AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 16, 2012) – Keller Williams Realty, Inc. announced today it has been recognized as one of America’s Top 10 Workplaces, according to the first annual National Top Workplaces list compiled by Workplace Dynamics.

“Our culture is our strongest asset and the reason that so many people want to be with us,” Mary Tennant, COO of Keller Williams Realty shares. “Imagine what it would be like to work in a culture every day with people that you feel love, kindness, caring and humor with. Imagine working in an environment where there is a passion for every single person to succeed at the highest level.”

“If this award proves anything, it’s that we only succeed when our associates do,” added Mark Willis, CEO. “We are proud to be in business with the best who are lifting us up each day and proud to be fulfilling our mission of building careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.”

The list of National Top Workplaces is based solely on employee feedback surveyed from 805 companies of more than 1,000 employees, which included over half a million survey responses. According to survey results, Keller Williams’ ranking was based on its overall culture and high levels of organizational health including training, benefits, compensation, and work-life balance. “Put simply, the most successful companies appear to be the ones that employees believe in,” said Doug Claffey, CEO at WorkplaceDynamics.

About Keller Williams Realty, Inc.:
Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the second-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with almost 700 offices and more than 75,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company has grown exponentially since the opening of the first Keller Williams Realty office in 1983, and continues to cultivate its agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders. The company also provides specialized agents in luxury homes and commercial real estate properties.

Clean air & blue skies in Santa Fe!

When it comes to ozone levels and year-round smog, these cities have the top air quality in the nation, according to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air rankings for 2012.

If you’re looking to breathe easier, look no further than Santa Fe. It took the top spot for cleanest air in all three of the American Lung Association’s pollution categories: ozone, as well as short-term and year-round particle pollution.

“We don’t have any dirty industries here,” said Richard Goodyear, chief of the Air Quality Bureau for the state’s environmental agency.

In fact, the closest major power plant is about 200 miles away in the northwest corner of the state, he said.

The state’s strict emission standards can also be credited for its high air quality. According to Goodyear, New Mexico’s rules are more stringent for nitrous oxide and other pollutants than those of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Experience the lifestyle of downtown Santa Fe from this upscale gated 5 condo compound! Representing Santa Fe at it best and beautifully appointed with upgrades and amenities such as: diamond plaster interior walls, Travertine tile floors, granite slab counter tops, Vigas, high ceilings, lighted Nichos, Jacuzzi tub, steam shower, radiant heat, evaporative cooling, walk in closet, stone tile surrounds in baths, stainless steel appliances, 2 Kiva fireplaces, open floor plan, security system. Walk out from living area to very private, professionally landscaped and fully fenced out door area perfect for entertaining. Hard to find 3 bedroom, 3 baths (not just 2 baths and a powder room) and the sought out attached garage.

Dubbing the state “the next Arizona,” the magazine notes that retirees are finding better deals with a median home price of $150,000 and a cost of living 5 percent below the national average. It highlights Santa Fe, Taos and Las Cruces, but notes that Santa Fe’s cost of living is 18 percent higher than the national average. However, that’s lower than Scottsdale, Ariz., which is 29 percent above the national average, and Sedona, 37 percent higher.

Smart Money also applauds New Mexico’s income tax rate of 4.9 percent and lower real estate taxes.

“New Mexico has more attractive weather and appears less expensive and more culturally diverse than Arizona,” says Doug Nelson in the article. He is the founder of TCI Wealth Advisors in Santa Fe.

The article also notes that the state has vast empty spaces and that 18.4 percent of residents live below the poverty line, compared to 13.8 percent in the U.S. as a whole. Also, the Land of Enchantment has far fewer doctors per resident (197 per 100,000 population compared to 221 nationwide).

Taos gets points for outdoor activities and cultural attractions, but the piece notes that it’s remote and far from the Santa Fe regional airport. Santa Fe’s pricier lifestyle offers art and culture that makes the median home price of $300,000 “worth every penny,” residents told the magazine. Santa Fe, and the state, are also seen as places to reinvent oneself, according to the article.

Las Cruces gets points for diverse cultures and a lower cost of living, 8 percent below the national average, although its nearest airport is 40 miles away, the article notes. It is also popular for golf and for New Mexico State University , with its cultural offerings.

Albuquerque gets nary a mention in the article, despite having the largest airport in the state, the biggest university, the most comprehensive health care facilities and a Del Webb retirement community, Alegria.

Homebuyers out in force, but will sellers follow?

Santa Fe’s housing market has lost its fear.

