I’m looking to sell my house in Portland Or and Palm Springs CA.
I really like Bend Oregon, reno NV, and Prescott AZ but my dollar just doesn’t go a long ways there .
How is the work in NM? I’m 41 and still need to work to take care of the family. I’m in construction/GC
Please feel free to give me pros and cons

Lots of places around Albuquerque are not so good.
Kinda like Portland.

Albuquerque is a [bleep]. I used to travel there for work quite a bit, can’t think of anything positive to say about it.

Crime.

It's pretty much a schidt-hole with low wages and high crime.

Go 50 miles east of Reno to live, and your dollar goes farther. Some major commercial development is moving a bit on East of Reno. There's a lot of new construction and money to be made by someone with those skills and some business smarts.

For a nice documentary on the positives and negatives of the Albuquerque metro area...


meth

Lots of drugs and crime in Albuquerque, and the state government is terrible.

New Mexico has been in a lockdown for ages now thanks to their governor. She has about destroyed small business.

If you want stable opportunity, I'd look elsewhere.

Crime index Alb 2018 = 710.3
US Average = 274.0

http://www.city-data.com/city/Albuquerque-New-Mexico.html

Lots more info on that site, like average commute times, etc.

Your choice, but it's not one I'd like to make. Wife and I considered some transfers there, then looked.

Windridge has an idea what's going on in the Reno area, you might spend a minute looking into towns east of there. I think he's alluding to Fallon and such.

Have you looked into other "mountain towns" in AZ? Or NM? You may find some with the growth rate you need in your line of work to keep busy. And selling places in Potlandia and Palm Springs, if you have any equity, you may just make out well.

Good luck.........I guess.

2000 I moved from Oregon to Albuquerque. Wife and I had good jobs in place waiting for us. We had looked at areas in Arizona, which I liked better than NM, wife didn’t.

At the time, IIRC, NM was one of the poorest States in the country. People were cool. A lot of drunks and people with handicaps it seemed. My wife was a RN and maybe after 5 months there she mentioned all the fûcked up people we’d see around town and in stores. Seemed like more than normal.

I met with a good client at Sandia Labs. I mentioned to him that the place seemed to have more than its share of people with outward signs of disabilities. He said “what do you expect”,,,”this is one polluted State from all the military testing that was done here”.

We lasted a year...Wife hated it ! I was ok, there. We had a nice place in the highlands in Moriarty, NM with acreage.

Arizona would have been a better place to move, at least back them

YMMV

🦫

I was in Albuquerque 12 years ago for 2 weeks staying in a hotel.

There are bars on the windows.... that means crime.

There are gated communities there.... that means crime.

There was a lot of grunting on the other side of my hotel wall..... that means sex.

Car theft capital of America. Absolute schithole. My ex wife keeps threatening to move there and try to take my son since its "cheap." I think the #1 pastime there is sniffing spraypaint.

Little hottie I knew back in jr high lives there. She's a lawyer. She's also a frothing-at-the-mouth liberal who specializes in getting illegals legal. Unreal. If she's representative of NM...in a word, no.

I stepped over a drugged up bum in an Albuquerque McDonalds foyer one time to get a Big Mac. No different than any other city, IME.
I've done the same in Boise, Spokane, Reno and plenty of other places.

Spent a couple of months one winter on a splicing project. Weather was warm. Route 66 passed through town and some landmarks still remain. Interesting petroglyphs (ancient rock carvings) west of town. Food was hit or miss...no middle ground. Same for housing...really nice or dirt yards.

Lots of red light cameras everywhere. All the fenced yards seemed to be cinder block topped with embedded broken glass. The show Breaking Bad made it look better than it really is. Work trucks routinely broken into.

It's cheap for a reason.

Except for SD, anytime you say "she" and "governor" in the same sentence, It's a klusterfuk.

They had a cool biplane hanging in the airport last time I was there!

Got good friends in NM, poor state, no jobs. Not a place I would go to look for work.

Schit hole.

Isn’t it basically a Rez?

I believe Ilya Koshkin moved there from Kookyfornia last year. I'd PM him and ask his thoughts.

Haven't worked there in years. Are Taos and Santa Fe about the same now re crime and [bleep]?

My father used to live there. It is, indeed, a [bleep]. Much better mountain states to move to than NM.

Wow! You guys are making me happy to be in New Jersey! Well, not really....

Stopped there a couple times overnight , nasty place and that was 20-25 yrs ago . Took the dogs for a walk and ran into a fellow said he was a school teacher . A little talk and he was also a town guy , said they were looking for a distribution linemen . Job offered a sign on deal and some moving expenses , after some looking around decided wasn’t for me .
Farmington , stay the hell out of that place .
Went up that way to see some scenic stuff . Beautiful territory, much different than the eastern states I was used to at the time .
Was 4th of July , closer we got to Farmington I thought we were getting close to a govt. town , several miles out every house had tall chain link fence , some with razor wire across top . I had no idea people actually lived like that , not in the country .
Got into town , holy shiit !!
KFC even had the lights out , asked the lady what was up with this , she said they tried to look closed to avoid attracting gangs , bikers and Indians were at war .
After spending the night there , she was not exaggerating at all .Kenneth

Lived there for 8 years and left 4 years ago. Wife teaches and quality of education is poor at best. Crime in the metro area and, as others have noted, auto theft rates are high. Our auto insurance premium dropped 50% when we moved. Lots of .gov type jobs, but that was about it. Won’t even touch on politics with the dipshit governor there, her role models are the clowns in NY and Michigan.

