November 8, 2011
Things have slowed a little in the Taos real estate market in the past 3 years. This slow down has continually prompted me to contemplate what is going on out there in the world of real estate locally and nationally. Foreclosure, short sales, and other types of distressed properties piqued my interest so I decided to see just how many of these took place in the last year in our local market.
I just did a search for all sales in the general Taos market. My criteria for this data search included areas south to Pilar, north to Arroyo Hondo, west to the Rio Grande gorge bridge, and east to Valle Escondido and all areas in between. I also included Taos Ski Valley, Valdez, Arroyo Seco, etc. This is what I consider to be Taos proper. I did not include Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Penasco, Questa, or other outer lying areas.
What I found was comforting compared to a similar search in the beginning of the year. From November 1, 2010 to November 7, 2011, there was a total of 172 residential sales in these areas. That is about even with the previous year. What was different was the number of distressed sales. My data search showed only 36 sales were foreclosure, bank owned, or short sale properties. That is only 21% of all of the sales in the target area. I guess one can conclude that distressed sales have dropped from a high of around 35% not very long ago.
Now I am not an economist or anything of the like but my conclusion is that the market appears to be stabilizing. This certainly is good news if you are a seller, it means that prices will not continue to drop, maybe just maybe the price your home at today is close to the price at which it will sell. If you are a buyer, the good news is that interest rates are at all time historic lows. I have heard of buyers with good credit ratings, closing on 30 year fixed loans at 3.75%.
Contrary to popular belief, lenders are loaning. the trick is to be patient because the process will take double the time it used to. Lenders now want a lot more information from their borrowers. If you have been on the fence about purchasing, now just might be the time to start looking at getting back in.
Douglas Bachtel
ABI Real Estate Investments