Taking a look at the past 7 days in our market…

There were 9 new homes listed with an average price of $309,000 with 2 listed under $100k and 4 listed in the $100k range, 2 listed in the $300-400k range, 1 listed over a million in Hillsboro. There were 3 new land listings with an average price of $104,966. There was 1 commercial listing for $460,000 in Silver City.

In the past seven days there were 7 price changes, 8 properties sold, 5 expired listings and 59 listings showed up on the hotsheet. Of the 8 sold properties there were 7 homes and 1 land listings with an average list price of $209,737 and an average sold price of $194,768.

This copyrighted data was provided by the Silver City Regional Multi List Svc as of October 12, 2007

Taking a look at the past 7 days in our market…

There were 15 new homes listed with an average price of $245,480 with 3 listed under $100k and 6 listed in the $100k range, 4 listed in the $200k range, 2 listed over $600k. There were 12 new land listings with an average price of $93,375. There was 1 commercial listing for $154,000 in Silver City.

In the past seven days there were 15 price changes, 14 properties sold, 12 expired listings and 97 listings showed up on the hotsheet. Of the 14 sold properties there were 10 homes and 4 land listings with an average list price of $142,932 and an average sold price of $131,189.

This copyrighted data was provided by the Silver City Regional Multi List Svc as of September 14, 2007

Taking a look at the past 7 days in our market…

There were 11 new homes listed with an average price of $191,263 with 4 listed under $100k and 3 listed in the $100k range, 2 listed in the $200k range, 2 in the $300k plus range.  There were 5 new land listings with an average price of $77,700.  There were no commercial listings and one ranch/farm listed in Catron County.

In the past seven days there were 28 price changes, 11 properties sold, 12 expired listings and 106 listings showed up on the hotsheet.  Of the 11 sold properties there were 8 homes and 3 land listings with an average list price of $165,740 and an average sold price of $151,377. 

This copyrighted data was provided by the Silver City Regional Multi List Svc as of September 7, 2007

I just discovered a great new website featuring mortgage rates, calculators, economic statistics, sales rates and trends. The nation's largest publisher of consumer loan information for 26 years. www.hsh.com

Here is an excerpt from the article I am reading this morning:

The Home-Price Vise: Who's Pinched When Home Prices Fall?

Premise

There's been a lot of concern and discussion about home prices, and whether falling (or, to hear some tell it, "collapsing") home prices will trigger a national recession. In a May 9 item in American Banker, the National Association of Realtors forecast that home price would drop by 1% in 2007 - that's not a typo - to a median $219,800. Prices of new homes are expected to drop by a scant $100 over the same period, to $246,400. The most recent report from S&P/Case-Schiller said that home prices have slipped a little more than that, and are down by 1.4% in the first quarter of 2007 when compared against the first quarter of 2006.

While home prices are subject to the same laws of supply, demand, and speculation as are other assets, there are additional notable exceptions. The old real estate mantra - "location, location, location" - has a lot to do with how a particular property appreciates and depreciates in value. Just as certain properties appreciated more during the long housing boom, certain properties may suffer to a greater degree during the downturn in appreciation, however long it may last.

In this analysis, we focus on the home-price issue. We omitted issues with regards to two factors which, while salient, don't have anything to do with home prices: subprime mortgages, which are largely related to adjustable rate mortgage resets (which cause cash flow and payment affordability issues); and the effects of Option ARMs with minimum payments, which could serve to worsen the effects of a devaluation in prices to an unknown degree, depending upon the borrower's payment choices over time, LTV, actual payment rate and other factors. See this articlefor a discussion of Option ARMs.

Argument

That said, it's clear that some people will be more affected than others. You often see those persons subject to the market's whims described as "victims of the housing bust" or some similar description. Given a case of an owner-occupied home with an unlucky homeowner desperate to sell, you could theoretically find a "victim." What then, of the case of the many unoccupied properties, new or otherwise? Are investors and speculators "victims" too, even though they don't stand to lose home and hearth, but perhaps only money? To us the question is: How many actual "victims" of the market's whims will there be?

Although we know that the individual experience of a borrower will be quite different than any analysis might reveal, we thought it might be instructive to determine what would have happened to a hypothetical "median" borrower over the past few years.

To develop a sense of what might have happened, we used the median home price (from the Census Bureau) for a given year, starting in year 1999, 2000, 2001, and so forth.

Using that starting median price, we then applied the median percentage of appreciation (supplied by OFHEO) seen during the following year, and carried that forward for each year through 2006.

• Read more Source: HSH Associates Financial Publishers

I think this is an excellent website with information for the real estate professional and the consumer! Take a minute to check out all it has to offer.

Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico

The CAA-SNM Housing Program is dedicated to helping low income individuals and families live in a safe and habitable environment while also conserving energy and helping to keep utility bills low.

For many living on a fixed or low income, finding the money to pay the cost of electricity and gas - expecially in the summer and winter months - can be a challenge.  The Community Action Agency’s Weatherization Assistance Program aims to help people increase their monthly income by lowering their utility bills.

Who and how does the program help?

