Albuquerque, New Mexico boasts one of the top golf courses in the country: the Championship Golf Course at University of New Mexico. This course was rated the #1 course to play in New Mexico by Golfweek Magazine, and will soon be host to the NCAA Women's Golf Championship!

May 20-23, 2008 are the dates set aside for the top collegiate women golfers in the country to compete for the championship, and tickets are available for all you golf enthusiasts to come out and watch. Spectators are welcome, and daily prices are only $8 for adults and $5 for juniors. Want to catch the entire event? You can buy full event packages for just $25 for adults and $15 for juniors.

The University of New Mexico team was edged out of a team berth for this championship, but UNM will be represented in individual competition by senior Alexandra Phelps.

If you're planning to come in to Albuquerque from out of town to cheer on some of the other fine women golfers competing in this tournament, don't forget to check out some of Albuquerque's wonderful sites while you're here! A ride up the Sandia Peak Tramway is always an unforgettable experience, for example. For just a hint of Albuquerque's multi-cultural atmosphere, visit Albuquerque's Old Town; for pure relaxation, check out the Rio Grande Nature Center, or stop by the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens. This just scratches the surface of all there is to see and do on a visit to Albuquerque; for a more complete list and virtual tours, check out all these Albuquerque Virtual Tours.

Just in case you're tempted by Albuquerque's wonderful climate, multi-cultural heritage, and beautiful vistas to make your stay more permanent, we've also got plenty of wonderful golf course homes in Albuquerque. Search them, and all the homes on the market in Albuquerque any time at www.HomesNM.com and you'll see how reasonably priced Albuquerque's real estate market is!

Rio Rancho, NM prides itself on being a "City of Vision" for many reasons! The fastest growing city in New Mexico, and among the fastest growing in the entire country, Rio Rancho offers a unique blend of cultural resources, stat-of-the-art facilities, strong employment base, a thriving school system, and a strong and affordable real estate market.

Rio Rancho is a new city, with the first homes being built there in the 1960's. By 1980, when the city chose to incorporate, the population was about 10,000; by 1990 it had reached 35,000, and the estimated population in 2006 was over 71,000. Rio Rancho's population growth has been fueled reasonably priced housing and athe attraction of large and prosperous businesses, including Intel (which employs more than 4,000 people), J. C. Penney's Telemarketing Center, Applied Materials, Air Products and Chemicals, Bergen Brunswig, Olympus Medical Corporation, Taco Bell Corporation's accounting division, and Intuit, the software company that produces Quicken.

The Santa Ana Star Center, a major component of the City of Rio Rancho's new master planned downtown, is a truly multi-purpose venue capable of hosting events ranging from trade shows to conventions, graduations to sporting events, plus performing arts, concerts, and family events. For example, you can see Cirque de Soleil perform there May 14th-17th, or watch Sesame Street Live on May 30th. Rio Rancho also plays host to two New Mexico Pro sports teams-- the New Mexico Scorpions Hockey team and the new, indoor professional football team, the New Mexico Wildcats.

In recent years, Rio Rancho schools separated from Albuquerque, forming the Rio Rancho schools system, with many escellent new schools, buildings and facillities. There will also soon be a Central New Mexico Community College campus in the heart of Rio Rancho's new downtown area.

Rio Rancho is located in central New Mexico, half an hour from Albuquerque, and within easy reach of many great historic, cultural and recreational resources. These include the Sandia Peak Tramway, Albuquerque's Old Town, the Rio Grande Nature Center, the Rio Grande Zoo, the Albuquerque Aquarium, the Natural History Museum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and much, much more. World-class shopping is available at Cottonwood Mall, just a few minutes drive from most Rio Rancho homes.

Visit the links below for more detailed information about Rio Rancho:

• Rio Rancho Maps
• Rio Rancho Public Schools
• Rio Rancho Homes
• Rio Rancho Real Estate Statistics

For more information about Rio Rancho, New Mexico, or to receive a Rio Rancho relocation package, contact us any time at (505)298-9999 or email info@homesnm.com .

