Santa Fe Real Estate

Single-Family Rentals Keep Pulling In Investors

Warren R. Sacks — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:26:58 +0000

The push is on to turn single-family rental homes into an asset class that can be bought and sold on Wall Street.

Last week, the Journal reported that publicly traded home-builder Beazer Homes had teamed up with buyout firm KKR & Co. to launch a real-estate investment trust to manage its small portfolio of single-family homes as rentals. Beazer’s REIT is still private, for the moment, but has plans for an IPO to take the company public in the coming years.

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Retire Here, Not There: New Mexico

Warren R. Sacks — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:11:50 +0000

For decades, the 65-plus crowd has flocked to Arizona hotspots like Scottsdale and Flagstaff. But with prices in these retiree-friendly markets soaring, a growing number of retirees are looking east to what some call the next Arizona: New Mexico.

What many retirees are finding is better deals, say experts: The median home in New Mexico costs just $150,000 and the cost of living is 5% lower than the national average. And for those retirees set on living in the Southwest, the state can be far less expensive than much of Arizona. Santa Fe — though not exactly cheap at 18% above the national average — has a lower cost of living than Scottsdale (29% above average) or Sedona (37% above average). Plus, retirees like that taxes in New Mexico are relatively low — income tax tops out at 4.9% and real estate taxes are below average.

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Historic Home Tour to highlight properties built in 1912

Warren R. Sacks — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:30 +0000

Four houses, all of them more than a century old, will be open to visitors during the Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s annual Mother’s Day Historic Home Tour on Sunday afternoon.

“This year, in honor of New Mexico’s Centennial, the theme will highlight select properties on sections of Acequia Madre, Garcia Street and Canyon Road that were in existence in 1912,” the foundation said announcing the event.

New Mexico flags will be hung at residences and businesses that were in existence in 1912.

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What You Should Know About Pocket Listings

Rich Gonzales — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:00:30 +0000

Over the past year or so, “pocket listings” have become a more mainstream option for quietly marketing a home. If you haven’t heard this real estate term before, you probably will. This Zillow Article goes more in-depth into pocket listings, but here are the basics.

A pocket listing is an unofficial, off-market listing
Pocket listings are growing in popularity
Pocket listings let sellers test the market
Pocket listings have become a secondary home market

Sellers

You should consider going with a pocket listing, even if it’s just for a week or two. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Buyers

Work with an established Real Estate Agent in Santa Fe to be certain you’ve got access to potential homes. Just because the home of your dreams isn’t listed doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t for sale.

Pending home sales near 2-year high

Rich Gonzales — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:50:42 +0000

Pending sales of existing homes rose to their highest level in nearly two years in March, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest Pending Home Sales Index.

“First-quarter sales closings were the highest first-quarter sales in five years. The latest contract signing activity suggests the second quarter will be equally good,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a statement.

“The housing market has clearly turned the corner,” Yun said. “Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions around the county, which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses.”

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Guest Blog: Helping Home Sellers See Their House Through The Trees

Rich Gonzales — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:23 +0000

Last Thursday was Take Your Kid To Work Day, so my 8-year-old daughter, Jade, came with me. Other than the big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and rye toast with lots of butter, I asked Jade what she thought of the day. Jade said, “Dad, you work with a lot of stubborn people”. I laughed, as I never thought of it that way.

One example was a meeting we had with clients on an offer we had on their home. My reply to Jade was that the people were not stubborn, but it was my job to help them clarify the situation so they could make an intelligent decision. A home sale is a stressful event. Money is involved, people don’t know where they are going, etc. My worst fear is if they call me in a week to ask if the buyer is still interested, only for me to say that they purchased something else or felt it “wasn’t meant to be”. Clients end up regretting their initial ‘stubbornness’.

The offer on the house was lower then what my client wanted and their ‘bottom line number’ was not going to keep the negotiations alive. If they didn’t work out a deal, my clients would probably have to wait at least 6 months for another offer because their home was more of a seasonal buyer purchase. That becomes 6 months worth of taxes, insurance, cost of money, depreciation, HOA costs, and worry. I outlined those costs for them and asked them to fast forward a month into the future. Would they still be happy hanging onto the house, paying all of the costs, going through hurricane season, etc? They ended up countering at a number which ensured a better chance of a deal happening. Today the house went under contract! And thankfully there will be no regrets at having been too stubborn a month from now.