The Weatherization Program helps those who meet eligibility requirements to be certain that their home is free of excess gas and carbon monoxide. The Weatherization Team also make minor repairs to windows and exterior doors. When it is necessary and funding allows, the Weatherization Team can repair or replace heating units and hot water heaters. Please note: Major home repairs are NOT included in weatherization activities; these include:

• Plumbing work
• Electrical work
• Roof damage repair
• Storm window installation or repair
• Mobile home skirting installation or repair

Examples of minor repairs (when necessary):

• Air Leakage Reduction: Repair or replace broken glass; packing of cracks; weather stripping; installation of door sweeps; installation of insulation; reset or replace thermostat control; repair or replace door door threshold; replacement of exterior doors.
• Incidental Repairs: Patching of roof leakage; sealing of repairs with paint.
• Health and Safety: Repair or replacement of unsafe stove pipe; installation of smoke detectors; venting of space heaters; repair or replace space heaters; repair or replace furnace; repair moisture-related problems; repair wiring problems.

Location

For qualification requirements please contact
CAA Housing Department
320 E. Wyatt
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Dana Reyes (505) 523-1639, ext 115 - www.caasnm.org

Services received are dependent on available funding!

Yesterday I conducted a new member orientation. There were 10 new real estate licensees in attendance. Some have been in the business for a few months and others just received their license from the New Mexico Real Estate Commission. What a great group of people, I wish them well!

It is an unfortunate fact that 20% of all new real estate licensees will leave the field within the first couple of years. Real estate is a tough business! Sure, there are some great success stories but I find that most just make a living. The most successful are the ones that have been in business for a long time and work on repeat business, have found a niche that they fit into or maybe they have previous job experience that lends itself well to making a success of real estate. As state licensing entities start strengthening licensing and education requirements it will get even tougher to get a license. We've seen a change here in New Mexico. It used to be that one could take 60 hrs of correspondence courses and get their license. That much hasn't changed but in 2006 the commission added 30 hrs of classroom time. New licensees are now required to take 10 hours of continuing education each year until their first renewal and take a test at that time. There are licensees that have been in business so long that they were able to get out of taking any more education, this rule changed in 2006. The qualifying broker is now required to take a broker refresher course every three years. While the transition into the new requirements is difficult I feel the changes are for the better of the industry.

In New Mexico we are currently have about 13,000 real estate licensees. I think over the next few years with the slowdown in the market we'll see the record numbers get back to the average 8,000 to 9,000. In a slower market real estate brokers will still be able to make a good living if they have a good work ethic, an attention to detail, great follow through and… guts. Real estate is a tough business! Yes, sometimes costs seem high but what other business allows a person to spend about a thousand dollars to get their license and on average another couple of thousand to get fees paid, business cards and signs ordered and are able to hit the streets running? Historically it's been said that it takes 6 months to make a first commission. The last few years have been an anomaly; I've seen some make a commission within the first month. As with everything real estate is cyclical and I think we'll start seeing the 6-month commission be the norm once again. Real estate is a tough business!

So, I say congratulations to our newest REALTORS^®! You are definitely embarking on a great journey. Selling property can be fun, it can be scary, it can be rewarding and it can pay the bills if you can just make it through the tough business of real estate!

Have no idea what it is?

Septage is the concentrated sewage that is pumped out of septic tanks. There are 6,500 permitted septic tanks in Grant County, and many more that are not permitted. A recent regulation change by the New Mexico Environment Department requires that at all real estate transfers a septic system must be inspected and pumped. Click here for a Q&A from NMED. If systems fail inspection they must be replaced. From August 2006 to August 2007 there were 185 residential sales in the MLS that had septic systems. According to a local pumping company they pump on average 48 residential septic systems a month. A residential septic system is generally around 1200 to 2600 gallons. At this time they charge $275 to $325 to inspect the tank and $150 to $185 to pump it out. These are additional costs the home seller pays when selling.

The big issue here is that in the past the pumped septage has been treated by Phelps Dodge. However, the contract expired several years ago and new regulations make it impossible for Phelps Dodge to continue to accept the waste. Grant County lacks facilities that can treat the waste the pumpers are handling. This means that other alternatives have to be found. One suggestion on the table is to haul the septage to Playas, NM. This would greatly increase the costs of pumping the waste, the estimate from the pumping company would be $400 to $500. Not only would a home seller be facing higher costs at closing but the closing could be delayed considerably. Other suggestions are to build sludge beds, the county has the land, however it is my understanding that there may be issues concerning the water table in that area. This is an issue for any home owner in Grant County that has a septic system. The recommendation is that all septic systems should be pumped out every three years. With the ever increasing regulations tied into protecting our groundwater it may come to be that all septic systems will have to be inspected every few years and if found that the tank is leaking it will have to be replaced. Replacement systems start at about $8,000. Some systems closer to the water table or in critical areas have to be replaced with much more expensive systems and have to have monthly monitoring, thereby vastly increasing the costs.

The community needs to come together and discuss solutions to this issue! A Septage Forum is being put together by the Grant County Community Health Council and the Southwest Council of Governments. The fourm will take place at the Grant County Administration office on Friday, August 24th from 9 a.m. to noon. For more information contact Kendra at the Health Council at 388-1198, ext 10.