Leaving Las Cruces (Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Alamogordo: balloon payment, to rent, mortgages)

[Redcrow46]

We’ve been here for three years now and my wife and I have decided we’ve had enough. When we first moved here we liked it. Weather is fine and the Organs are beautiful but the negatives have begun to outweigh the positives. First off the people here are not friendly. Aggressive drivers. Aggressive people in general. I’ve had run ins with strangers here when I never had any in the place we came from. No matter where you go the customer service sucks. From restaurants to stores and everything in between. It has a small town mentality and the basic thought process is, if you don’t like it, go somewhere else. There’s absolutely no police presence whatsoever and idiots use the road near our house as a racetrack 24/7. Extremely loud cars and loud music constantly, disrespectful to the point of making our neighborhood unlivable. I’ve called the police several times and not once have I seen them show up in our area. There are a few decent restaurants but they get old after a while. No real sports bars, we’ve gone to one and paid $9 for a hamburger the size of a McDonalds regular hamburger and the place was so dirty we’ll never go again. No real entertainment, for that you’re driving 45 minutes to El Paso and dealing with the Highway of Death (I-10). We wanted to relocate to a different neighborhood but now the one good thing Las Cruces had going for it is gone; affordable housing is no more. If you want a nice house in a nice neighborhood you’re spending $300k for a 1500 sq ft track home with a postage size lot. Truth is, it’s boring here. If you’re retired and have a bunch of money you might like it here. Buy a nice home in a quiet neighborhood and don’t go anywhere, this might be the place for you. Just know if you go outside of your neighborhood you’re going to be dealing with aggressive bro’s with bad attitudes driving their BMW’s with 84 month loans. The job market is horrible because of its size. My wife has a masters and the same teaching job she had where we’re from pays almost half here as it did there. She’s looked for work the entire time we’ve been here but if there’s not a Spanish requirement, the pay is laughable. If this place had more going for it it would be one thing but it’s just a dusty patch in the desert with overpriced homes and nothing to do. We tried to like it here, we tried to make it work but are now done. It’s not worth it. This place ain’t worth trying for. If you’re thinking about moving here, look at other options first. More than likely we’ll end up outside of Tucson or Phoenix as Albuquerque is just a bigger version of this.

[Ruth4Truth]

Well, I'd suggest Santa Fe, but it sounds like you can't afford it. But there's plenty to do, and great customer service. Don't expect the driving to improve by leaps and bounds, though. But the strangers are nice...

[NoMansLands]

Is your house on a corner lot?
NM does seem to have a car culture that definitely involves tearing it up. Looking at houses on satellite I've noticed torn up desert around neighborhoods, and I've realized that corners are not an option to consider. I'd also avoid any street with an alley behind it.

[Redcrow46]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Well, I'd suggest Santa Fe, but it sounds like you can't afford it. But there's plenty to do, and great customer service. Don't expect the driving to improve by leaps and bounds, though. But the strangers are nice...

It’s not that we can’t afford it. I just don’t want to overpay here. I don’t mind spending 300k for a home but not for what you get in Las Cruces. Like most of the country housing prices have skyrocketed since we moved here three years ago. One of the main reasons we moved here was the housing prices. Now it’s become just like everywhere else. If we are going to spend that kind of money we can get the same thing in a place like Tucson, with better job opportunities and more to do. What I don’t understand is why are home prices so much cheaper in El Paso? Santa Fe isn’t for us. We don’t like the cold and the housing market is ridiculous there. Dilapidated mobile homes for $300k? Like so many western mountain towns, theres no place for the middle class.

[Redcrow46]

Originally Posted by NoMansLands

Is your house on a corner lot?
NM does seem to have a car culture that definitely involves tearing it up. Looking at houses on satellite I've noticed torn up desert around neighborhoods, and I've realized that corners are not an option to consider. I'd also avoid any street with an alley behind it.

It’s not on a corner lot but is one street off a pretty busy street. There are some streets that could really use traffic cams but whenever you ask someone around here about stuff like that they just say they can’t afford it. Same reason you don’t see any cops anywhere. Low budget=small force.

[mike0421]

Redcrow,

Since you mentioned Tucson and Phoenix, let me tell you I have sold homes to many coming from both of these cities in the last two years. The truth is, home prices in Phoenix are substantially higher than here, and the appreciable value is proportionally higher there than here in the last 3 years. Tucson has also swung appreciably higher than Las Cruces, though not as much as Phoenix. If you are going to buy in either of those two cities, it's going to be quite a bit more than when you moved here.

