Thinking of Moving to ABQ? Read This First.
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8/25/2019
If you are a Californian, Texan or New Yorker looking to move to Albuquerque for the cheap housing, listen closely: YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! High crime, high unemployment, low growth in house equity and poverty.
My 30+ years in Albuquerque were filled with crime and hassle. I lived in a nice NE heights neighborhood and had cars broken into (one was even taken on a high speed chase) and stuff constantly stolen like bikes and lawn equipment. My father-in-law got a neat steel buffalo ornament for his lawn and it was gone in one week. I once left my bike in the rack outside a gas station and came out and it was gone in less than 2 minutes! My wife had her car broken into twice and her basement broken into once before moving in with me.
Look at the news stories from the past few years! An elderly woman got stabbed as she walked home with her groceries near the ABQ Academy (a NICE part of town). A man was found crucified to a tree in the valley. A guy was found decapitated outside a Walmart near Wyoming and Menaul. A woman was carjacked outside a Rio Rancho library. It doesn't matter where you go, the crime will find you!
I finally wised up and got out in 2012. Since I left, a lot of the people I know have left too. And that's why ABQ won't get better. I took my business with me. My wife took her advanced degree with her. Our friends took their family and money elsewhere. The only thing keeping ABQ afloat is government money (aid for poverty, military money for Kirtland and Fed money for the Labs). If those jobs ever leave or get reduced, ABQ is in for a wild ride.
And NM as a whole relies heavily on similar sources of revenue (welfare) and from oil and gas. In 20 years when solar and wind take over and the government downsizes certain programs, ABQ is going to suffer massively. Right now the only thing holding it all together is the money and intelligence of the wonderful people who work at places like Sandia and Kirtland. Once they leave the state, God help us all. All we will be left with is disappearing blue collar retail and service jobs for high school dropouts and panhandlers on every corner looking for their next hit. ABQ will become Gallup or Pueblo at that point.
And back to the housing thing... I sold my house in 2012 for $220k. It's worth $240k now. Whoop-de-doo. My new house in Colorado went from $250k to $450k in that same period of time. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!! Nobody wants to come to Albuquerque due to the crime and corruption and the housing market shows it. Now we are late in the economic cycle and ABQ is FINALLY making some gains and drawing interest from people priced out of other cities. But make no mistake, when the recession comes next time, you will WISH you were in Denver or Seattle or Dallas instead of Albuquerque. Because there will be no jobs, no hope and nobody will want to buy your house.
Go look up the stats on how many people moved to ABQ from 2010 to 2018. Then look at the stats for Denver, Phoenix or Dallas. Follow the wisdom of the crowds...they know what's up.
Ray | Albuquerque, NM