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Hi, We visited the area went all over and found anything below I-40 to be nasty. We found everything above I-40 to be nice especially Rio Rancho/Bernallino area. We are looking at homes in the next 6 months off of Rio Grande Blvd closer to 550 and I-25. You are closer to Santa Fe, Sandia, Durango (where my family lives) etc.
Hi, We visited the area went all over and found anything below I-40 to be nasty. We found everything above I-40 to be nice especially Rio Rancho/Bernallino area. We are looking at homes in the next 6 months off of Rio Grande Blvd closer to 550 and I-25. You are closer to Santa Fe, Sandia, Durango (where my family lives) etc.
Oh yes, the North Valley is very pretty. Nice choice.
We are looking at homes in the next 6 months off of Rio Grande Blvd closer to 550 and I-25. You are closer to Santa Fe, Sandia, Durango (where my family lives) etc.
Rio Grande Blvd. runs no where near US550 or I-25. And are you referring to Sandia Peak? Your post is somewhat confusing...
I moved to Los Lunas from the San Diego area less than 6 months ago.
I can say that if you are looking for steady employment paying even partially what you are used to, move to Albuquerque. The cost of housing is significantly less than SoCal, but the price of everything else is the same. (any comments on the $4+ gallon of milk anyone) Considering that the cost of living is supposed to be 37% less here....well talk about sticker shock!
The plus side is that there are some very beautiful places here. I live in Cypress Gardens which is on the way towards Meadowlake. Meadowlake is an absolute pit with a Compton like feel to it. That being said, I have had ZERO problems with the community I am in and I am only a few miles away.
The school my 2nd grader is in, Ann Parish, is absolutely fantastic. They have done more for him in 4 months than the California schools did in two years.
I am on the East side of Los Lunas and it takes me 18 minutes to get to work on the West side. There are a ton of places to shop in ABQ and a few in Belen. You have the basics in Los Lunas, a Walmart, Walgreens, couple of grocers. Oh and a Starbucks....lol. There are tons of mom and pop places that have been very interesting to check out and everyone is VERY excited about the fact that they are building a Denny's here right now.
There are a lot of pro's and con's. We love the access to the mountains and the feel of the area. You will definately find a very friendly segment and a VERY unfriendly segment.
Whatever you do....OBEY THE TRAFFIC LAWS! I went with never having a ticket in my entire life (I am 40) to having 3 in TWO WEEKS. This is a major part of the revenues for many of the communities here and they are aggressive about getting it.
I am sure I will be getting a bunch of negetives for this one, but hey, somebody should speak up. When all is said and done, I am not unhappy I moved here. There is a ton of potential in this area, but work is not easy to come by if you want to earn more than $8 an hour, unless you work in one of the big labs or maybe one of the casinos.
Good luck and come with an open mind. I say that even after having lived in California for over 20 years.
Chowhound, I'd take a closer look at neighborhoods in Albuquerque (NE HTs, West Side, etc.) and Rio Rancho. They may fit your bill pricewise and often are safe and pleasant with easy commutes.
I ate at a taco bell in Los Lunas in 1993. My friend and I sat outside on the desert highway watching the cars go by. There was dust blowing and a good amount of sun.
The Los Lunas area is basically the same as you're going to find in any bedroom community outside of a larger city, which is what Los Lunas is to the Albuquerque area. Yes, of course they have crime there, I'd like to know anywhere that doesn't. The Meadowlake community is indeed the crime hotspot that's nearest Los Lunas. However, other planned housing areas only 3-4 miles away are some of the most secure in Los Lunas, such as the Las Maravillas and Cypress Gardens community, so you can't base an opinion on Los Lunas in general from just the crime in Meadowlake and scattered around Valencia County. For instance, the crime activity in Meadowlake almost looks pastoral compared to Albuquerque's South Valley, and near North Valley. You couldn't pay me enough to live in the South Valley or near North Valley (when I say near North Valley, I'm talking about the area north generally included between I-40, I-25, the Rio Grande river, and Montano). North of Montano is nice, in fact it's home to several very wealthy families with beautiful sprawling luxury homes.
