More Local

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
• Former Marine to serve two years in jail for killing Albuquerque robber
• Wilson-Pearce battle for U.S. Senate exemplifies party's disparity

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

If you consider a $332,800 home within reach of your bank account, then Sandia Heights being named one of the best, affordable suburbs in the country by a national magazine makes sense.

But if you're part of a typical working-class family, a third of a million dollars could seem a bit steep, says Michael Davis, director of communications with Communities United to Strengthen America.

Business Week magazine called Sandia Heights - the unincorporated area of Bernalillo County on the city's far northeast side - one of the 25 best, affordable suburbs in the largest U.S. cities. The publication put the area's median home price at $332,800.

"The question is, affordable for whom?" says Davis with Communities United, a nonprofit working on issues of economic prosperity, affordable health care and retirement security. "I can't see how your teachers, your law enforcement officers, social workers - hardworking professionals who are making sure our children become educated, who are keeping our streets safe . . . If they can afford a third-of-a-million-dollar home, more power to them."

Well-tended, adobe houses in all shades of brown dot Sandia Heights from a block west of Tramway Boulevard Northeast to the Sandia Mountains foothills on the east. Sandia Pueblo borders the area on the north, and the southern edge is just north of Academy Road Northeast.

A touch of wildness marks the foothills area. Sidewalks aren't allowed, nor are streetlamps. Numerous arroyos, sometimes as wide as two or three houses, cut through neighborhoods with mostly fenceless yards of wild grass, cacti and bushes.

Dick Cline, president of the Sandia Heights Homeowners Association, has seen bobcats snacking on rabbits and heard of coyotes making meals out of residents' pets.

He said homes in the area hit prices of $250,00 to more than $1 million for one of the east-side behemoths riding the hills that offer sweeping views of the city below.

He describes a typical resident as a working professional. There are lawyers, doctors, business people and many in the top of their field. He estimates there is one house per acre of land to the east of Tramway Boulevard. Go to the one-block Sandia Heights area just west of it, and the density goes up to four or five houses, and the prices drop, he said.

Calling the area "affordable," he said, depends on where you're coming from.

"I think for U.S. terms, we would be affordable," he said. "For New Mexico, we're at the top of the line."