Katharine Fly

You open up magazines and look at other people's houses - or maybe at what other people's houses are supposed to look like - but they never look like mine. I love, love looking at houses. I love meeting new people and meeting new houses, which I guess is why I love my job as a real estate broker. So after seeing hundreds of homes every year you start to see the styles emerge.

You have the "hand me down house" which is where most of us start out. We get Moms old kitchen table, Grandma's tv trays and Uncle Billy's sofa that we throw a blanket over because it might have a hole in the arm but at least it is comfy to sit on. We start out here but hopefully after 5 or 6 years we start to buy our own things that define who we are.

So after much magazine reading and catalog shopping and buying of sofas and throwing out of sofas because of dogs and kids and general deterioration of sofas of a certain age, I have decided I have found my style... Pioneer Chic. (that is pronounced "Sheeeeck" not Chick - as some who read this before it was posted were concerned it might be)

Pioneer Chic is something that I made up to define what my house is and why. I'm sure the term has been used before but here is my definition. Pioneer Chic: A style dependant on taking old and bringing in new, letting the local culture influence new purchases while retaining those things you love and making it all work together.

I live in New Mexico and always pictured myself as a pioneer taking the wagon train across the prairie, having to leave grandma's hutch behind along the trail to make room for the flour we had to buy at the last fort. Maybe the next person on the trail picked it up and brought it home. My house is an eclectic mix of the old and new - what might be found if you peeked in a stone house in the old west - out there on the prairie.

I have a Mexican farm table made by a local woodworker - who also hand carved my thick slab of a pine mantle with corbels that graces the front of my stacked stone fireplace. I have a library of books in painted black built in bookcases along the wall. Included are cookbooks, old favorites and a stack of antique readers, hymnals and 1930s children's books. I bought a Mexican island with a table that pulls out of one side and another side that holds carved barstools. It has a wrought iron star that holds up the folding bar along the other side and a wonderful cabinet side that is big enough to hold my huge stewpot and cast iron skillets.

Beside that sits an antique wardrobe with a secretary desk that folds out that I bought from a local farming family who was downsizing. I have my great grandfather's 18 drawer cabinet that he made for my great grandmother with a shiny, metal top. My grandfather then used it for his woodworking tools in his shop and I brought it back into the kitchen when I remodeled my 1970s ranch house.

I have pie pans on the wall, white painted kitchen cabinets with a Silestone countertop and hardwood floors. It's not shabby chic, it's not country living, you can't go to the store and buy the look. It has to be acquired over time.... Buying or rescuing pieces you love. Just like the pioneers brought pieces from the east and traded for something new. I have silk on the windows and leather on the sofa. It isn't western, though I do have a small framed painting of a Hereford.

It's what little house on the prairie might be today, with enamelware next to crystal and a hand-blown Mexican bubble glass bowl of fruit on the table. It may not be out of a magazine but it's home.

Green is slowly marching Eastward over our state. Green building practices have been boasted about for years in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. But in the East, where dairy cattle outnumber prairie dog lovers and talk of "Green" practices still brings to mind hippies, Californians, and tree huggers, consumers and builders are finally seeing the value in researching and implementing green building practices.

It isn't just about smearing mud on the walls and saving trees any longer - those may be great ideas but today's Green standards are based on energy conservation. The practical people of Eastern New Mexico realize this means money - more in their pockets and less spent on heating and a/c. It's smarter building which starts in the design phase and carries through the materials, standards and waste a project produces.

I was doing some research for a client and found that we have no "Green" builders based in Eastern New Mexico. No members of Build Green New Mexico and no builders knowledgeable about the steps to take to certify their homes for energy sustainability.

A quick way to put more money in builder's pockets would be for them to take advantage of the tax credits available to them. New Mexico offers sizeable tax credits to builders and consumers that should not be ignored. If a home achieves a Build Green New Mexico or LEEDS certification at the lowest level (There are three levels Gold/ Silver and Platinum- Emerald) The builder can get a $5.00 per sq ft tax credit from New Mexico. For example a 2000 sq ft house would get a $10,000.00 tax credit. That is in addition the federal government's offer of another $2000 tax credit for using sustainable energy practices. If the house achieved a platinum rating, that credit could go as high as $9.00 a sq ft. and that adds up to some nice pocket change.

I don't know enough about GREEN certifications, practices, or credits, I admit, so my first step will be to take more courses so that I know what I am talking about. A quick resource to turn to would be New Mexico's Energy Conservation and Management Division website. They have a nice little chart with links of where to go for more information. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ecmd/cleanenergytaxincentives/sustainablebuildingtaxcredit.htm

I do have a listing on Northglen http://fly3.505home.com that is probably the most energy efficient, large home on the market in Clovis. The builder is now pursuing a HERS rating to verify the air-tightness of the house. Adkin's Construction uses a special insulation, Heat Lok 217-4, that is a polyurethane foam which has one of the highest R Ratings available. It foams up and fills every crack and gap between the studs in the walls and adds extra rigidity to the structure as well. They blow in extra insulation over the heated areas of the house so that it looks like a snowstorm hit the attic. I peeked up there and it must have been two feet thick.

