeast Heights whereas the area north is the Northeast Heights.
The name "East Mesa" was replaced by the term "the Heights" when the old East Mesa began rapid development starting as early as the 1940s and especially in the 1950s and 1960s with the vast subdivisions along Montgomery, Menaul, Lomas, San Mateo, Louisiana, Wyoming, etc.
BTW, the City of Albuquerque this summer had what it called the "Heights Summerfest" in a park even further north of the Arroyo del Oso area:
As for traffic, I find it is much heavier in the so-called "NE Heights"
I've seen you refer to the Northeast Heights in quotations and as "so-called" in a post before. Are you taking issue with the name? Why are you hesitant to call the area that?
Northeast Heights is a proper name in Albuquerque and has been for more than 60 years.
Everything east of I-25, north of Central Avenue and south of Sandia Pueblo can be classified as being in the Northeast Heights.
Cool off and quit steaming. All I would like to see is an "official" map of the "Northeast Heights". A simple request.
I expressed my opinion. If you don't like it, ignore me. OK?
In the past:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
Northeast Heights Albuquerque (NE Heights) generally includes the communities of Albuquerque Meadows, Alta Monte, Alvarado Park, Bel-Air, Big Bend, Candelmen, Chelwood Vista, Cibola Addition, Eastrange – Piedra Vista, Cielito Lindo, Conchas Park, Crestview Heights, Eldorado Park, Eldorado Heights, Embudo Canyon, Enchanted Park, Fairgrounds, Fair Heights, Fair West, Glenwood Hills South, Casa Grande, Glenwood Hills, Hodgin, Hoffmantown, Holiday Park, Indian Moon, Inez, Jackson Area, Jerry Cline Park, Kachina Hills, La Mesa, La Sala Grande, Las Altos, Loma Del Rey, Manzano Manor, Mark Twain, Matheson Park, McKinley, Mesa Village, Montgomery Heights, Montgomery Park, Mossman, Near Heights, North Easterns, Northeast Heights, Onate, Princess Jeanne, Quail Ridge, Quigley Park, San Gabriel, Sandia High School Area, Sandia High School Area, Shadow Hills, Snow Heights, Sombra Del Monte, South Los Altos, Stardust Skies Park, Supper Rock, Towne Park, Uptown, Vista Del Mundo and Zuni.
I've seen you refer to the Northeast Heights in quotations and as "so-called" in a post before. Are you taking issue with the name? Why are you hesitant to call the area that?
Northeast Heights is a proper name in Albuquerque and has been for more than 60 years.
I have lived here less than 3 months and have been repeatedly corrected by some long timers for my "incorrect" labeling of areas of the city.
By your broadest definition, if the NE Heights is everything east of I-25 and north of Central, that is a pretty useless designation for most discussions, particularly for a discussion on the traffic issues in this huge area. It is no more helpful than using the 4 broad postal designations to divide up the area.
I got no dog in the neighborhood naming fight, just trying to use helpful and meaningful descriptive designations. Poncho seems like a pretty reliable source on this forum, so when in doubt, I go with him, and if he says NE Heights is problematic, that is OK with me.
Which parts of NE Heights are worst, traffic wise? All of it?
Montgomery, east of say San Mateo, has a lot of non-rush hour traffic. I will let others who actually live or work in the NE Heights fill in the blanks for you.
I have lived here less than 3 months and have been repeatedly corrected by some long timers for my "incorrect" labeling of areas of the city.
By your broadest definition, if the NE Heights is everything east of I-25 and north of Central, that is a pretty useless designation for most discussions. That is no more helpful than using the postal designations to divide up the area.
I got no dog in the neighborhood naming fight, just trying to use helpful and meaningful descriptive designations. Poncho seems like a pretty reliable source on this forum, so when in doubt, I go with him, and if he says NE Heights is problematic, that is OK with me.
Northeast Heights didn't come into being to help people decide which is the best place to live or to familiarize themselves with the city. It came into being as a descriptor of an area of town.
Just because some people would like easy ways to distininguish those good areas by name and with easily identifiable boundaries to boot does not mean that names for broad parts of town such as the Valley, the Westside, or the Heights should be called confusing, useless or somehow incorrect.
Northeast Heights is a correct term and a proper name. It does not need to be useful for anything other than being a name and a descriptor for a part of town.
And Poncho didn't originally say anything nuanced about any of this, he simply said that the Arroyo del Oso area is incorrectly called the Northeast Heights.
My only dog in this "fight" is to correct that misinformation, because saying that the Arroyo del Oso area isn't the Northeast Heights is akin to saying the world is flat.
Saying things that aren't true is not helpful to anyone or any discussion.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
