Rio Rancho Travel Forum

Hello Everyone, This is a great forum!
I am considering moving from Germany to NM, and am considering Rio Rancho because I think it it centrally located between Sante Fe and Albequerque. My main concern is the quality of the schooling there because I'd be coming with 15 and 12 year old children.
Also, is it easy to get to Albequerque from there, in case I can only get work there? Is it a very expensive city and does it have its own interesting places to shop and visit??
Would appreciate any answers you all may find the time to give.
Thanks alot...new moon

This is probably a year too late, but here is your answer. We moved here from Cleveland, Ohio 9 years ago. We picked Rio Rancho for the schools (I was 8 mos. preg. at the time). The schools are great....they are not part of Albuquerque Schools...they are their own sep. thing. We are building 2 new elem. and 1 new high shool this year. This city is very school oriented.

Not too many places to shop - yet. But Abq. is not too far away (20-30 minutes). Many people live in RR and work in Santa Fe (there is a shuttle you can take and there is a commuter train that will soon go to Santa Fe - it already goes to Abq.)

Right now you can get a good deal on a home (lots of home on the market). We are not as bad as Cal, Florida and AZ as far as the housing market....but it is still a buyers market. Homes are from $150,000 - $700,000. THe only people that have "sticker shock" are people moving here from Texas (where you can get a house for a song). Do not know what the market is like in Germany!

We had planned on moving over to Arizona - this was to be a temp. stop for us, but we fell in love with it and want to stay. There is a slower pace to life here - that can take some getting used to. We love getting all 4 seasons. We love snow, but love that it is melted off by 10am and the blue sky and sun is out every day.