With buyers finally stepping up, the number of residential sales in the first quarter was the highest in five years.

“I think the buyers are tired of waiting,” said Stephanie Duran, an agent with Barker Real Estate. “My gut is they’re tired of being afraid. The threat of higher interest rates is greater than the fear of maybe declining prices.”

Alan Ball, an agent with Keller Williams Realty who compiles residential sales data, also senses a turn — at least from the buyers.

“Clearly we’re off to the best year in the last five years,” he said. “Buyers are more active. Maybe they’re tired of waiting, maybe there’s an increased comfort that they’re not going to buy when prices are going down.”

As home prices collapsed — down perhaps 30 percent from the top of the market in Santa Fe — many homes were pulled from the “For Sale” listings, and refinanced or converted to rentals. Other owners simply cannot sell because their house is worth less than what is owed to the lender, a situation known as an underwater mortgage. These owners would have to write a check at closing to cover the difference between what they would net with a sale and what is owed on the mortgage.

These factors have resulted in less inventory, which is down 30 percent from 2010.

“The decrease in inventory has created more urgency, Buyers recognize if they don’t buy this property, it might not be there.”

Janice Diamond, a self-employed massage therapist, was one of those on the hunt for a house Wednesday.

She’s been in Santa Fe for 25 years and is renting a place off Rodeo Road. She’s looking for more open space, fresh air and a home where her aging mother can live independently.

She also has three grown children living elsewhere and wants to offer them a comfortable visit. She looked several years ago, but every home was too expensive. Now she’s back with a mission of owning a home by the end of summer and has been looking with Barker agent Francine Miles.

“I’m really looking for a place that can be a home base where my family can gather,” she said.

Her quest for a home with a “mother-in-law” suite for about $300,000 would have been impossible a few years ago, Miles said. Today, the agent was taking Diamond to see several properties, including a bank-owned home off West Alameda Street, a short sale in DeVargas Heights, and an owner listing in Casa Alegre.

A short sale can be approved by a lender when the owner has a hardship such as a disability or job loss and cannot pay the mortgage. The home is put on the market and sold for less than what is owed. The bank determines how big a loss to take on the property, as that often gains the bank more money than going forward with full foreclosure, which requires court action.

Short sales will continue, as banks have gotten smarter about the process.

“There is still a common desire to look at foreclosures and short sales,” Ball said. “I just don’t think there are any super bargains anymore. The banks are more realistic in how to price these out of the gate.”

The short sale Diamond looked at has been priced at $319,000, or $152 a square foot, for 260 days. “You get to the point where the banks don’t want to lower it anymore,” Miles said.

Diamond also looked at a bank-owned, 2,000-square-foot home on 1-plus acres in the Cielo Lumbre subdivision off Alameda Street. There was a separate room/kitchen area that could be used for Diamond’s mother or a future rental unit.

It was described by Miles as “a smokin’ deal,” for $304,000, and her buyer liked the open space, mature landscaping, trees and views. “I feel like I can look at the sky out here,” Diamond said.

But many of the wood floor planks were missing, the vigas were aging, the home would need a new back deck and front portal, and there was no cooling, so that would have to be installed in place of the skylights. There would be a lot of sweat equity to be invested. Still, Miles said, “It is something at $300,000 that would have potential for a private quarters” for Diamond’s mother.

The question for Diamond, as with all buyers, is whether the investment would pay off. “If it [the market] goes up, what would this be worth?” she asked.

No one knows that answer, nor when sellers will join buyers and cast away their fears.

Even if prices have bottomed, as some believe, that doesn’t mean they will soon increase. There are still many distressed sales, and the percent of those actually rose in the first quarter to 26 percent of all sales, according to figures compiled by Sacks.

Sacks added that the distressed market has affected neighborhoods unevenly: If there is a foreclosure nearby, it means your home is worth less.

“It’s not like prices will immediately shoot up overnight. We’ll stabilize, and then gradually prices will go up,” he said.

Ball agrees. “Foreclosures have a direct effect on the neighborhoods they are in, and this ongoing dampening of the market is holding us back from true [price] appreciation,” he said.

For the summer buying season, however, real-estate agents have again found their groove.

Perhaps that has to do with the fact that, like the sellers, there are a lot fewer of them. Membership in the Santa Fe Association of Realtors is down 40 percent from 2007.

“We’re working 12-hour days again as Realtors,” said Barker agent Duran. “I recommend if you want to sell, sell now. We know today the buyers are buying.”

Contact Bruce Krasnow at brucek@sfnewmexican.com.

