What's really going on in the Far South Valley of Albuquerque as far as real estate sales are concerned?
This area, labeled "Valley Farms," or "Area 91" in the Albuquerque area MLS, is located along the Rio Grande Valley in the southernmost area of Albuquerque. The area ranges from small, older homes on small lots through newer, high-end estates and also still contains a large number of true, traditional old farms and horse properties.
I ran the statistics on single family, detached home sales for the past 10 calendar quarters for this area, and here's the result:
This is really a very interesting result. While it is easy to see that average sales prices in the area have been down significantly for the past 12 months compared to the values that showed for the previous 12 months, quite a lot of that difference can be accounted for by the simple fact that there simply were NO Sales over half a million in the area in the past twelve months. In other words, the very high end market has simply been completely stagnant. When there are no very high-end sales to balance out the low end sales, the averages drop.
The chart above is very visually striking for the huge spike in "High Sales Price" figures for the last three quarters of 2007, probably the high point for our Albuquerque real estate market in general. This resulted in a matching, but much slighter, increase in the average sales prices for the same period.
In 2008 and so far in 2009, Valley Farms has lacked any sales over $500,000. Yet the average sales prices in the last quarter of 2008 actually slightly exceeded the average sales prices for the last quarter of 2007!
For the first quarter of 2009, average prices dipped back down, but one notices that this is a common phenomenon for the first quarter of any given year. In fact, our average prices for First Quarter 2009 are nearly $10,000 higher than they were for First Quarter 2007.
The statistics reveal that we have had no drastic drop-off of sales prices in "Valley Farms," the far South Valley of Albuquerque. What we did have was a sudden surge in high-end sales during the last three quarters of 2007, resulting in a substantial increase in average sales prices for that period. We are now back to the kind of average prices, and "high-sales" figures that we saw before the 2007 price explosion. And this is despite the presence of numerous foreclosures and short sales on the market.
The rumors of "real estate death" may have been substantially exaggerated, at least for this area. But there are some additional pertinent facts to discuss, namely time on the market and number of sales, which I'll address in my next post.
With all due respect to Robert Burns, a "red, red rose" has always seemed, well, ordinary, to me in comparison with some of the other options that are out there. And while a single, long-stemmed rose, or even a fragrant bouquet is all well and good, there's a limit to their staying power.
Who was it that pointed out the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him to fish? Well, there's a similar difference between giving a rose (a red, red rose or any other kind) and giving ongoing roses...
My love, (Brian, my husband of 27 years) hit the jackpot with me for my birthday last month by gifting me with not one, not a dozen, but a whole rose bush that I planted in my backyard rose garden here in Bosque Farms, NM.
And I was ecstatic when that bush started blooming this past week-- it's got the most gorgeous, multi-colored roses I've ever seen! The flowers are mainly pale yellow, but with reddish-pink tips. Take a look and see if these don't put those poetic "red, red roses" to shame!
Probably sounds ridiculous to those not really familiar with the Albuquerque, NM area, but our New Mexico desert is actually home to loads of water birds!
More particularly, my backyard right here in Bosque Farms, New Mexico, hosts loads of waterfowl on a regular basis!
The key, of course, is water, and we've definitely got that here along the Rio Grande Valley.
We regularly ditch-irrigate our pastures, grow a huge organic garden, and play host to some gorgeous, and even threatened, species of waterfowl!
The other day, after irrigating our pastures, I noticed some long-legged water birds that I had never seen before, and got some photos. My daughter and I then dragged out our resource books and computers, and identified these unusual visitors as black-necked stilts, a specied listed as endangered.
But we regularly get other water-loving birds hanging out in the irrigated yard, garden, and pasture. Our cute white egrets are favorites of mine.
They even let me get pretty close, as you can see from these pictures!
And, of course, we're right on the flight path of huge numbers of sandhill cranes, who fly over in enormous flocks, and often alight to check out what our land might have to offer. We had one family of five, two parents and three young ones, who visited almost daily one year. The few remaining whooping cranes migrate with our sandhills, as well, and we get seasonal migrations of ducks and Canada geese passing through, as well!
I get to live in a wonderful place! Check our Bosque Farms, NM for yourself, or take a Virtual Tour of Bosque Farms. Call 505-239-4796 or email me at laura@laurawarden.com any time for more information about Bosque Farms or other Albuquerque area real estate!
Last weekend, Old Town, Albuquerque offered a program called Chautauqua on the Plaza, sponsored by the New Mexico Humanties Council.
