SantaFe.com

Santa Fe has been my home for thirty five years. I first fell in love—and always will be—with the breathtaking mountain views, the rich cultural heritage and, most important to me, the city’s historic architecture. The unique multicultural texture of Santa Fe—mixing Spanish, Indian and Anglo heritages—has produced historic neighborhoods that are visually exhilarating. Often their beauty is in the details--vigas, corbels, portales, deep-set windows, brightly-colored doors—but it’s also found in the simple but dramatic juxtaposition of homes on a winding street. There is always something...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Sharon Woods • Woods Architects Builders, Inc.

Once upon a time (ten years ago), investors looking for investment properties with attractive cap rates (rate of return), blue-chip tenants and triple-net leases (the tenant pays virtually all operating expenses), had to rely on word-of-mouth, out-of-state brokers, trade publications, or specialty research firms. If you were buying for your own account, as opposed to looking for a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), there were no central clearing houses with decent inventories of properties. Sometimes, when you got a lead, you jumped on a plane.

What a difference a decade makes. According...

Friday, May 9, 2008 at 10:34 AM
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

The Matteucci Compound, the almost two acre “entrance” to the Eastside, at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Acequia Madre and the home of one of Santa Fe’s most important art galleries, is for sale. The property consists of the gallery, attached main residence and guest quarters and three additional guest houses. With an incredibly colorful history, we thought we would ask If this house could talk:

House: The property then was an orchard and two farm houses that faced the Acequia Madre. There was farm land all along the Paseo from the Bandelier house, (now the Sherwood Gallery), to...

Friday, May 2, 2008 at 1:35 PM
by Pat French • SantaFe.com

In contrast to the discouraging sound bytes from the Rust Belt, Florida, and California (the states where foreclosures a generally the highest), price corrections for Santa Fe real estate moved in orderly fashion for the first quarter of 2008, with little signs of panic or jarring dislocation. An April 6 New York Times article cited Santa Fe (and Albuquerque) with less than a six percent default rate on subprime loans, compared to cities like Fort Meyers, Florida, or Modesto, California, with up to 25% subprime defaults. Santa Fe bankers report the number of builders and developers who...

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

Remodeling an existing home can be the most environmentally sound way to improve one’s living situation. The amount of materials and energy saved in reusing existing portions of a home can be very significant. Concrete, wood, plaster, wiring, plumbing, stone, tile, and many more components all contain embodied energy from the initial manufacturing, transportation and construction processes. The re-use of these components essentially can become a gigantic recycling enterprise. This enterprise can be very rewarding financially as well as beneficial to the planet.

Monday, April 28, 2008
by Burke Denman • SantaFe.com

“The largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time.” These words, describing a lending and liquidity meltdown of unprecedented dimensions, are from a) Fed Chairman Bernanke, b) Treasury Secretary Paulson, c) Mad Money guru Jim Cramer, or d) None of the above?

The correct answer is “d,” or none of the above. Twenty-five years ago, the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith was weighing in on the U.S. Savings and Loan crisis of the late eighties and early nineties, and the colossal bailout of $125 billion by the U.S. government (with another $25...

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 12:47 PM
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

What could the silver lining be as we face the daunting issue of global warming and our carbon emission increase?

Consider that the City of Santa Fe faced an overwhelming water crisis seven years ago. We used an average of 140 gallons per person per day in the year 2001. Our average use dropped to 106 gallons per person per day in 2006—a 32% reduction in water use over the course of 5 years. This change came about mostly because of creative solutions implemented by a community of aware individuals. Our water problems are not over. Nor is global warming an easy fix. However, with...

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 12:29 PM
by Burke Denman and Cedar Mountain Solar, LLC (Photos) • SantaFe.com

We were driving on that beautiful stretch of Highway 84 just north of Abiquiu on the way to the dam when we spotted a wonderful property along the river with an organic farm on it. Intrigued by the buildings and the setting on 28 acres, we asked the house to tell us a bit of its history.

House: Starting in 2001, after my owners had collaborated with Santa Fe architect Ed Boniface, Carr Construction of Santa Fe spent approximately 18 months building me and my guest house in the northern New Mexico style. Ed made sure that I had some of the best views in northern New Mexico including the...

Friday, April 11, 2008 at 12:27 PM
by Margo Cutler

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

One of Santa Fe’s few pure examples of Prairie style architecture, made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright, this one hundred year old home on East Buena Vista illustrates the versatility of adobe and rich diversity of architecture in the city prior to the Spanish Pueblo Revival after World War I.

Between 1910 and 1920, Santa Fe witnessed a brief emergence of California Mission Style, as well as California Craftsmen homes, mostly in the South Capital area. Over the years, many of these Prairie style influenced bungalows were modified to incorporate Pueblo Revival elements. The Buena Vista home of...

Monday, April 7, 2008
by Susan Kline, Lynden Galloway and Chris Corey (Photographer) • SantaFe.com