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Posts Tagged ‘Barker Santa Fe’
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Quarterly median home prices plunge as first-time purchasers take advantage of tax credit
Bob Quick | The New Mexican
10/14/2009 – 10/15/09
For the first time in years, lower-priced homebuyers are driving the market in Santa Fe, pushing the median home sales price down an astonishing 32 percent in the city from a year ago.
The quarter saw about the same overall volume as a year ago because of an increase in county sales from 115 to 140. Total sales in the city, however, dropped 29 percent from 190 to 135, with the vast majority of the sales being buyers looking to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, said Mary Schroeder, president of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors.
Because of the new market — these buyers are looking for homes under $250,000 — there appears to be more affordable homes being built in the Santa Fe area, said Mary Schroeder, president of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors.
“We used to be in denial about the price of real estate in Santa Fe,” she said. “Now buyers and sellers are coming together … and we’re seeing a lot of sales in the lower end of the market. People are taking advantage of that tax credit.”
Schroeder spoke at a quarterly news conference of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors held to discuss sales results for the third quarter of 2009 and current trends in real estate in Santa Fe.
The association cautions that the median sales price is based on properties listed through the Multiple Listing Service, which does not necessarily include every sale in the area but historically has been used to track trends in the market. The median sales price means as many homes sold for more than that price as sold for less.
Total single-family detached-home sales in the city and county, combined from July 1 to Sept. 30, dropped from 305 in 2008 to 275 in 2009, while the median price dropped 8 percent in the county to $395,000. (more…)
Tags: Barker Realty, Barker Santa Fe, Santa Fe Real Estate, Santa Fe Realty
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Monday, October 5th, 2009
 Paul Weideman | The New Mexican
10/4/2009 – 10/4/09
This condominium is unique at Quail Run. A wall between two penthouse units on the second floor of the main Clubhouse building was taken out to create a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2-kitchen condominum suite. “This unit is the poster child for Quail Run,” said Realtor Paul Stenberg, who is representing the 1,730-square-foot property with Patricia Love.
The new owner could alter the space, which is configured as a larger unit composed of living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom; and a smaller, caregiver’s suite, both with access to a balcony shaded by mature aspen trees.
Taken as a whole, there are bedrooms at either end, one with a wood floor and fireplace. Most of the common spaces are carpeted, but the kitchens and bathrooms have floors of Saltillo tile. The main kitchen is outfitted with a Kenmore Elite refrigerator, GE range/oven and built-in microwave oven, a Kitchen Aid dishwasher, and countertops of ivory-colored tile. Behind a pair of doors, in a closet space, are the washer and dryer.
The smaller kitchen has Whirlpool appliances.
This penthouse unit is one of about 20 on the second floor of Quail Run’s Clubhouse. In the same building are a restaurant, a bar and lounge, a library, swimming pools, a billiards and poker room, and a spa/fitness facilities with certified personal trainers available. The 103-acre property holds tennis courts, a PGA-rated, 9-hole golf course (par 32), and nearly two miles of walking trails.
Sales at the Quail Run development opened in 1988. Today about 150 of the 265 units are held by full-time residents. The rest are available to rent as vacation homes at rates ranging from about $300 to about $700. Condominium owners pay dues of $350 to $1,200, depending on the size of the home, and this entitles them to the use of all facilities and covers the costs of security, snow shoveling, and hazard insurance. A portion of the annual dues is held in a $4 million reserve, from which funds are dispersed for common-area maintenance, such as for roof, stucco, and paving work.
Quail Run offers 500 nonresident memberships for the privilege of using the bar, the fitness center, and the golf course. These memberships cost $2,000 to $5,000 initially, with monthly dues of $125 to $240. The demographic in Quail Run is “mostly 50 and up,” general manager Marla Thompson. “We don’t have restrictions against children, but we don’t have very many. We have a handful of attorneys and several doctors, working professionals, and when their families come in to visit, they just rent units for them to stay in.”
Asked about impacts from the recession, Thompson said the project’s vacation rentals have slumped a bit this summer, but the club facilities and the restaurant “are doing well, and our real-estate prices have held their own. Our brokers published a chart showing price per square foot of condominiums in Santa Fe, and Quail Run hasn’t dropped very much compared to Santa Fe as a whole.”
The reasons are that Quail Run is “a stable community, and well-respected,” she said. “We have a lot of old-time Santa Feans who have decided to downsize and came here. Also, with our $4 million reserve account, we don’t have to do special assessments, so it helps with the surprise factor. We have 265 homes and that’s a lot of stucco and roofs; we do it in sections, so when we do it, those are sizeable contracts.
