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.
I've visited lots of west-coast cities in search of an acceptable retirement community in the next few years. ABQ topped the list for long time. Great 4-season weather, friendly people, and lots to go.
However:
1. If we need to leave ABQ for some reason, selling a house in an ABQ retirement community is a challenge. Days-on-the Market (DOM) were commonly over 360 days.
2. Active retirement communities were few and very small. Active retirement communities need to have at least 1000 homes to offer lots of nice amenities.
So we're staying put in San Diego with it's high COL and high taxes for the next few years. Maybe ABQ will wake up by then.
1. If we need to leave ABQ for some reason, selling a house in an ABQ retirement community is a challenge. Days-on-the Market (DOM) were commonly over 360 days.
We have lived in the immediate ABQ area for over 15 years. Your "over 360 days" is incorrect.
In the past year or so, in the northeast portion of ABQ some of the homes we looked at sold within 90 days...
I second this comment. We live in one of the primary active adult retirement communities in the ABQ area, Alegria. There are typically 10-15 houses for resale here at any given time, out of a total of 376 homes. A few have stayed unsold for long periods, mostly due to being over-priced. But average time on market has been a lot shorter than 360+ days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cruitr
2. Active retirement communities were few and very small. Active retirement communities need to have at least 1000 homes to offer lots of nice amenities.
So we're staying put in San Diego with it's high COL and high taxes for the next few years. Maybe ABQ will wake up by then.
I agree that the large active adult communities offer more amenities, but there are still an awful lot of things offered at Alegria. I guess it just depends on how much you really think you need.
Not sure what you mean by ABQ needing to wake up, since the national home building companies, not anyone limited to ABQ, are the ones deciding how big to make these communities. Pulte, who owns the Del Webb brand, has told us that their future active adult communities are going to be more Alegria or Mirehaven-sized (400-600 homes) rather than 1000+ home mega-communities. This lessens their advance infrastructure costs plus it's the size that most of their prospective buyers are interested in these days.
I spent a day in Albuquerque 2 years ago and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. It was dirty, dangerous seeming (compared to Denver), and honestly looked like a big truck stop. We struggled to find anything to do other than the Hot Air Ballooon museum, ate a good Thai meal, and vowed never to go past Santa Fe on our NM trips. Where are the nice neighborhoods full of modern urban amenities in Albuquerque? In the Denver area, I'm thinking Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock.
I spent a day in Albuquerque 2 years ago and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. It was dirty, dangerous seeming (compared to Denver), and honestly looked like a big truck stop. We struggled to find anything to do other than the Hot Air Ballooon museum, ate a good Thai meal, and vowed never to go past Santa Fe on our NM trips. Where are the nice neighborhoods full of modern urban amenities in Albuquerque? In the Denver area, I'm thinking Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock.
Well there is plenty to see and do if you're not so narrow minded, as for a giant truck stop.....where have I heard that before?
I could easily say Denver has some of the ugliest people of all the cities I've been too!
Yes Albuquerque has its "modern urban" neighborhoods, just not along the freeway.
I spent a day in Albuquerque 2 years ago and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. It was dirty, dangerous seeming (compared to Denver), and honestly looked like a big truck stop. We struggled to find anything to do other than the Hot Air Ballooon museum, ate a good Thai meal, and vowed never to go past Santa Fe on our NM trips. Where are the nice neighborhoods full of modern urban amenities in Albuquerque? In the Denver area, I'm thinking Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock.
If modern urban amenities are so critical to you, then why even travel? Modern urban amenities are what makes one city look like any other.
It sounds like you did almost no research into what might be interesting in Albuquerque (apart from the Balloon Museum which in my opinion is the most basic, prosaic, and obvious Albuquerque tourist destination), drove down to Albuquerque, got of the interstate at random, drove around an industrial park down a street of strip malls, and left. Something one could do in much of Denver as well.
But in the end, I must concede you are correct in the Denver has far more of its share of generic urban neighborhoods chock full of generic modern amenities.
I spent a day in Albuquerque 2 years ago and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. It was dirty, dangerous seeming (compared to Denver), and honestly looked like a big truck stop.
You won't have to worry about anyone paying you to come back.
When I think of Denver, sadly I'm reminded of the infamous massacres at Columbine, and the Aurora movie theater. Yet Albuquerque seems "dangerous" by comparison?
"Keep Albuquerque Quirky"-- and not like another Denver or "Anywhere USA".
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.
