New to REI, exploring idea of investing in New Mexico

[Andrew Tistadt]

Hello all!

I am brand new to the idea of real estate investing (thanks to my wife encouraging me).  I have been content to be a homeowner of my primary residence, and to work full-time in my W2 job (in the medical field), but I'm starting to feel like it's time to look for sources of more "passive" income for our long-term financial well-being.  

I graduated from the University of New Mexico many years ago (back in 1999), and although I have not lived in Albuquerque since, I still maintain a sense of New Mexico being a second "home" all this time, due both to my geographic knowledge of the region and an appreciation and love of the culture and landscape.   

My intuition (and yes, I could be completely wrong), is that Albuquerque may be an overlooked region in the REI world. Heck, the entire state is overlooked by Americans in general! Not living there currently, I would like to ask anyone on his forum with knowledge of the Albuquerque/Santa Fe region how the markets for short-term and long-term rentals are. Are the regulations in the city of Albuquerque favorable to STR's? What are long-term growth predictions for both population growth and the housing market in general?

Thank you so much!

Andrew Tistadt