“Quail Run has been well-maintained over these 20 years and the landscaping has matured nicely, and it’s just a bunch of nice people here,” Thompson said.
The double-penthouse unit is listed by Paul Stenberg and Patricia Love, Barker Realty, for $895,000.
View Available Listings
Tags: Barker Santa Fe, Luxury Real Estate Santa Fe, Quail Run, real estate santa fe, Santa Fe Real Estate
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Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
The key is to show bank you’re in its ‘modification sweet spot’
By Stephane Fitch
If your income slumped along with the economy, you’ve got plenty of company these days. So much so that the government has a program meant to help you out by cutting your mortgage payments to 31 percent of your gross income. But it turns out that qualifying for this benefit will probably take some fancy footwork, a sympathetic partner and a little luck. Here are some pointers for navigating the terrain.
Get to know the program
The program in question is the Obama administration’s $75 billion Making Home Affordable program.
It applies to mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage holders that the government took control of a year ago. Under the government’s auspices, Fannie and Freddie are now cutting interest rates on mortgages they own to as little as 2 percent, with the aim of lowing payments to no more than 31 percent of a homeowner’s gross income.
If your income slumped along with the economy, you’ve got plenty of company these days. So much so that the government has a program meant to help you out by cutting your mortgage payments to 31 percent of your gross income. But it turns out that qualifying for this benefit will probably take some fancy footwork, a sympathetic partner and a little luck. Here are some pointers for navigating the terrain.
Get to know the program
The program in question is the Obama administration’s $75 billion Making Home Affordable program.
It applies to mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage holders that the government took control of a year ago. Under the government’s auspices, Fannie and Freddie are now cutting interest rates on mortgages they own to as little as 2 percent, with the aim of lowing payments to no more than 31 percent of a homeowner’s gross income.
The key to receiving a modification seems to be convincing the bank that you’re in its modification “sweet spot.” That means you’re in dire enough financial straits to need help but not so deeply in trouble as to be hopeless. After all, the point of the program is to modify loans in a way that borrowers will be able to keep up.
Disqualifiers
What might disqualify you? Savings, for one thing. We spoke with nearly a dozen homeowners who applied for modifications. Several were turned down because of their hefty savings accounts.
On the other hand, if you have no savings and no job or income, you’ll likely be turned down for a modification too. The program requires that applicants show proof of current income and that the income is likely to continue for at least nine months. Since in most cases unemployment benefits are part of a six-month program, they’re unlikely to qualify you.
Other variables that can influence the odds of getting approved include your other debts (credit cards and car loans) and fixed costs. Once again, banks are looking for modifications that borrowers can live with. If you’re seeking to have your housing payment cut to 31 percent of your income but are spending another 60 percent on private school tuition and health club memberships, the bank is unlikely to be convinced that you’re a viable candidate.
Showing just enough distress
It isn’t pretty, but to go to the top of the list in your bank’s loan modification department, it might help to miss a mortgage payment or two. “It feels terrible to say it, but go delinquent,” says Ron Morgan, chief executive of Sterling Home Retention Services. Morgan’s firm specializes in home-loan workouts, and many banks are outsourcing their problem loans to firms like his.
If you need help with the application process, it’s probably available. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a network of debt counselors, many available to work with you free of charge.
Tools on the Internet may also help you improve your chances at getting a modification. The owner of Homeowner’s Toolbox is a former California mortgage broker who says he has consulted with the banks he used to source loans for and has a sense of each bank’s modification “sweet spot.” Homeowner’s Toolbox is free to users and claims to estimate the probability that a homeowner will be approved for a modification.
The last thing you want to do is make your financial problems worse. That means avoiding any for-profit outfit that “promises” to get you a modification or that insists on a large payment upfront.
Tags: Barker Santa Fe, Santa Fe Real Estate, Santa Fe Realty
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Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Played all the golf courses the Santa Fe area has to offer? Ever played the Codorniz de Diablo? Didn’t think so. Few have heard of the elusive “Quail Devil”. But for the seven Santa Fe pro’s who turned out last Monday for this “fiendish” 9-hole round, this was no Sunday school practice.
Even under the best conditions, Quail Run’s immaculately groomed fairways are narrow, with out-of-bounds lurking ever so close and glistening condominium windows just daring the swinger to slice.
The devil must have been at work in the wee hours Monday morning, as the players found the blue boxes as far back as possible in their respective tee boxes. In several cases, the fairway distance was increased by 20 – 30 yards. On the par three’s, pins were hidden behind copses of trees, invisible from the tee box.
And if there was a slope to be found on the manicured greens, the pin proudly stood at the severest of angles.
