SantaFe.com

Perhaps the most important document in initiating a mortgage transaction is the Good Faith Estimate (GFE). This is a document estimating ALL of the costs of a loan which must be presented to the borrower within 3 days of taking an application. It is a critical piece of information as it gives the borrower the costs of a given transaction as well as the proposed monthly payment The borrower can compare this information with the GFE’s from other lenders.

The GFE is very specific in the information that it provides and the line item numbers match up with the Settlement Statement that is...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Andrew Hoffman • SantaFe.com

Ask a dozen Wall Street analysts this month where and when the stock market will bottom out and you’ll get twelve different answers. Jumping in as a buyer at any point in time is a gamble, particularly if short term timing is the objective. Real estate suffers from similar speculation: Does the market have further to fall, or is this the time to step up as mortgage rates continue to fall and inventory has swelled to inviting proportions (from a buyer’s point of view). Just as the stock market is a mosaic of multiple components (retail, energy, tech, manufacturing, transportation…) and not...

Friday, April 11, 2008 at 11:52 AM
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

In John Perkins’ 2004 best seller, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, we are treated to factual stories of United States agencies repeatedly pulling a fast one on developing nations. The shell game is deceptively simple: convince a third world government it needs infrastructure to grow its economy and meet the needs of a swelling population. Loan that government more money than it needs for schools, roads, hospitals, oil refineries and mines. Charge a healthy interest rate, and stipulate that construction and operations must be contracted out only to U.S. companies. Fast forward a few...

Friday, March 14, 2008
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

The house at 1002 Old Pecos Trail, at the corner of Coronado Road, is for sale. Once considered the entrance to Santa Fe, it has lived many lives. It was built in 1918 by the artist and architect of Spanish Pueblo revival, Carlos Vierra, for himself and his wife, Ada Talbert Ogle. Vierra was given the land (in a life estate) and $5000 to build the house by his patron and state senator, Frank Springer. In 1919, the local paper reported, “ It (the construction) promises to be the last word on original Santa Fe style houses with several sweeping porches.” Local artists, architects, and style...

Friday, March 14, 2008
by Pat French • SantaFe.com

It’s easy to underestimate what a dynamic tool the tax deferred exchange can be. Setting up a long term strategy can show how equity preservation becomes a painless way to adapt your portfolio. Here is an example of someone who effectively used a tax deferred exchange strategy to accomplish specific goals and benefit handsomely.

Mr. Jones has owned a single commercial building in Albuquerque for nearly 20 years. Originally purchased for $120,000, the property required $80,000 in maintenance and upgrades over the two decades. His goals at acquisition had been simple: ease of management,...

Saturday, March 1, 2008
by Charles Weber

'Tis a month after Christmas, and all through the town not a soul is buying, but rates are on their way down! Indeed, mortgage rates are moving lower on news of a weakening economy. The 10-year Treasury bond, which used to be the bellwether of 30-Year mortgage rate is at its lowest point since 2004. The rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage seems to be slipping daily.

When is the appropriate time to refinance? Actually, it is a simple calculation. Let's take the example of a $300,000 loan at 6.375%. The payment is presently at $1,860. At 5.625%, the payment will be $1,714, and the...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
by Andrew Hoffman

Inman News, a highly regarded real estate news source, recently interviewed Sam Sebastian, director of classified advertising at Google. Sebastian spoke of the continued migration of off-line real estate advertising (print, radio, television, billboards, etc.) to online, whether it be Google, Yahoo or Craig’s List, national marketing sites whether independent or associated with brand name brokers, and niched, city-centric sites. Sebastian predicted that in the year ahead, until the real estate market stabilizes, major brokerages will take money off the advertising table, put some of it in...

Monday, January 28, 2008
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

A 1031 exchange, commonly known as a tax deferred exchange, is a method of selling your property and acquiring another property within a specified period of time. The process of selling a property and buying another are practically identical to a standard sell and buy situation, except that a “1031 exchange” is unique because the entire transaction is treated for tax purposes as an exchange and not a simple sale. These exchanges are sometimes mistakenly called “tax free exchanges” because the exchange transaction itself is not taxed in the year it occurs, but in reality the taxes are...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Paul Duran • SantaFe1031exchange.com

Santa Fe is no different than most real estate markets across the country—whipsawed by the credit crunch brought on by loose lending standards, buyers waiting for their homes to sell in other cities, prices to continue to correct in Santa Fe, and a Fed worried about recession one moment and inflation the next, and increasingly, stagflation. Against this macro backdrop of confusion and occasional chaos, we’ve seen a year of swelling inventories in Santa Fe in most price ranges (particularly under $750,000), many price reductions, and a twenty-one percent decline in unit sales, although the...

Tuesday, January 1, 2008
by Michael French • SantaFe.com