[Redcrow46]

Originally Posted by mike0421

Redcrow,

Since you mentioned Tucson and Phoenix, let me tell you I have sold homes to many coming from both of these cities in the last two years. The truth is, home prices in Phoenix are substantially higher than here, and the appreciable value is proportionally higher there than here in the last 3 years. Tucson has also swung appreciably higher than Las Cruces, though not as much as Phoenix. If you are going to buy in either of those two cities, it's going to be quite a bit more than when you moved here.

Thank you, I understand what you’re saying. Housing prices have gone up everywhere. One of the main reasons we moved to LC was the cost of housing. We could overlook other negatives. Now that we want out of our neighborhood we just don’t see this place as much of a bargain. We would both rather pay an extra 20-30 grand to get the benefits of a different location. On a side note I contemplated buying up properties in Phoenix in the late 2000’s after the housing bubble burst. Brand new 2,000 sq ft homes were on the market for $90-$100k. We’ll I didn’t and now some of those homes sell in the $400’s or more.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by Redcrow46

Thank you, I understand what you’re saying. Housing prices have gone up everywhere. One of the main reasons we moved to LC was the cost of housing. We could overlook other negatives. Now that we want out of our neighborhood we just don’t see this place as much of a bargain. We would both rather pay an extra 20-30 grand to get the benefits of a different location. On a side note I contemplated buying up properties in Phoenix in the late 2000’s after the housing bubble burst. Brand new 2,000 sq ft homes were on the market for $90-$100k. We’ll I didn’t and now some of those homes sell in the $400’s or more.

This won't be a 2008 situation. Dodd/Frank and Truth in Lending have now largely shielded the public from predatory lending. Throughout the mid-2000s, especially, there were all types of loans being approved. 3-5 year balloons were most popular. Reverse mortgages with teaser rates. All kinds of creative financing were the rage. Then everyone with the balloon payments due saturated the market, and depressed the market. You know all of this. And to compound it the feds had a social engineering thing going on that promoted homeownership over renting, the idea of that was very prevalent in the day. Anyone with a body temperature roughly in the 90s was being pre-approved. Well, a lot of good came out of that. Banks are VERY careful nowadays with lending, if your credit score is under 620, you are going to be given a 'time out' and referred to a credit restoration specialist, and come back again in 6-12 months and try again. The upshot of all of this is I don't foresee a mass sell-off that occurred back in the day. Instead, if the feds raise the interest rates next year (and I think that's inevitable), then a lot of especially younger buyers that can't remember back to the late 70s early 80s during the Carter era, when interest rates were 15-18%, are going to think that a 4% rate is too much, and will continue to rent instead of own. That I think will free up some inventory. As of right now me typing this there are 202 listings in this MLS. That's the entire county, plus some strays in Alamogordo, Deming, and other far-flung outposts where realtors have subscriberships to multiple MLS's. This time of the year, there aren't as many buyers, but there aren't many who want to list now either. But there are still more buyers than sellers. My feeling is that Tucson and Phoenix have similar low inventory issues as well. So you will benefit from selling now, but you are also going to pay hefty on the backside. I think in the short term, the first 90 days of 2022, all hell is going to break loose, in front of a speculative rate hike, and the inventory is going to plummet, which will help you now, but again, you have also concluded this is going to get passed on to you in Tucson or Phoenix. I hope I am wrong, by the way. I would love to see more inventory. We really need it.

[NoMansLands]

Originally Posted by Redcrow46

It’s not on a corner lot but is one street off a pretty busy street. There are some streets that could really use traffic cams but whenever you ask someone around here about stuff like that they just say they can’t afford it. Same reason you don’t see any cops anywhere. Low budget=small force.

If it's any consolation, we were driving around downtown Tucson on a Sunday in July and the police must have thought we were "casing the joint" because we were followed at one point. We were older folk casing Tucson yes, for retirement purposes, probably driving too slowly.

[DukeCityDenizen]

Tucson and Phoenix have the same issues as Las Cruces as far as everything you described being negative. Have you seen the news and read the stories coming out of there lately?? And, as was mentioned, they are even more expensive. Why not just move to El Paso?