Hole #2 and Hole #8 particularly bedeviled the players: Hole #2’s pin was inches off the rear collar on a 15 degree backward slope. Hole #8’s length was increased to nearly 360 yards from the typical 340 and the pin placement was also adjacent to the rear collar sloping severely down and left; A close miss ended in a ball rolling unhindered 10 or more feet away.
Described as one of New Mexico’s most difficult holes period, Hole #7’s par 5 distance was increased to over 540 yards – the tee box offering the narrowest of windows through the trees to the fairway beyond. A beguiling hole on a typical day, most players over play this hole, refusing to lay up and tending to try for 150 – 175 yard green shots. Dense trees on the left and an arroyo on the right foul 80% of these tried and true players. On this day, two of our seven pro’s birdied this hole – both taking a calculated second swing to lie 100 yards out and wedging their ball to the green on their third. Arguably, two risky putts awarded the players with the lead – but this was only the 7th.
By the end of the ninth hole, four of our seven pro’s tied for a one-under par, or 31. When asked, the five visiting pro’s all commented that the course pleasantly surprised them on this day and that they would never underestimate the Quail’s prowess again.
Quail Run offers a great but often overlooked golf course and other amenities. Its located in Southeast Santa Fe and is a community worth exploring if golf is important to your lifestyle.
To see available properties visit here.
To learn more about the Quail Run community visit here.
To speak to one of our experts on Quail Run visit here.
Tags: Barker Santa Fe, Luxury Real Estate Santa Fe, Quail Run, Santa Fe Realty
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Monday, September 28th, 2009
The tumbling housing market has made them more of a rarity again
A million dollars doesn’t buy you what it once did. In most U.S. neighborhoods, it now gets you a lot more.
During the housing boom, prices rose so high and so fast that even cookie-cutter homes in the paved suburbs of South Florida and California could cost a cool million. In Santa Clara, Calif., a high-tech hot spot, the median price hit $836,780 in 2007.
That was a long way from the days when a million-dollar home evoked images of marble columns and swimming pools with vanishing edges. Subprime loans allowed more people than ever to buy houses that were once above their means. Higher demand fueled ever-higher prices until the spigot of cheap money was turned off and the housing bubble burst. The recession forced many well-heeled buyers into unemployment lines. And sales of homes over $1 million cratered by more than 50 percent from the peak four years ago.
“Everyone has less money than they once had,” said Amy Wright, an agent with The Real Estate Office in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. “That has certainly affected the nouveau riche, and that’s definitely in that $1 million price point.”
For people who do have the money, however, it’s the best time in years to buy luxury real estate.
Rancho Santa Fe is a luxury enclave in San Diego County that has over the years lured the likes of Howard Hughes and Bill Gates. Equestrian trails border golf courses, and the most expensive home on the market is listed for $29.9 million.
A couple of years ago, the idea of getting a house in Rancho Santa Fe for a paltry $1 million was laughable. Now, foreclosures and financially distressed homeowners account for about 15 percent of sales, and home prices are down 30 percent.
In one golf-course community in the town, a 2,200-square-foot home is listed for $800,000. Residents live in a gated community where Spanish style homes surround a 250-acre Rees Jones-designed golf course and an accompanying 35,000-square foot clubhouse.
In the 20 largest U.S. metro areas, about 2,800 homes sold for more than $1 million in July — down by more than half from July 2005, according to MDA DataQuick. Nationwide, overall home sales were down about 27 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the month of August, sellers with homes priced above $2 million were cutting prices by an average of 14 percent, compared with the national average of 10 percent, according to Trulia.com.
The good news for luxury homebuyers is that they’re getting about 20 percent “more house” than they did two years ago, and the prestige of owning a $1 million home is returning, said John Brian Losh, CEO of luxuryrealestate.com.
That is, if they can afford the payments.
On Friday, the average interest rate for a 30-year “jumbo loan” (defined as a mortgage over $729,750) was 6.18 percent — about a point higher than a conventional fixed-rate mortgage, according to Bankrate.com. That means the mortgage payment for a $1 million home (with a down payment of 20 percent) would run about $4,900 a month, not including property taxes.
Tags: Barker Santa Fe, Luxury Real Estate Santa Fe, real estate santa fe, Santa Fe Realty
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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Along with our current website, designed by the wonderful people at pearsonkramer.com, we also have individual websites for some of the current properties for sale. Please check out our website for more information regarding individual listings. Many times, the properties we list have around 25 pictures to showcase as much as we possibly can.
Tags: Barker Realty website, Barker Santa Fe, real estate santa fe, realty websites, Santa Fe Realty
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