Los Lunas is far enough from Albuquerque to get away from the noise and hustle, yet close enough a drive that it's easy to drive into the city if you want to enjoy the night life or shopping or whatever. And most people who live in Los Lunas commute into Albuquerque for work, since that's where the better jobs are, so employment isn't that much of an issue. The commute seems long at first, but after a couple of months I barely even notice it...a 20-25 minute commute is nothing, pfft... it takes longer than that to drive from one end of Albuquerque to the other, and to commute from Rio Rancho is as long and in some areas longer, and the Rio Rancho-to-Albuquerque traffic is enough to stress even SoCal drivers. During peak times, there is some congestion on the interstate, but anyone who's lived near a city with an interstate will find it no big deal at all... it only gets really congested once you get to around the airport turnoff. But most of us who have had to commute often between Los Lunas and Albuquerque know to get off the interstate before that point and take a sideroute that keeps you moving at an acceptable rate.
The person above who said that you had better obey traffic laws in Valencia County is absolutely correct though. You do not want to have a lead foot on the pedal, because your odds of not getting caught are small, lol. It irritated me when I got my first speeding ticket outside of Bosque Farms because it was for only 7 miles above the speed limit, but now I've come to appreciate this strictness because it means the roads are safer for me and everyone who travels them. So I view that as a plus, not a negative.
I've found the people of Los Lunas to be about the same as they are everywhere in this size of a community... you find some friendly folk, you find some that aren't, and some that are neither. Personally, my own experiences for the past 15 years have been that the people in general are much friendlier than in Albuquerque. You get treated as you treat them, basically.
Not all of Los Lunas is a great place to live, and not for the crime problem, since that isn't everywhere in Los Lunas anymore than it's 'everywhere' in other places. It's easy enough to get information on the nicer places, newer sections, older sections, most secure/least secure, etc. In fact, you can call up the Los Lunas police department at (505) 865-9130 and easily get someone who will tell you what kinds of problems (vandalism, harder crimes, etc) they may or may not have in any of the Los Lunas areas you may be looking at. (In fact, I tested that statement again just now before posting this, to make sure I was still correct in that.... in reply to my specifically asking about the Las Maravillas, Tome Vista, and Cypress Gardens area, I was told that they rarely ever receive any calls from the Cypress Gardens area, and very few calls from Las Maravillas and those were only minor vandalism calls. I forgot what they said about Tome Vista, so apparently it wasn't anything shocking, lol.)
Los Lunas area schools are actually very decent schools, with the exception of the high school, which does suffer from a bad reputation which isn't entirely undeserved, imho, although it does seem to be improving. Some of the Los Lunas elementary and middle schools actually have excellent reputations, including Ann Parrish Elementary, as someone else mentioned above. And private schools are located in Albuquerque if that's your preference.
Los Lunas is trying hard to attract new residents and businesses to the area, so to that end they seem to be making some progressive decisions and trying to clean the village up (it's officially called the Village of Los Lunas), and they do have some new business and manufacturing parks there which is good for the area.
It wasn't so long ago that I would never have recommended Los Lunas to anyone. But in the past couple of years, I've changed that opinion, and in fact am currently looking to move there from where I currently live, which is the NE heights of Albuquerque. I have a lovely home here where I've lived for a long time, but I'm looking forward to the slower pace and friendlier people in Los Lunas, and the commute time is not a problem for the less stressful lifestyle.
Just for additional personal opinion, I don't recommend Belen or Rio Rancho. Especially Rio Rancho... you couldn't pay me to live there. I can't think of a single good thing to say about it, and lots of bad things, so I'll just leave it at that. I also don't recommend Albuquerque's South Valley, near North Valley, or the SE area of Albuquerque... unless you enjoy living in the midst of gang activity and don't care what happens to your home while you're at work or away shopping or whatever.
But whatever anyone moving to the area decides, welcome to central New Mexico, and I hope you find a community that suits what you're looking for.
I've been searching this forum for info on Los Lunas and I'm not getting a good understanding of the area. Some say it is a bad area, others say it is very family oriented, and that the commute to ABQ would be horrible. It looks like it is only 20 miles or so?? I'm doing some research online to try to check out other areas in the southwest to see if I can take the equity out of my home and make a run for it. The traffic and high cost of everything in So Cal is driving me nuts LOL. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Los Lunas is a nice city, with a lot of police officers on patrol. It is growing quickly and, in my opinion, is a good place to live. If you live near I-25, it is an easy commute into ABQ. However, Belen to the south is, IMHO, a crime infested area that I would avoid.
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The traffic and high cost of everything in So Cal is driving me nuts LOL. Any info would be appreciated.
