Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The central New Mexican city of Albuquerque, situated on the Rio Grande, is the state's largest metropolitan area. You can find zones and neighborhoods that cater to residential living within all of Albuquerque's quadrants, the Southeast, Northeast, Southwest and Northwest. While some of the best places to live in Albuquerque are up-scale and have high housing costs, others are more affordable.
Sandia Heights is located in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, which rise to a maximum 10,678 feet. According to the Albuquerque realtor Pat Montrose, the Northeast neighborhood is known for its country, rural-feel, its beautiful vistas of the mountains, as well as its night-time views of the Albuquerque sky-line. Other features include its proximity to hiking trails and the Sandia Park aerial tramway, which presents views no backyard can. Homes in Sandia Heights are often modern and custom-designed, costing around $330,000 on average as of 2010.
As the travel resource website Trip Advisor notes, the Nnorthwest-quadrant village of Corrales dates back to the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The village offers many historic adobe houses and horse farms that are still in operation. In addition, the Corrales community provides a septic system, an elementary school, a public pool and a public park for residents. Like Sandia Heights, the community is on the high-end of the property scale, with the average home costing about $315,000, as of September 2010.
Trip Advisor describes Northeast Heights as "Suburbia at its best." In comparison to the first two areas, living in Northeast Heights is much more affordable, with several homes costing around $100,000, as of 2010. The average price of a home, however, is approximately $140,000. Ideal for families with children, Northeast Heights has 40 parks, two high schools, six middle schools, 15 elementary schools, one charter school and one alternative school. Other features include a golf course, four basketball courts, five tennis courts, a softball field, two libraries, four fire stations and one police sub-station.
The Four Hills Community in Southeast Albuquerque offers a balance between the high home costs of Corrales and Sandia Heights and the relatively low home costs of Northeast Heights. As Pat Montrose notes, the average home in Four Hills costs around $220,000, in 2010 prices. The community has swimming facilities, tennis courts, two recreational parks and a private golf course with clubhouse.
If you are renting as opposed to buying, Albuquerque's Southwest quadrant is prime apartment-hunting territory. However, if you want to avoid some of the noise and bustle of the Southwest, which is home to downtown Albuquerque, try moving to Old Town. Settled in 1706, the area is known for its Spanish architecture, adobe buildings and museums.