More or less what you expected

Hits: 13

The first two months of 2017 are in the books and the numbers are fairly predictable for unit sales in all price ranges for the market area of Santa Fe NM and surrounds. Not much changes month to month anyway, but we are staying the course and building a solid foundation for future growth, should it occur. Help yourself to any of the spreadsheets available in this blog site and feel free to print and share with friends and foes alike. And possibly make your foes into friends.

The year may bring unsettled results if mortgage interest rates climb as expected. Nobody who predicts the future actually knows anything, so maybe stop listening to their rants and smooth talk. And if they did know anything, they are probably not saying what lies ahead for real estate in our City Different.

As we are now approaching the spring season (also known as Allergy Season, see prior posts), our market begins to heat up with most of the movement coming in the form of new listings appearing on the market. Over the last 8-10 years, many new listings were actually old listings that did not sell. Now we are nearly done with that old inventory and are chugging along with new sales matching up with new listings on a fair and balanced basis.

The current powers that be in our nation’s capitol have some folks thinking the future is uncertain. And those not it power, citizens and the loyal opposition, are confident the future is uncertain. Yes, but please confirm; it is always uncertain. Live life to the fullest, live every day as if it will be your last and dance like you actually had some dance training. Be friendly and be nice, get yourself healthy and if you decide to dig a bomb shelter to hide in when the bad guys come for your guns, consider stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition so you can kill everything that survives the Zombie Apocalypse and be the last person standing (along with your family) on the ground you love so dearly. Then call me and I will find you a new home to move into.

The differences between various beliefs and values that we read about and see online are at times as wide a gap as the difference between black and white. One side wishes the other did not exist. Of course one side would not exist without the other. If there were no black, there would be no white. All would be the same color. And yet when someone is able to voice what is truly important to them, despite the headlines and alternative facts, the same old things keep coming up. Health and happiness. Safety and security. Shelter and clean water. Stylish clothing and the best personal trainer. Fast internet and reality show entertainment. No wait… fast internet? Is that a bedrock value and need for people? Maybe so these days. I want what I want. I might also want what you have. If I am a bully and have money and ammunition, do I have the right to take what I want from you? You want what you want. Will you share what it is that is important to you? Willingly or only under threat of physical harm? Can we get along?

You can be as disgusted as the next person with what is going on out there in the Land of the Free. What are you doing about it? If you are unhappy are you looking for ways to right things that you perceive as wrong? Or are you just digging a deeper hole to hide in, hoping it all goes away? Our grand kids, some of you already have some, have the duty to ask us in the future what we did to mitigate rapid climate change and what we did to bring peace and understanding to different groups that seem constantly at odds . Is it OK with you if we are seeing species of animals and insects disappear faster than we can discover and study them? How do you know that the complete extinction of the pink tail blow fish in Southeast Asian waters will not lead to the end of life in our oceans as we know it? Is there a caring cell in your body or is it every man (or woman) for himself (or herself) and damn those that get in the way? Make America White Again? Really? Like your good old days? Good for whom?

Besides real property as opposed to personal property, what is real estate to you? The land is the earth and it has nurtured us to this point in history. Even in the high desert the land can support us. Like it or not we all came from Africa somewhere approaching 200,000 years ago. Check your DNA (I assume you might trust science and think DNA has value in amassing knowledge?) and find out where your distant ancestors came from. Mine migrated North out of Africa some 50-60,000 years ago and moved thru the Middle East, then migrated West finally settling in Europe. Then from the 1600s to the 1800s both sides of my parent’s families came over the ocean on big sailing ships to settle in the new land; a wild and woolly America. Both sides included many people who farmed and raised food and lived off of the land. How can you value a piece of fertile dirt that might sustain you while everyone buys sugary soda drinks and highly processed foods at the corner store known as IGA?

Get some dirt under your nails. Buy some land you can love and will spend time on, even better if it’s a long way from “town”.  Learn the night sky. If you can establish fruit trees and create garden space, you will form an attachment that is much stronger than steaming movies from Netflix or having a tamale at the local grill. Buy some land today. Give it to your heirs. If you are able to, buy enough that you can put some of it into a conservation easement and protect it from development forever. Why? So we might all benefit from seeing it in an undeveloped condition. The old natural look; no make up and no hair spray.

Thanks for reading and visiting. There is much to do and at times it seems like we are climbing up a very steep hill. But consider the views from the top. It will be worth the difficult ascent

Posted in Santa Fe area real estate, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , .

The writer is a 68 year-old young man engaged as an active REALTOR (associate broker) with Keller Williams, in real estate sales and management in the Santa Fe NM market area. My career has been in and around the real estate industry for more than 35 years, ranging from mortgage lending (interim, commercial, residential); residential property management and leasing; shopping center development and leasing; real estate sales; sales training; title insurance as an executive and an escrow officer; various management positions; consulting and other related activities. That plus a bunch of banking experience including our family-owned Bank of Santa Fe in the 1980s. Where has the time gone?
My background means you have my working knowledge of the entire transaction process at your disposal. That comes with honesty and no bullshit.