Distressed sales in Santa Fe County as a percent of all sales

2009
short sales – 2 percent
foreclosures – 5 percent

2010
short sales – 5 percent
foreclosures – 14 percent

2011
short sales – 7 percent
foreclosures – 16 percent

2012 – first quarter
short sales – 9 percent
foreclosures – 17 percent

- Warren Sacks, Barker Real Estate

First Quarter Residential Sales – Santa Fe County

2002 – 432
2003 – 473
2004 – 494
2005 – 523
2006 – 599
2007 – 423
2008 – 306
2009 – 205
2010 – 267
2011 – 273
2012 – 323

- Alan Ball, Keller Williams Realty

Santa Fe Association of Realtors membership

2007 – 1182
2008 – 1075
2009 – 941
2010 – 856
2011 – 786
2012 – 689

-SFAR

Investors Buy Remaining Assest of Las Campanas

Hundreds of undeveloped lots for houses and a large commercial space at Las Campanas now belong to new group of investors, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Cienda Partners, a Dallas-based real estate group, says it has purchased all of the undeveloped assets at the luxury-home development northwest of Santa Fe.

Among investors are Jennifer Kimball, board chairman for La Fonda on the Plaza, and Howard Hawks, described in a press release as one of the original property owners.

“It was a cash purchase,” media spokeswoman Jennifer Hobson who said the amount of Wednesday’s sale wouldn’t be released. “They have paid in full for the remaining assets.”

While individual homes in the subdivision have been unaffected, Las Campanas developers have faced hardships from housing market changes in recent years. In 2008, the common areas in Las Campanas — including the golf courses and country club — as well as the unsold lots came under the direction of a new firm after Lyle Anderson Inc. turned over its management interest to a team appointed by its lender, Bank of Scotland.

A board of directors comprised of club members assumed ownership of the golf courses and country club in 2010. The other assets were sold at some point to another European bank, said partner Alan Box, and that’s the business with which Cienda closed a deal with this week.

The acquisition includes undeveloped acreage approved for up to 319 homes and a 45-acre commercial tract, according to a press release.

Box called Las Campanas “an irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind community in a city with a remarkably high quality of life” and an improving real estate market. He said the purchase brings stability to the area.

“We are not in a hurry to do anything,” Box said. “If we have to wait for a few years, we can do that.”

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

That’s according to the latest figures from the Santa Fe Association of Realtors.

During a presentation Wednesday, association officers said the statistics from the first quarter of 2012 show:

• That Santa Fe housing prices remain low, compared to their high point in the second quarter of 2008.

• That the upswing in the number of sales is due to low prices, low interest rates and buyer concerns that both prices and rates could soon go up.

• That fewer properties on the market are due to sellers holding off in hopes that sales prices will improve.

“There’s a substantial uptick in the number of people looking for houses and some increase in the number of sales,” said association President Dan H. Wright of Santa Fe Properties. “So there must be something going on in the market.”

Association President-elect Victoria Murphy, also of Santa Fe Properties, said a number of people from out of state who had been looking in Santa Fe recently have decided to go ahead with purchasing because they think both prices and interest rates soon will rise.

The most closely watched statistic — the median sales price of a single-family dwelling in both the city and county — was $352,000. That’s down less than 1 percent from $355,000 in the first quarter of 2011.

Within the city limits, the median price was $290,000 — up 4.5 percent from $277,500. The biggest jump — 51.7 percent to $442,500 — was in the northwest part of the city. The only decrease — 4.5 percent to $195,700 — was in the southwest.

Outside the city limits, it was $385,000 — down 8.8 percent from $422,000. But in the moderately priced community of Eldorado, the median price fell nearly 13 percent — to $298,000 from $342,000.

Overall — including single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses, duplexes and larger multiple-unit complexes, mobile homes and manufactured housing, and raw land, both in and outside of the city limits — the median sales price for real-estate sales was $98,000 — down 42.2 percent from $169,500 a year earlier.

During the first three months of 2012, there were 249 sales of single-family homes — up 16.4 percent from a year earlier. But the inventory of all available properties for sale during the last quarter was 1,413 — down 17.1 percent from the first quarter of 2011, which was down 17.2 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

Santa Fe Realtors Association officers say if the inventory of available housing continues to fall, that will push the median prices up. But they say fewer homes for sale may be due to some sellers pulling their properties off the market — so they can refinance them at a lower interest rate or lease them until the real-estate market improves.

The recent figures also show a slight decrease in the number of days properties remain on the market — 247 days, compared to an all-time high of 270 days a year earlier.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.