Albuquerque Real Estate News

Wow! Discovered this week is some prime building lots available that adjoin the bosque and are in the El Bosque gated neighborhood at Andalucia on the west side.  The home sites are oversized and many back to the bosque and have views or orient to open space.  Scott Patrick Homes and Tiara Homes both have lots available to build a home for you and there are some homes under construction or completed.

In general, the homes here are around $500,000 or under… which considering the location and quality seems awesome!

The Andalucia neighborhood is located along the Rio Grande River between Bosque School and St. Pius High School, is quick to I-40 for commuting to downtown or KAFB, and adjoins a large area of open space with trails.

It sure seems like a unique opportunity to have a great home in a fantastic location.  A few years from now we’ll be wishing there were still lots here to build upon!

So, it’s been a busy week as a realtor on The Venturi Team! With a few out of state clients in town visiting and searching for a house to buy, it’s been a bit challenging with the weather.  For those home buyers who arrived last Friday… they caught a tiny bit of the lovely weather we had last week before Sunday hit. For the rest, hopefully they’ll understand that the spring winds are a small price to pay for the mostly ideal climate that we all enjoy!

I was out showing homes in Rio Rancho on Sunday.  When the clients and I walked out of a home in the Lomas Encantados neighborhood, the dirt and wind were so heavy I couldn’t pull my car door open to get in.  Needless to say I was happy when I finally did settle into my car and have the opportunity to get the dirt out of my eyes.

We are so fortunate here that we don’t typically have major weather issues such as tornadoes, earthquakes or hurricanes… so I’ll take a day like Sunday with heavy wind and dirt since I know that’s about as bad as it gets around here.  I know the sun will shine again soon and the Sandia Mountains will re-appear once the dust settles.

Warren Buffett recently spoke out about housing and the recovery.  He had predicted the housing market in America was going to be in recovery mode in 2011. Although he wasn’t spot on with this,  he’s now saying that if he had a way to manage single family homes as rental properties, he would buy up ‘a couple hundred thousand’ as home prices are down on average 33% since 2006.

This is good news as Warren Buffett has a solid record of providing solid returns on his investments. For him to wish he could buy up hundreds of thousands of single family homes, this says a lot.  I’ve had a goal to buy another rental house this past year but haven’t even done that.  I’ve been so busy with everyone else’s real estate that I forget to make time for my own.

Interest rates are still great so I’m going to follow Warren’s thoughts and find me a house to buy as a rental.  I have a few now and need to take advantage of the current real estate market.

If you are in need of protesting your property tax values and need help, I would recommend New Mexico Property Tax Consultants.  Their phone number is 505-265-7555.

Now is the time to open your mail and determine if your property is being values correctly.

As a land owner in Rio Rancho and a realtor, I watch the sale of land here pretty closely.  Unfortunately, my land values in Rio Rancho have dropped dramatically over the past few years and if I could find a buyer for some of my parcels, I’d realize a big loss.  However, I’ve already come to terms that I’ve taken a big hit on my investments and know that to hold on to the parcels hoping for them to recover, it could take more than my lifetime. So the dilemma is… do I continue to hold them and pay taxes on them, or do I fire sale them and take the loss and move on?  I’m not going to decide any time soon, but as I receive my notice of values from the Sandoval County Assessors office, I’m going to be looking them over carefully to determine whether they are being fairly assessed.  I sure don’t want to overpay on land and feel more pain.

Rio Rancho land values have dropped the past few years and the market for land sales has pretty much dried up.  For those of you who have Rio Rancho land and you’ve been paying property taxes on it for years, receiving your Notice of Value from the Sandoval County Assessors office is likely to make you wonder what to do with your land.  If your land in Rio Rancho is in areas of no utilities or infrastructure, you may want to consider donating the land and getting a possible tax benefit.  I’ve recently learned of an organization that will accept donations of Rio Rancho land so there is some good news.

New Mexico Parks Foundation is willing to accept donations and Rio Rancho land. Some folks in the past have let their land go back to the county and be sold through tax auctions.  It sure seems like it would be a better idea to donate it.

If your land is in units 24, 23, 1, 26, & 2, chances are pretty high that there’s no infrastructure there nor will it be there in my lifetime. Other units also have vast areas of land that are very far from development and may not appreciate in value for a very long time.

You should be receiving your Notice of Value for property you own in Bernalillo and Sandoval County.  The notice of value is not a tax bill, but it’s letting you know what the assessors office believes your home or property is worth… which will be the taxable value for when taxes are figured.

You only have a short window of time to protest the value. If you think your property is worth less than the notice of value shows, protest it now!  We can supply you with the sold data of similar homes to support your protest.  As realtors, we can give sold data to you.

I saw this article this morning and wanted to pass it on… the home loan process is not like it us to be and the lenders do much more due diligence than in the past.  Of course this is a good thning because we want good loans being made so we don’t repeat the problems of 2008.  12 mortgage tips for 2012 homebuyers – MSN Real Estate.