SantaFe.com

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

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

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

While housing pundits endlessly debate the depth and length of the current housing recession, Goldman Sachs recently published (US Daily Financial Market Comment, February 11, 2008) a helpful chart of historical data about similar contractions. Sometimes, the best way to get a handle on the future is to look in the rearview mirror. Statistics don’t necessarily mean a trend, but those below evidence a pattern: the deeper the contraction, often the more robust the recovery.

Goldman writes in its newsletter, “It is already clear that the current recession in US housing activity resembles, in...

Monday, April 7, 2008
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

Last month, Santa Fe city officials said they expected 750 permit applications from short-term vacation rental operators seeking to fall in line with a new city ordinance passed in January.

But through Thursday— four days before the deadline— only 185 applications had trickled in to the city's Planning and Land Use Department.

That's a surprise to officials who had figured the number would come in far above the cap of 350 that was established to regulate the controversial trade in residential areas.

Planning and Land Use director Jack Hiatt said he's been waiting for a flood of last-minute...

Saturday, March 29, 2008
by Dan Boyd • Journal Santa Fe

Staying fiscally fit is every bit as critical as being physically fit, and good financial health centers on our credit. If you don’t know your credit score, contact one of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax (800 685 1111; www.equifax.com), Experian (888 397 3742; www.experian.com) or Transunion (800 888 4213; www.transunion.com). For a small fee a bureau will send you your complete credit history. If you find a mistake in the report, notify all three bureaus in writing, and follow up with them if the error isn’t corrected in a timely fashion. If there’s a valid bill you haven’t...

Friday, March 28, 2008
by Michael French • SantaFe.com

Most of us acknowledge, and live with, the critical link between credit and happiness. Lifestyle has become increasingly dependent on leveraging everything from our homes and cars to our small businesses and even future inheritances. Borrowing is okay as long as you can pay your loans back, but as the recent subprime squeeze has illustrated, it’s easy to end up under water and almost as fatal as death by drowning.

How we behave as borrowers is reflected in our credit scores as determined by three national credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—all of whose models are based on...

Friday, March 21, 2008 at 9:16 AM
by Michael French • SantaFe.com