Socorro, NM (Alamogordo, Alamo: homes, school, living) - New Mexico - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

GregW · 03-30-2007, 11:13 AM

College town - suprise, suprise that rents would be higher than elsewhere - so is demand.
Good luck on admission

nmretire · 03-31-2007, 01:57 PM

oooooeeee....Green chile burger....I will most certainly try that
Love green chile's...It's been a long time since I had fresh ones

I will post when I get back from my visit. 2 more weeks and I fly out of this ugly dirty city.

Hooooooray

nmretire · 04-01-2007, 06:02 AM

sounds ok...but just so that you know.......I have a cane!

I just hope I can find a place when I get there in 2 weeks. I want to get this show on the road. I'm tired of working and it's time to do what I want, when I want.

paleo99 · 04-01-2007, 09:12 PM

I lived in Socorro for the better part of five years, and can say that rents are definitely BELOW AVERAGE even for a college town. You could probably get a trailer for 250-300/month if your into that, or get a house in the better areas anywhere from 150-300k. It really depends how close you want to be to Tech, and even then the rents for the apartments aren't bad at all..400-600/month for some average apartments across the street from campus.

As far as geology goes, the Department there is superb, and I would recommend it to anybody who would like to get a solid geological education. Their teachers are pretty competent at teaching, not just research..more than what can be said about some departments. It's a quirky little college filled with intelligent people, and definitely NOT your typical university in many ways.

GregW · 04-02-2007, 10:14 AM

I suspected Geology to be an excellent topic. However, Ducksburg, you should consider that Geology and Mining (the school was the New Mexico School of Mines) are well covered. Geology and Mining are very dependant on electronic instrumentation to study geophysics (find the gold) and electrical engineering to power the mines (dig it up). I'll bet their EE department are also first rate.

I may just go back to school and complete the geology studies that were interrupted by arguing with a "learned professor" about Plate Tectonics in the early 1970's. I was right but also declared "persona non grata" in the department.

Good Luck and enjoy.

NMretire -

I like the idea of buying a house in town and renting rooms to students.

nmretire · 04-03-2007, 06:45 AM

The rents stated are not too bad at all.

GregW · 04-03-2007, 06:49 AM

I am an environmental scientist currently specializing in industrial air quality and emissions. I have also worked on small and large hydroelectric projects. I would like to eventually get out of this cube farm/commute purgatory and do some real environmental energy impact studies and/or mitigation work. Given the climate and weather conditions in NM I should look at wind energy development. Geothermal (energy mining) is another possibility.

Like I said NMT seems to be a really good school that is large enough to attract really good professors but small enough that they may have time to pay attention to you. I suggest you get on their website (NMT.edu) and check out the various courses of study. Then write a letted stating what you would like to study and what your goals are and ask them if their courses are applicable.

Remember a college education is far more than just a trade school. Also with the Chinese industrial demand for metals the mining industry is booming again. There is a lot of stuff underground to found and dug up. The trick is to do it with as little colateral damage as possible. Acid mine drainage for one is no joke.

kaminl · 04-03-2007, 07:10 AM

My father lives in Soccoro. He loves it there. I stayed there a year and a half..it was a great experience for me because Nm has a lot of ruins where you can find arrowheads and pieces of pottery, the trinity site is there, the VLA, the Bosque Del Apache (my dad is the director for the Festival of the Cranes), bat caves, roaming antelope and buffalo on the Ted Turner ranch.
Soccoro has a lot of Professors, artists, retired people, a lot of native indians, and mexican people live there. The people are very nice . It is a small town feel. If you're looking for a house, Betty Houston is the town Realtor. Soccoro wasn't for me because I'm a city person who likes good restaurants, palm trees and water. There is not a lot to do there. But the people who live there love it. One thing I miss, is the music. NM has the best music.

GregW · 04-03-2007, 11:56 AM

Kaminl - Thanks. Your note confirms my expectations. This is gonna be fun.

InTheDesert · 04-03-2007, 06:54 PM

For the folks that are thinking of moving to Socorro, here is a good place to start:

http://socorronmrealestate.com/
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/
http://www.homeandcountryrealty.com/
http://www.dchieftain.com/
http://www.oldwestland.com/

The real estate is pretty overpriced here in my opinion and it is cheaper to rent than to own right now. Socorro lacks new home construction but we are slowly seeing prices come down with the fall of the housing market. There are very limited number of homes that don't need a lot of work or updating.

A new subdivision called Prospectors Point is building new stucco condos starting in the $95K range and new homes starting in the $200K range. They are very close to Tech and right in town if that is what you are looking for.

Socorro is a place for people who like the outdoors. If you don't like the outdoors, you probably won't like it here. We have Jeeps and do plenty of off-roading in the the Quebradas, hike and explore trails, fish in the Rio Grand, hike and climb in Box Canyon, San Lorenzo, and in the Magdalenas. There are plenty of wicked, unkown off-roading trails, and mountain biking trails. Socorro is a small town where everybody knows everybody. Some of the nicest people I have ever met live here.

People who live here enjoy a simple life, New Mexico scenery, and the kindness and warmth of the type of people who live in a small town.

I have never met an older local that didn't have an interesting story to share of how they came to live and stay in Socorro, NM.

The weather is amazing here. I have only experienced one nasty winter while living here. Most of the time the skies are blue, sunny, and the sunrise and sunset amazing. We seem to never get hit with the bad weather that the rest of the state gets.

NMT is an excellent school and is a hidden gem of Tech Schools. You won't find a cheaper Tech school and the school and programs are highly regarded. You will find students from all over the world that attend here. My husband who graduated from NMT was originally from the UK and our roommate while in college was from Ethiopia.

Rent is CHEAP here and is NOT expensive at all. You will find numerous rentals in the local newspaper: http://www.dchieftain.com/

When hubby and I were in college we rented a 3 bdrm house a couple of blocks from the college for $350 a month and split it 3-ways since we also had a roommate.

Now days we still have very cheap rent. A 3bdrm house with a garage on a ranch, huge yard, pets allowed, for $525 a month, includes water and trash.

My sister rented in the historic Val Verde hotel overlooking the courtyard for $325 a month, included ALL utilities.

Almost ALL of the rentals here are on a month to month agreement so you can move out any time you want.

I've been living here for awhile now after being recruited from Denver by my husband while he was in college. I couldn't be happier and we have made Socorro our home and hope to stay.