Thant being said, the state is beautiful. Truly is the land of enchantment and we enjoyed exploring it. Lots of cultural variety, awesome food and some really interesting people. Its a neat place to visit, but I would not want to live there.

Even though it's "New," it's still "Mexico" basically.

How about Santa Fe? Better than ABQ?

The land of fakes and flakes! Uber liberal and expensive.

I found Santa Fe to be kinda nice but I spent most my time there hiking the mountains. They do have some good restaurants and quite a few great art galleries.

Albuquerque, not so much.

Doubt you'd find Santa Fe to be as affordable as Albuquerque though.
From what I've seen it appears to be more like New Mexico's armpit.

That's a fair take. Santa Fe is a bit uppity and infested with Bark Eaters.

ABQ is a typical large city, with all the problems.
Large homeless population due to a mild climate.
Military town, with all that involves.
~ 3oo miles from Juarez, on 2 major interstates - lots of drug trafficing, and use.
Very liberal mindset.
Beautiful scenery.
Fairly low cost of living.
If I was to live in the near area, I'd look at Rio Rancho (good to great schools), or Moriarity.
Other than RR, I'd prefer to live out of the valley. Maybe even up 14, either way from Tijeras. Beautiful country.

I lived there for ten years,left because of rising crime rate. Last straw was my boy finding a dead body that was dumped on a ditch bank. It hasn't gotten any better in 45 years

I love these threads where we all band together and start bagging on some town or state. Gotta be somebody ready to start a new thread on Oregon or New Jersey. Almost as good as a new Safariman thread.

Not even pretty to drive through...

Ok, thank you fellas.
Looks like I need to do more search on AZ and NV

Not much knowledge about the work/job conditions in NM. Lived there full-time way out in the forest for over 20 years and that was fantastic.

But, sometimes had to go to Alb. and did not like that. See the many comments above. Most small businesses in Alb. are well-run and customer friendly but most of the state acts like it is existing on government hand-outs and Alb is the center of that.

Old boy Hispanic politicos control the state. Quite backward. Bend and Prescott are far superior.

The price of housing in bend is out of control. Not to mention it’s turned Blue and I’d like to get more red.
I’d love to be in the country and missed some great deals in prineville last year. but wife is not on board.
It Must have target and star bucks it it’s too small for her.. Ugh, FML.
Trust me those are my last 2 requirements!!

know nuthin about it...........

only---------

People may laugh, but Southeast Oklahoma is beautiful (looks like Ozarks). Tons of hunting/fishing in Arkansas/Missouri/Oklahoma. Not as wide open as “The West”, but plenty of space, plenty of outdoor opportunities, and the Democrats haven’t screwed them up...

It's my hometown. My parents still live there.

All the negatives listed (crime, low wages, stupid government, etc.) are all true. Neither me nor my sister even tried to stay.

The weather isn't bad and the outdoor opportunities(public land) are nice.

Lived in the suburbs for two years. Rio Rancho is a safe place, but it is kept that way by having a very heavy police presence. Excellent school system by any standards. There is a really nice shooting club in Rio Rancho. There are decent pockets in Albuquerque itself, but I absolutely would not live there.

New Mexico is full of really awesome people. It's a real mix of cultures - there is the gang banger culture, of course. There is the very old school New Mexican culture (hispanics whose ancestors were there before NM was part of the US), which is distinct from Mexican culture. They tend to hunt and fish and be pretty conservative, but like a lot of minorities they traditionally vote democrat. There is the Indian culture, which is unique and interesting but of course has a ton of problems (I would not want to live near a reservation). Outside of the liberal centers of ABQ and Santa Fe, the white culture of NM is awfully similar to West Texas in my experience - conservative, Christian, hardworking.

I don't want to sugar coat it. Crime is awful in ABQ as well as most other towns in NM. The current governor is bad. With a few notable exceptions, the schools are a nightmare. BUT if you find a safe area with a good school, you can probably find plenty of like-minded people and build a very nice life for yourself. We only moved away for a new job opportunity. My wife misses it and would love to go back. We had a good church community and a good group of friends. I wouldn't hesitate to go back for the right opportunity.

There seemed to be plenty of jobs and growth when we were there. We sold our house quickly because a lot of people were coming in for new job opportunities. The cost of living is higher than it once was, but it is not bad compared to the rest of the Mountain West. As Colorado becomes more and more unaffordable (like California), expect to see more and more growth in NM.

This is the best and most up to date information you will get on Albequerque from a man that knows.