These events were billed as a "Celebrations of New Mexico History and Cultures on the Old Town Plaza" in honor of our upcoming Centennial as a state.
I spent part of last Sunday checking this out, and found it a great experience for natives and tourists alike. Old Town in Albuquerque, New Mexico is always a great place to visit, with loads of shops featuring great Native American jewelry, pottery, basketry, and other arts and crafts, plus wonderful New Mexican restaurants and the charming San Felipe Church, and the picturesque sidewalk vendors of jewelry along the Plaza.
The "Chautauqua on the Plaza" concept added unique Native American Dancers, music, storytellers, demonstrations and reenactments to the mix as well.
Friday's events included actor David G. Jackson as emcee "Clyde Tingley," the former NM Governor, and Dona Tules (as portrayed by VanAnn Moore) telling about her life as philanthropist and owne of a gambling establishment. At 10 a.m., Chuy Martinez and harpist Oti Ruiz presented "Latin American Ballads, Cumbia and Nueva Cancion," and at noon Cipriano Vigil offered "Ritual and Traditional Folk Music of Northern New Mexico."
While I was there, I was able to enjoy authentic Indian dances, a demonstration of drum-making techniques by Arnold Herrera, a Cochiti drum-maker, and a talk by "Sheriff Pat Garrett" (a.k.a. actor Ron Grimes) about the "old days" in New Mexico.
There were even free "horsey rides" for the kids, and best of all, everything was free!
Organizers tell me that further ongoing events will be scheduled as we approach the centennial, so watch for them! I'll try to blog in advance next time-- this time I didn't hear about the event myself until the weekend...
Take a Virtual Tour of Old Town Albuquerque here.
For information about Albuquerque, NM, or the Albuquerque Real Estate market, just give me a call at 505-239-4796, or visit www.LauraWarden.com. For those interested in historic homes, Albuquerque's Old Town is a great place to check out! While they come on the market only occasionally, the oldest and most historic properties in Albuquerque are located here in Old Town!
Got an urge to time travel? Head over the the New Mexico Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque, New Mexico!
Located right near Albuquerque Old Town, the Natural History Museum offers a wide range of permanent exhibits to attract the young and the young at heart!
Here's a sampling of some of the things you can see every day, up close and personal:
Jurassic Super Giants: It's Mortal Combat and then some when Saurophagnax takes on Seismosaurus!
T Rex attack-- shades of Jurassic Park! Those jaws and teeth are awe-inspiring!
New Mexico's Seacoast-- Bet you didn't know we had one! But we did, and you can take the "Evolator" trhough the past, and step out into New Mexico's seacoast of 75 million years ago!
New Mexico's Ice Age: go nose-to-nose with the mammoths that roamed the Land of Enchantment up until 10,000 years ago
Something more modern your style? The Museum's got that, too. For instance, other permanent exhibits include:
There are also always new things to see at the Dynamax Theater. The current offering is "Grand Canyon Adventure." I'm told by my husband and his friend that it was fabulous. I was also told that I should be grateful I missed it--- they said the "you are there" effects are so excellent that I'd never have made it through without Dramamine! So there's your warning, if you tend to motion sickness!
There's also the Planetarium. The current Planetarium Schedule is:
Enchanted Skies: 11 am & 3 pm. The museum's website invites you to "Travel through the digital universe with state-of-the-art 3D immersive reality tools"
Dinosaur Prophecy: 12 pm and 2 pm. The museum's website suggests you "Visit dinosaur graveyards, study their bones, and reconstruct how these creatures lived and died to solve four famous cold cases from the age of the dinosaurs."
Earth's Wild Ride: 1 pm. Imagine what it would "be like to live on a lunar space colony in 2081 and not be able to go to Earth, the beautiful blue marble that shines outside your window," asks the web advertising for this event.
The Albuquerque Natural History Museum is just one more extra that you get automatically when you decide to make Albuquerque home!
Take a Virtual Tour of the Albuquerque Natural History Museum. Or, find out more about Albuquerque, NM via the following links:
Albuquerque real estate, Albuquerque Public and Private Schools, Albuquerque area maps, Albuquerque virtual tours, Horse-friendly areas, New Mexico Historic homes, New Mexico horse properties, Search the Albuquerque MLS.
Servng the small towns and rural areas surrounding Albuquerque, especially horse properties, farms, ranches, country real estate, and unique small town and village homes!
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