The real estate market in Albuquerque, NM has held up pretty well during the first quarter of 2008.

As the chart below makes evident, the average sales prices for Albuquerque single family detached homes was essentially the same as the average in the first quarter of 2007, and still substantially above the figure for first quarter 2006.

(Data is from Southwest MLS)

But the news is not all good. Yes, our homes are still selling at good prices, but they are taking longer to sell, and fewer homes are actually closing. Take a look at the graphs below, that show first quarter comparisons for number of sales and time on the market, for the first quarters of 2006 through 2008:

It's clear at a glance that the number of homes actually closing during the first quarters in Albuquerque has been going steadily down since 2006. In fact, only about 60% as many single family detached homes closed during the first quarter of 2008 as had closed in the first quarter of 2006.

Sellers need to be aware of this trend, as it means there are a lot of homes that just aren't selling; those that are over-priced, in poor condition, or hard to show are likely to languish on the market, while those that are competitively priced, sparkling-clean, with good curb appeal and easy for agents to show are likely to bring a good price!

A similar cautionary tale is presented by the statistics for days on the market for Albuquerque homes right now. The time on the market for the average home that goes under contract was 67 days for the first quarter of 2008. This is more than double the time it took to get the average single family detached home under contract in 2006.

We are no longer in the kind of market where just sticking a sign in the yard guarantees multiple offers in the first week on the market! Far from it; homes that are poorly market are likely to remain on the market a long time, if they sell at all. It's especially important in the current real estate market to list your home with a highly-qualified Albuquerque real estate broker like those you'll find at RE/MAX Alliance REALTORS.

Interested in more detail information about a particular Albuquerque area? Check our Albuquerque real estate area maps, or contact us any time: info@homesnm.com , (505)298-9999.

If you're a seller in today's real estate market, it sure helps if your home is located in one of the "quick sale" areas of town. Even in Albuquerque, NM, which has one of the better real estate markets in the country right now, homes sales have slowed since the peak times of 2005 and 2006. But, of course, it all comes down to the old story of "location, location, location..."

and some areas are just hotter than others!

So, how did Albuquerque areas stack up for numbers of homes sold during the past quarter? A glance at the chart below gives a good snapshot:

It's easy to see that the Southwest Heights was the big winner with 145 sales during the quarter, for an average price of $143,371. The Northeast Heights was the second best-selling location, with 128 sales closed during the period, followed by Paradise West (including Ventana Ranch) and Mid Rio Rancho, with the Far Northeast Heights rounding out the top five.

Are these always the top selling areas? Not really. The statistics were a bit different for the first quarter of last year. Once again, the chart makes it easy to see what's going on:

 (Information for both charts above is from data provided by Southwest Multiple Listing System for the first quarters of 2008 and 2007 respectively.)

It's interesting that last year also, the Southwest Heights, Northeast Heights, and Paradise West led the pack during the 1st quarter. But the fourth and fifth place positions were quite different last year than they are this year. In 2007, the fourth highest number of sales were in the Northwest Heights, and the fifth spot was taken by Ladera Heights. Neither appeared in the top 5 in 2008!

This is even more interesting when one looks at the actual number of sales. First-place in Albuquerque home sales in both years went to the Southwest Heights-- but look at the difference in actual numbers! 233 home sales in the first quarter of 2007, but only 140 in the first  quarter of 2008! Similar drops in number of sales occured from one year to the next in the Northeast Heights and in Paradise West, as well. The Northwest Heights and Ladera Heights, with 140 home sales and 130 home sales respectively in the 2007 first quarter, fell to below the 79 home sales racked up by the Far Northeast Heights when the first quarter of 2008 rolled around.

In Albuquerque, the general rule is that while average home prices have held fairly steady, the number of sales has dropped significantly, and that has been the case in all areas in the Albuquerque MLS system.

Interested in more detailed Albuquerque home sales statistics? You'll find lots of current market data live online on our great new website, www.HomesNM.com! Visit now, or contact any of our outstanding RE/MAX Alliance REALTORS today! You can always reach us toll-free at (800)294-5757, or by email at info@homesnm.com