[/quote]People may laugh, but Southeast Oklahoma is beautiful (looks like Ozarks). Tons of hunting/fishing in Arkansas/Missouri/Oklahoma. Not as wide open as “The West”, but plenty of space, plenty of outdoor opportunities, and the Democrats haven’t screwed them up...[/quote]

My dad grew up in southeast Oklahoma and his experience was exactly as you described. Of course that was years ago. If I was looking to move that is where I would look first.

ABQ is a dump.

Pre-Covid I'd spend 3 or 4 nights a month in ABQ, with day trips sprinkled in. Staying/shopping/eating along the I-25 corridor has been fine and I've never had a problem. I have normal places that I visit without incident, but I don't go exploring. It's like most cities to me and doesn't hold any charm.

Some of the in-laws live around ABQ. Not a place I’d want to move.

Most of the family is from around Taos. Much prettier area. Not sure it’s much better crime wise though. Last time there had a guy break into our hotel room. They all talk about how poor the state is. A giant rez.

Some areas look really nice. Probably not much work though.

Don't know much about it other than what I've seen on TV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Victoria_Martens

I would look at Las Cruces first...

In my limited experience, English is a second language.

Hey, one of the 2 things I vividly recall about abq is that the hotel rooms were dirt cheap.

The other being that it was one of the coldest places I ever worked.

These comments crack me up. Albuquerque definitely has some rough areas and crime. There is good areas just the same but cost does go up. I’ve lived in NM my entire life and worked in Albuquerque most of it as well. I now live up north but I am usually in Albuquerque every couple weeks. The state beside political stand points (confused Hispanics that think they’re democrat cause they told that growing up) isn’t all that bad. If you love the outdoors, it’s a great state. East mountains (Sedillo hill, Edgewood, Moriarty) are much better places to live and commute to work. For county issues... emissions, firearms... etc I would stray from Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties.

Been through there a few times and that was my impression. In fact, truth be told I felt the whole of New Mexico was the best argument I've ever seen for ethnic cleansing.

It's a sprawling, dusty dump full of low IQ Democrats. Some of the worst drivers I have ever witnessed in my life.
Some good food to be had, but you have to know exactly where. Traffic. Lots of white drugs and crime, a problem everywhere in NM. English is not necessarily a first language.
My impression after a dozen or more stays there over 20+ years.

I live in Santa Fe and as much as I love the area it is liberal central. Nice climate, lots of sun and outdoor recreation....hiking, hunting, fishing, etc. Cost of living is high in SF and wages are low. Housing, etc is much more reasonable in ABQ, but there is an issue with crime in certain areas of the city itself....not so much out in the Rio Rancho area or my area of SF though. Our comrade governor, Wuhan Lujan is a total bi*ch, but the overwhelming majority of county sheriffs refuse to enforce most of her dictates. Surprisingly, gun laws are actually fairly lax....unfortunately we now have those in the state legislature that are trying to push every anti-gun piece of legislation they can. The good guys in the legislature are badly outnumbered by the idiots. People out in the rural areas are fairly conservative and pretty down-to-earth, but liberal SF and Albuquerque rule the rest of the state. We have our share of snotty Karens here, mostly transplanted retirees from CA and elsewhere, and I find myself getting along better with the local Hispanics and Indians a lot of the time. Overall, I would move to NM again, but would certainly seek out a more conservative rural area of the state.

The best thing about NM is the elk hunting. I hunted around Angel Fire East of Taos. People up there were nice.
You couldn't pay me to live in ABQ and Santa Fe is filled with liberals.

I'd look at Reno and the surrounding areas just SE of there. I should have bought there 5 or 6 years ago when I first started looking for a place to retire. Housing prices have skyrocketed but there up across the nation.
Reno has lots of construction jobs and Tesla is expanding in that market.
Deer and antelope hunting is good and so are the people.

Albuquerque is the armpit of New Mexico for all the reasons already mentioned. I take it you are a self-employed construction GC. If you like high desert living and like to live near high quality trout streams and Eagle's Nest Lake Salmon fishing, plus big game hunting, I would take a good hard look at Taos NM. Neat little town, low crime, artistic minded, lots of history, and lots of new home construction going on. Great jumping off point for hunting, fishing, and skiing too (Angel Fire, Red River, and Taos Ski Valley - all new/renovation construction areas.) Beautiful mountains close by, including tallest mountain in NM, Wheeler Peak.

I think the best thing about Albuquerque is all the GOOD fireworks you can buy along Interstate 40 after you leave the city!!!

This Presidential election is too missed up to draw any conclusions on. But in 2016 Taos went 70% for Hillary.

It's a commie dominated place.

Take a look at Sioux Falls, SD

Liberal Chithole, as is the whole state.

Generalize much?

When I left in 1959 it was a nice place. Why would it be any different now?

The guy who bought my 69 dodge dart drag car was from there.

No doubt, doesn’t get more red than Eastern NM, SE NM and NW NM. Like most states, the big cities drive politics.