Linda DeVlieg

On January 30, 2009, the Public Service Company of New Mexico divested itself from the gas service portion of the utilities service, and now you are the unfortunate customer of Gas Company of New Mexico.

Please know that you retain the same account number for BOTH services, even tho they are now separate entities.

Countless individuals (and some that you can count if you want to) have had issues with their billings because of this change.

If you pay your Gas Company bill you stand the chance of having your payment go to the wrong utility - both of which will wash their hands of the customer service issue at hand.

Many of my customers have been experiencing this problem, and it seems that neither customer service processors are really interested in correcting the issue.

My advice is to double check and triple check your bills. Use on-line bill paying systems with your bank whenever possible so that accessing the cancelled checks is an easy process.

Please know that GAS COMPANY OF NEW MEXICO does not have it "set up" for emailing your cancelled checks, you need to fax them in, and by their admission "only a few people are ever overseeing that fax machine"

Kind of gives me a warm feeling of a room full of monkeys, but then that would be insulting monkeys. They, after all, have helped us in the space program.

Good news, just in! Stats for home sales: Home resales posted the largest monthly increase in at least 10 years last month as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall.

This is the fourth straight increase on home sales. Although the median price is down, the good news is still there. Again, it's a great time to buy if you are in the market.

In Albuquerque, I have felt sales and activity is up, consumer confidence seems to be stirring. If homes are priced right and are packaged nicely, homes are selling.

Sellers have to be realistic about what they expect to net from their home sale, but take the advice of your broker and price right, clean up and take advantage of buyers getting more excited about buying.

I've had 3 new listing appointments this week alone, so I don't think that the winter will be the 'slow' season, we might just be seeing the bounce!

Albuquerque homes are gorgeous and grab those views!

Amazing how different each appraisal "issue" is turning out to be.

In one instance, for instance, yesterday had an appraisal done on a 2 bedroom property, unique for the area. Appraiser saw the subject property at 11:00, and the appraisal was finished and delivered back to lender, meeting purchase price, at 4:30 p.m. No issues, no problems.

Then we had an appraisal done for a VA loan - appraiser required carpet/paint be installed before closing as a condition of the appraisal which came in 26K lower than the purchase price. The bank owned property, of course, is not allowing for any work to be done to the property before closing (which if course no seller should) so deal is killed in process. And since nobody can talk to anyone about the logistics of this type of 'requirement', nothing can be worked through.

Then, another appraisal is done on a lovely newer townhome, and we get 'alerted' to the fact that the appraisal may be "coming in low" by the lender! WHAT? I'm not supposed to know this - nuts, and I don't even want to talk about this....

So, for one seller life is happy - and for two buyers here we go back out to the drawing board!

This a great area to buy, home prices have dropped a bit and now you can have something in this exclusive community in the 200's!

Gorgeous views, great hiking/biking trails - you will love this area for it's closeness to nature and an ever changing landscape.

SEARCH FOR HIGH DESERT HOMES IN ALBUQUERQUE

Recycling getting easier and easier. Today I delivered to the Smith's store at Tramway/Montgomery 3 bags of glass bottles. It's a quick trip to the dumpster, and even handier they have other bins for junk mail, boxes and plastic.

It's getting easier and easier to stay GREEN.

I even try to run my real estate business as green as possible with fewer pieces of paper, everything electronic