This Month's Featured
Property
1002
Hickox
$312,900
3 Bedrooms, 2
Baths
~1500 square
feet
Newly remodeled 3 bed 2 bath
semi-attached adobe home on corner lot. Two main
entrances, separate entrance to one bedroom that could
be an office. Fireplace, carpeted bedrooms, laundry
room, basement. Walled in garden, with fruit trees. New
exterior stucco.
Carport.
National Association of Realtors
Annual
Conference
The National Association of
Realtors held its Annual Conference in San Diego this
year. Thousands upon thousands of Realtors attended the
Conference injecting some much needed money into San
Diego's economy.
As always, there were hundreds
of classes offered, governance meetings and economic
forecasts for both the residential and commercial
markets. My favorites have always been the International
events. This year was no exception with real estate
practitioners from over 50 countries attending. There
are currently great opportunities to invest in real
estate overseas and due to the weak dollar and the low
real estate prices in the US, many foreign investors are
flocking to the US.
According to the economic gurus,
it would appear that the residential market has a good
chance of stabilizing over the next year or two, i.e
sales will not continue to go down, though prices may
for a little while longer. We may then see a couple of
years of the market remaining relatively flat before
modest increases
appear.
On the other hand, the
commercial market seems to be in for a very difficult
time as numerous buildings come up for refinancing.
Unlike, residential real estate where an Adjustable Rate
Mortgage (ARM) adjusts for a couple of years and then
remains at that rate for the remaining term of the loan,
commercial loans though amortized over a long period of
time have a Call Date where they have to be refinanced.
Generally Call Dates run 5 - 10 years. As a result, many
properties that were purchased in 2005 - 2007 at the
height of the market with abundant money available for
loans will be due for refinancing in 2010 - 1017. Now,
unfortunately, value has come down and credit is less
available making it close to impossible for most to
refinance. This could create an enormous strain on the
real estate market and the economy as a whole as more
and more commercial properties go into foreclosure or
stop paying on their
loans.
At the moment, there are a
significant number of both residential and commercial
properties that are behind on their payments but have
not been foreclosed on either due to the lack of staff
at the lenders or because the lenders don't want the bad
loans reflected on their
books.
Should lenders foreclose on
these properties, they face a two fold dilemma -- one
the one hand, it devalues their assets which means they
have to have more reserves to offset the bad loans
further tightening the lending market, on the other
hand, they will have to flood the market with these
properties in order to recoup some of their investment
thus further exacerbating any effort at
stabilization.
What a dilemma, I would not want
to be a lender these
days.
We all know this
is the flag of the State of New Mexico. But did you know
that...
- The yellow field and red
symbol colors are the colors of
Spain?
- That the flag was first
brought to New Mexico by Spanish explorers in
1540?
- On New Mexico's flag we see a
red sun with rays stretching out from it. There are
four groups of rays with four rays in each group. This
is an ancient symbol of the Zia People.
- The Zia believed that the
giver of all good gave them gifts in groups of four.
These gifts are:
- The four directions -
North, East, South and
West
- The four seasons - Spring,
Summer, Fall and Winter
- The day - sunrise, noon,
evening and night
- Life itself - childhood,
youth, middle years and old
age
All of these are bound by a
circle of life and love, without a beginning or
end.