When I mentioned that I was going to go after my GREEN certification I got some funny looks from some of the older agents in our office. I think they are afraid that I'll start trapping prairie dogs humanely and telling dairymen that they should let their cows out on green pastures so they can enjoy the rest of their lives. But GREEN building practices simply make life a little better for my buyers and I'm all about that.

When I was little, my father liked to collect Ocean liner and Railroad memorabilia. Every vacation, every road trip was a treasure hunt where we would stop at junk stores and flea markets, used bookstores and garage sales... anywhere there might possibly be a cup or saucer or butter pat a relative might have smuggled home from a trip long ago. He knew just what he was looking for and while I would get sidetracked by my own little collections - at one time it was little toy cannons, then old fashioned hats, snoopy comic books, metal signs and old jewelry - Dad knew just what he was looking for. He could walk straight through a store, pick up a stack of china, look at the back and know this was a rare find.

I realized last week, while hunting for a home for a member of the armed forces, stationed at Cannon AFB, that I view real estate the same way dad did his collectables. I know that the house for this girl is out there. I know she will love it when she finds it. She won't have to settle. We might do a little haggling (Dad always did). We won't let the seller know how dear this home is to us. That's part of the game.

It doesn't have to be my house. Dad didn't always keep his finds, he sold them to finance his next mission of discovery and I now have the perfect job.... Paid Shopper, for some very big ticket items.

If I could collect houses, I would. I love the old ones and the new ones, the big ones, ugly ones and even the filthy, cat pee ones. I can envision how it will look after the new carpet is in, the Formica is gone and the hardwood is revealed. I got rid of the old hats and cannons but now I have my houses.

Every time I pull up the MLS I check for new listings, I would do it even if I didn't have any buyers at the moment. The Clovis MLS is my personal flea market and I like to know what's out there. I'm a treasure hunter and hopefully you are enjoying the hunt as well.

The 97 degree day we had today made me think of Summer and I thought I would make a list of the things I enjoy most about Summertimes in Eastern New Mexico.

15 Things I love about Clovis in the Summertime:

•1. Even if the daytime temp reaches 100 degrees, every evening it will be back in the low 70's just in time to sit on the porch and sip some iced tea.

•2. Kids can play outside for hours and you don't have to wonder where they are or who they're with.

•3. Eating shaved ice from a vendor that lets you put as much syrup on it as you want.

•4. Growing my own garden and watching the sunflowers get tall. Tall enough to enter in the Curry County Fair in August and win a blue ribbon.

•5. The sound of softball games in the park.

•6. Sonic stays open till midnight or later.

•7. Every week a different church holds a vacation Bible school. And they coordinate with each other.

•8. Parents take time to sit with kids who are getting free lunches at the park.

•9. Dry heat and no humidity.

•10. People get out in the evenings and take walks with their families.

•11. Watching fireworks over Green Acres lake from the back of a pickup.

•12. The smell of fresh cut lawns. (I know that's everywhere but I had to include it)

•13. Taking day trips to Carlsbad Caverns, or Lubbock, or Amarillo, or Palo Duro Canyon, or Albuquerque or Santa Fe or Ruidoso.

•14. Going Camping next to a Creek in Tres Ritos and going trail riding in Duran Canyon. Since we don't have any creeks in Clovis - it's a big thing.

•15. Driving away from the city lights, sticking your head out the sunroof and looking at a million stars.

Feel free to add your own favorite things about Clovis in the Summer and have a great one.

Well, while the rest of the world sits and waits for housing to recover, for the swine to recover, for the banks to recover, Clovis, New Mexico is bouncing along like several other small pockets of life in this big world.

We are in a unique situation because of growth at Cannon AFB and in several surrounding industries. We actually have help wanted signs around town, people are moving in, buying their first homes, fixing up existing homes, and business is booming. We are down to 275 homes on the market in Clovis - a town of 45,000 people, and we have more people being transferred in daily.

If you like to build houses, if you are a skilled subcontractor, please come to Clovis. We need you! Give me a call 575-799-9500. I'd love to put you to work. But please don't call if you just like to develop postage stamp sized lots with identical tract houses. We have a serious need for affordable housing ($150,000 - $200,000) but there must be some way to build decent homes with decent yards in communities with something other than lots in a rectangular grid.

It has been reported to us that we need 2000 new housing units to be built in the next two years, to accommodate those that are being transferred to Cannon and their families.

We need to revamp our land use plans, we have a great opportunity to build a city and I hope we don't waste it for what is most cost efficient.

I would like to see green spaces, jogging trails, playgrounds, and amenities like you see in other areas of the country. People moving to Clovis are expecting more and hopefully we will deliver.

While I am writing my wish list maybe New Mexico could give home builders a break with the gross receipts tax they charge. Paying sales tax on a home like you would a box of chocolates is not helping things.

Katharine