An all-green community is currently being built in Albuquerque, NM. La Cuentista, a custom home development is designed to exist in harmony with the environment, and may well be Albuquerque's first "all green" community.

A recent article in the Albuquerque Journal featured this new home development on Albuquerque's West Side, in which seven custom home builders have pledged to abide by the minimum requirements to be certified by Build Green New Mexico.

The guidelines are based on those established by the National Association of Homes Builders, and tailored to suit the New Mexico climate and environment, and deal with seven categories of features:

1. Lot preparation and design
2. Resource efficiency
3. Homeowner education
4. Global impact
5. Water efficiency and conservation
6. Indoor environmental quality
7. Energy efficiency

The developers are trying to have the community as whole function in an environmentally-friendly fashion, by planting indigenous greenery, allocating nearly a thrid of the total area for open space and waling paths, installing highly efficent streetlights, and controlling erosion and runoff. Individual homes are targeting energy efficiency and an eco-friendly lifestyle by reducing the use of toxic paints, adhesives, and finishes, for example. Energy-efficient appliances, low-flow toilets, and recirculating water heaters with timers are other items emphasized within the homes.

Homes in La Cuentista will all be at least 2000 square feet in size, and will be priced from $180 per square foot. The builders involved in the project, according to the Albuquerque Journal, are Maxwell Custom Builders, Homes by Marie, Lee Michael Homes, Homes by New Vistas, Keystone Homes, Ryley West Custom Builders and Sun Mountain Construction.

It's great to see so many Albuquerque builders getting on the bandwagon for a greener, more eco-friendly lifestyle; it's a plus for homebuyers and for the environment, too!

For more about Albuquerque real estate, visit my website, www.laurawarden.com, or call me any time!

Last Sunday's Historic Homes Tour in Albuquerque was a resounding success! Literally hundreds of Albuquerque residents flocked to see this tour of dozens of Albuquerque's historic homes, all for sale, and all available to tour during one four-hour period on Sunday afternoon, January 13th.

2007 was not a bad market here in Albuquerque, NM. The average sales prices of single-family, detached homes in Albuquerque itself actually went up a full 7.4% in 2007 over 2006. The average sales price of these homes in Albuquerque was $247,032 in 2007, compared to $229,991 in 2006. Since 2006 was quite a banner year, these are pretty positive 2007 figures for Albuquerque, NM.

And Albuquerque sellers didn't have to haggle a great deal to get their homes sold in 2007. On average, these homes sold for 97.4% of asking price, with sales prices averaging $247,032 while list prices averaged $253,695. This compares pretty well with the 98.1% of list price that 2006 sellers averaged in Albuquerque.

On the other hand, the real estate picture in New Mexico was not completely rosy last year. The actual number of homes sold was down quite a bit in 2007 over the previous year. The total number of single family detached homes that sold in 2007 was only 6946, compared to 8540 such properties which closed in 2006. That's a rather dramatic 18.7% drop in the total number of sales posted through the Albuquerque Metropolitan Board of Realtors.

The number of days on the market for the average sale was also up, from 27 days in 2006 to 39 days in 2007, an increase of 44%.

So overall, Albuquerque's real estate market stayed quite strong in 2007, but it was not quite the "sellers' market" of 2006. It has become increasingly important for sellers to price a homes realistically, have it staged well, and select an agressive real estate broker who can market it effectively in order for property to sell at a good price in a reasonable time on the market.

Statistics above are based on data from the Albuquerque Metropolitan Board of Realtors, as of today's date.

While Albuquerque certainly has a huge number of brand-new homes in neighborhoods that are still wet behind the ears, it is also home to a number of stunning and historic older homes.

The tour was created by a group of local realtors, with the help of sponsorship from Stewart Title, Llewellyn Mortgage, and other local companies, and even features a number of properties listed on the State or National Register of Historic places. An article in the real estate section of today's Albuquerque Journal informed Albuquerque readers about the tour.

If you're tired of cookie-cutter homes in spanking-new subdivisions, come on out and take a look at some of the vinatge charm of yesteryear that is available in the Albuquerque real estate market. Areas such as Huning Castle, the Old Country Club neighborhood, Old Town, Nob Hill and other UNM area neighborhoods, plus Los Ranchos de Albuquerque and other North Valley neighborhoods boast many fine, older homes in styles ranging from Victorian to adobe hacienda.

At Choices Realty, we understand the picturesque charm of hardwood floors, Victorian lines, authentic adobe, and real plaster walls. Broker Brian Warden has many years experience in restoring historic homes, and we have long specialized in helping buyers and sellers of these kinds of unique properties; we've certainly bought and sold a number of them ourselves!

We applaud the efforts of Lauren Austin, with ERA Ingles Company, and Chris Nyman Weller, of Coldwell Banker Legacy, in arranging this wonderful event! If you have any interest in the vintage appeal of older homes, be sure to set aside next Sunday afternoon to view some of these great properties. Maps are available at a number of locations, including Satellite Coffee locations on Central and at the Flying Star cafes on Rio Grande, Downtown, and on Central.

For more information about New Mexico Historic Homes, visit our website, www.HistoricHomesNM.com.

Valencia County will soon be home to a brand-new elementary school, and the Los Lunas School Board recently voted unanimously to name the school "Sundance Elementary School."

According to this weekend's issue of the Valencia County News Bulletin, the name beat out other choices in a recent poll that was conducted both online and within the community.

Groundbreaking for Sundance Elementary School is scheduled for Wednesday, January 9th.

In other action at the same meeting, the Los Lunas School Board accepted a new district logo, featuring a picture of a hill similar to Los Lunas Hill, with the sun behind it. Below the graphic is the new distrcit slogan, "Every student, every year, at or above grade level."