I guess I owe Jade a referral on this one!

Jeff Lichtenstein specializes in luxury real estate in Juno Beach Condos and Palm Beach real estate in South Florida.
His website is at www.JeffRealty.com

4 insider tips for getting multiple offers

Rich Gonzales — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:47:00 +0000

Coast to coast, a much higher percentage of listings are (a) selling, period (b) selling, fast and (c) selling at or above the asking price than they have during any spring in recent memory.

Pristine and staged. Photos should look like something out of a home decor catalog or design magazine — like no one lives there, even if someone does.
Low prices. When buyers see a beautiful home listing online for less than they’d expect for the area, they show up in droves, eager to get a great home for a great value. And the math from there is simple — it takes more showings to drive more offers.
Ample exposure to the market. Ample exposure can be achieved in several ways. Professional photography. An aggressive online marketing campaign — most experienced local listing agents will happily brief prospective seller clients on what they do in this vein.
Showable on demand. Hard-to-show homes just don’t sell, when there’s lots of competition. When buyers’ brokers put their home tours together, if a particular listing requires too much notice (i.e., 48 hours) or too many calls and callbacks for appointment-setting, they’re very likely just to turn to one of the other dozens of homes that’s easy to show.

Get your Santa Fe home on the market here

Bank of America Offers Principal Reductions to 200,000 Homeowners

Rich Gonzales — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:01:07 +0000

A select group of struggling mortgage borrowers are about to get an offer that sounds too good to be true. Executives at Bank of America say they will begin mailing 200,000 letters offering certain customers mortgage principal reduction.

“If people get these things and toss them, they won’t be eligible,” says Ron Sturzenegger, the Bank of America executive charged with providing solutions to borrowers in need of mortgage assistance.

But the offer is real, and eligible borrowers could get as much as $150,000 knocked off the balance of their mortgages. It is all part of the $25 billion settlement reached this year between federal and state agencies and the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers over fraudulent foreclosure document processing (so-called “robo-signing”).

In order to qualify for the modification, the borrower must answer the letter with full documentation of income, showing that under the terms of the modification they can still make the monthly payment. A borrower with no income would therefore not qualify. A borrower’s current monthly payment must be more than 25 percent of gross income, and the borrower must show they are unable to afford that.

Tips to Help Prevent Foreclosure

Rich Gonzales — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:00:32 +0000

With the Santa Fe Real Estate Market possibly making a turn for the better this year, now may be the time to start searching for your new Santa Fe home. To help avoid make the same missteps many home buyers made before the bubble burst here are a few tips to help prevent foreclosure.

Buy a home you can afford: This may seem obvious, but it’s always a good idea to go over the numbers and make sure that your housing costs are no more than 25-28% of your take home pay.
Contact your lender immediately: If you foresee financial instability looming, let your lenders know as soon as possible. Most will be willing to work with you.
Consider temporary relief: Again, ask your lender if they have any assistance programs or polices in place to help home owners in financial trouble. Just remember, whatever you agree to, it’s only a temporary solution
Look into a Modification: If temporary help is not an option, try to get your loan modified. Here’s a link to help see if your eligible for a modification: makinghomeaffordable.gov
Short Sale: If you’re upside down on your house and desperate to avoid foreclosure, you may want to go with a short sale. This is where you sell your house for less than you owe. A short sale won’t effect your credit rating as badly and may help you get back on your feet.

You can always ask one of our Santa Fe real estate experts for help as well.

Home prices to hit bottom in 19 markets this year

Rich Gonzales — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:00:51 +0000

Home prices in a majority of the markets covered in Zillow’s Home Value Forecast are set to bottom this year — if they haven’t already, according to a new Zillow report.“From an economic perspective, the latter part of the first quarter is full of positive news as the spring selling season gets underway,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, in a news release. “While it is unlikely that national home values continue to rise at this rate through the rest of the spring and summer, it is undeniable that we are seeing sparks of life in the housing market.”

Nineteen out of 30 markets in Zillow’s monthly report are expected to hit a bottom, in terms of home prices, at some point in 2012, according to the real-estate website.

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
May 4, 2012

See the 19 Markets expected to hit Bottom in 2012

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