About Albuquerque's Westside

WALMART - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

"The protesters arrived dressed in boxes – some even covered themselves in grocery bags – for a rally against a proposed Wal-Mart in a vacant lot near Coors Boulevard and Montano Road."

"How many Wal-Marts do you need in one square mile? A rhetorical question,” state representative Bill O’Neil said. “I don't understand it, I don't think it's appropriate on any levels.”

Albuquerque West-Side residents are simply fed-up with yet another Walmart. Take it somewhere else!

But there seems to be a disconnect between the city officials and residents.

It's time for a change. No more Wal-Mart.

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Visit my Blog to view the Video as Reported on KOB TV

Paradise East is a part of the Wetside Community of Greater Albuquerque. During the last three months, 19 homes sold in Paradise East. Currently, no homes are under contract awaiting escrow in the are. Seventy-two are actively listed for sale.

The homes that sold were on the market for an average of just over 75 days and sold at an average of 96% of their listed sales price. The average listing price of the sold homes was $230,000. The average selling price was $221,000. Homes currently listed are at an average price of $313,000.

Market Trends in the Greater Albuquerque Area

This Paradise East sub market reflects somewhat the market of the entire Albuquerque area that is seeing a decreasing inventory even though the number of new listings entering the market have increased. The combined total for active detached, single family homes, condos and town homes is just over 6,000. That's good! Also good is that we had more closed sales in February than in January but there are fewer pending sales (properties with accepted offers awaiting closing). In January we had 324 closings and in February, 343 - significantly less than at the same time in 2008. And not every market is seeing sales activity. The busiest areas of the Albuquerque Southwest Multiiple Listing Service community for the month of February were City of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho followed by the Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms area.

Conclusion

It is difficult to evaluate the trend of the market based on current statistics. More new listings entered the market in February than in January but inventory is down and time on the market has increased. Average price decreased, but the median increased. Some Southwest Multiple Listing Service areas are seeing little or no sales activity. The mixed messages may be the result of seasonal adjustments or market conditions, or a combination of both. We hope the arrival of spring will bring a more clearly defined trend and help us clarify the direction of the market.

Reference: The Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors - http://abqrealtors.com

The Westside of Albuquerque is a large area that starts at the western bank of the Rio Grande, and extends west up and over the western escarpment, to the north is bordered by the City of Rio Rancho, and south to Central Avenue (Old Route 66). There are great options for housing, education, and recreation. The Albuquerque Real Estate on the west side includes affordable home options such as townhomes, as well as large master planned communities like Vantana Ranch, Paradise Hills, Taylor Ranch, & Seven Bar. Also found on the west side are gorgeous luxury homes and estate properties. It's also possible to get horse property on the west side. One great feature of west side is that some of the best views of the Sandia Mountains and the Rio Grande Bosque can be found here.

Several West Side neighborhoods are as old as much of the Northeast Heights, although we tend to think of the west side as newer. The Black family had owned a large portion of the Albuquerque Real Estate on the West Side of the Rio Grande, and starting in 1947, slowly sold parcels which became Seven Bar Ranch, Taylor Ranch, and Eagle Ranch. In fact, their old general aviation airport was located at the current site of Cottonwood Mall - which used to be a favorite spot for Hot Air Balloonists departures (where I took off on my first hot air balloon ride).

There is still a lot of open space and vacant land to the west for Albuquerque to expand into, so we'll continue to see new growth on the west side for some time. This part of Albuquerque Real Estate has many options for the vacant land buyer. Choices for a single home site or land as a real estate investment exist. Also, many larger parcels of Albuquerque land are available on the west side as well. Land and parcels are available for sub-dividers, builders, and developers of all sizes.

The historic and natural geologic highlight of the Albuquerque west side is the Petroglyph National Monument. The Petroglyph National Monument is managed jointly by the City of Albuquerque and the National Park Service. It occupies 7,244 acres of Albuquerque Real Estate on the west mesa. Great day hike trails lead to some of the nearly 20,000 petroglyphs in the area. Boca Negra Horseman's Complex is located near Petroglyph National Monument on the west side as well and is and excellent facility managed by the City of Albuquerque's open space program. The west side landscape includes the five dormant volcanic cones and a seventeen-mile black basalt escarpment that is part of the National Monument, and highlight the varied and interesting geology of the Albuquerque area.

Other points of interest include Desert Greens Golf Course, Ladera Golf Course, Albuquerque Shooting Range Park, Double Eagle general aviation Airport, Cottonwood Mall, Albuquerque Radio Control Club - George Maloof Airpark, and Pueblo Montano Picnic Area and Trailhead to name a few.

Albuquerque's West Side offers many home and recreation options. The wide open views of the Sandia's and the sky that seems to go on forever, makes west side uniquely New Mexico.