Updates, trends, status and numbers – because they matter

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Glory to the internet! On a cold, windy & wet day, I can sit at my laptop and push buttons and add the latest statistics for residential real estate in Santa Fe NM to this blog while eating gummy bears! Or vegetables!

Your time spent reviewing the latest statistics will reveal continued improvement in residential sales combined with lower inventory, which magically means that the “absorption rate” has come down again! Hello? This is good news!

In the All Price Ranges spreadsheet, for example, we are about equal to the end of 2007 in the length of time it would take to sell all inventory; a statistic known as the absorption rate.  To view, first click on the page header above to return to the home page, then select the spreadsheet you would like to view, under Stats and Charts on the right side.

From any page on this site, you can return to the home page by clicking on the header instead of the back button on your keyboard. Also, if you have opened up a chart to view, you will need to use your back button to return to this site. Closing that page closes your visit session on the site.

The news is good, as it should be. Buyers have been working hard to regain the strength in their hands to write checks and sign contracts. Sellers have been working hard to prepare their homes for every showing and keep prices at a level that would attract buyers. And crazy Realtors like me have been working hard playing cupid with buyers and sellers, finding matches that will last and selling the sizzle.

Kindly keep real estate in mind as a sound  purchase. If it were food, it could be comfort food and healthy food. We all need to live somewhere, someone said. A warm and safe home is something most people understand and protect.

Seems many waited for the election so we could get back to something like normal. Yet now we will fret about the “fiscal cliff” our elected officials must face on our behalf. Will taxes go up for “everyone”? Will our Congressmen and President truly solve the problem or just kick the can down the road and delay any level of resolution for another year? I believe we should let our representatives know how we feel about it.

Entering winter soon, hoping for a heavy snowpack to alleviate the drought, we can prepare ourselves for a busy 2013 in real estate. Those same statistics posted herein show we have already surpassed the YEARLY total of units sold (residential) for three of the past four years with still two months of results to tack on this year. We will easily finish this year with the most total units sold since the year of 2007. You may remember that year as one in which there was doubt that things would deteriorate very much. That little blip evolved into our primary task now; move the inventory available for sale in hopes of recovering a balanced market soon.

My definition, commonly accepted, is a balanced market shows about six months average absorption rate and closer to 90 “days on market’. My current wild guess and prediction is mid 2014 for taking that high ground. Don’t kid yourselves; we have a great deal of work to do to get there, and our efforts must be doubled for success to be ours. Keep talking, keep looking , keep on trying and our rewards will come.

Phone lines are now open:  505-470-7153 and ask for Alan.  Send me your thoughts and complaints:  alanball2@gmail.com

Posted in Posts & Updates.

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.