Sited on over a half acre, this 2168 square foot home built in 1954 has all of the classic features expected in a quality Stamm home. Modern touches can be seen throughout as well, providing contemporary luxuries without sacrificing the original feel of the home.

As you enter through the beautiful stained wood front door you are greated by an entry foyer that leads to either the bedroom wing, the living room, or a laundry room/breezeway that leads to the kitchen. The living area is graced with a large fireplace with a natural wood mantle and a spacious dining space.  This room is perfect for entertaining and enjoying magnificient sunset views over the Jemez Mountains.    

The kitchen has been upgraded with modern amenities and expanded to fit today’s chef’s needs. Off the kitchen is a large family room with vigas, a powder room, and a storage area that accesses the one car garage and studio space.  The studio space would function perfectly for woodworking, an art studio, or a project space.  It could also easily be converted into a seperate bedroom with a private entry.

The bedroom wing offers a master bedroom with a 3/4 bath, and two other bedrooms and a full bath.  This wing is nicely separated from the living spaces of the home, and could be easily expanded if needed.

There are three distinct outdoor patio spaces that are fenced for privacy. One is located on the front side of the house and catches great morning sun. Another is located off the family room and has views of Sun and Moon Mountain. The third off the dining room is surrounded by fruit trees and  has amazing sunset and Jemez Mountain views.

This nicely located home would be a great fit for families seeking the Santa Fe lifestyle, or artists wanting a classic home with studio space.  Price at $575,000, this home is a great buy in Santa Fe.

See below for a video tour of the home.

Link To Full Listing Details Here

If you have questions or comments about this or any other home in Santa Fe, please contact us!

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There are probably many reasons for the drop in house size. The obvious one is economics. During the recent economic and housing downturn buyers are needing to save money, and, thus, sacraficing space. Smaller bedrooms, smaller kitchens, and less “extra” rooms (I always think of the two, not one, “present wrapping” rooms that were noted in the Beverly Hills estate of the late T.V. producer Aaron Spelling). Additionally, larger homes are more expensive to maintain, heat, cool, etc. Here at homesinsantafenm.com we have also noticed that some people are wanting to “simplify” their lives. They are accomplishing this by living in smaller, more manageable homes that cost less money both to buy and maintain.

Looking into the crystal ball, what do we see? In Santa Fe we still have clients looking for all types of houses.  Families still want larger houses that can accomodate all of their needs, some retirees still want large homes to entertain, and some buyers want room to grow and roam.  However, other buyers are wanting to downsize, some retirees want less space to manage, and some families are realizing that they need less space. Basically, there is still a market in Santa Fe for all sizes of homes.

Contact Ryan Bolton and Matt Desmond 

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The Commerce Department said new home sales rose 6.2% last month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000, from an upwardly revised rate of 405,000 in September. It was the sixth time new home sales had risen in the past seven months.

The October increase far surpassed industry expectations. A panel of expert forecasts compiled by Briefing.com had predicted new home sales of 404,000.

“The evidence continues to show stabilization in the housing market,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. “It’s not a huge new bull market, mind you, but an end to the relentless flood of bad news we had [in previous years].

“The conditions are in place that will enable prices to begin stabilizing,” he added.

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New houses sold in October for a median price of $212,200, up from $204,800 in September. The average sales price was $261,100.

Larson was especially positive about the reduction in inventory. There were 239,000 new homes on the market at the end of the month, a 6.7 month supply at the current sales rate.

“Construction has been cut to such low levels that the absolute number of homes on the market is at its lowest level since 1971,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist with Barclays Capital. “The supply has been reduced significantly and is calibrated better with demand.”

There has been some rise in demand for those few homes on the market but, compared with recent years, sales are still very modest. At the height of the market in July 2005, new homes sales peaked at an annualized rate of nearly 1.4 million. That puts October’s rate about 70% lower.

The sales report followed a release last week from the National Association of Home Builders revealing that home construction fell to a six-month low during October.

Some of that decline probably stemmed from a reaction by builders to the impending end of the first-time homebuyers tax credit, which had been due to lapse Dec. 1.

The credit has been extended, however, and expanded to include existing owners. That should provide a boost for new home construction again.

Residential construction is a large part of the economy. During the third quarter, the home building and remodeling industry added about a half percentage point to the 2.8% rise in the gross domestic product, according to Meyer.

“Home construction often has a big impact on quarterly growth,” she said.

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The Trust for Public Land signed contracts late Wednesday and paid a nonrefundable deposit to buy about 23 acres that had been proposed for the Mirasol subdivision. The same night, the City Council accepted nearly half the land as publicly owned open space.

“We’re in,” trust director Jenny Parks said Thursday morning, showing off a two-inch stack of real-estate paperwork. “We are guaranteeing public access to the top of Sun Mountain, which has never been there before.”

The property known as the Watson Estate, where the late John T. and Jane Watson raised their family, has long been a popular hiking spot with that family’s blessing. Although access to the trails has not been broken to date, development could have changed that, Parks said.

The trust worked to broker the deal this summer after being approached by an ad hoc group of area residents who conducted a fundraising drive. Next month, the trust expects to completely close on the deal, she said.

Remaining steps include paying the rest of the $3.2 million purchase price to developer Doug McDowell as well as selling a historic home on the property, creating a new lot for another large tract that will stay in private hands, and formally deeding 11 acres to the city of Santa Fe.

McDowell originally planned to create 13 lots on the property and build homes there, but agreed to sell the land instead.

Funding for the deal was complicated, including $1 million from a donor who wants to remain anonymous and $264,500 from more than 100 other private donors. About $1.4 million came from Los Angeles residents Steven Lipscomb and his wife, Miranda Viscoli, who until Thursday were called “an anonymous conservation buyer.”

Lipscomb, founder of the World Poker Tour, already owns several acres and a home on adjacent land and will own 10 acres with a limited development right for two home sites. The couple closed the deal on their house and guest house just weeks before McDowell announced his subdivision plan.

Although the couple is eligible for tax credits because much of their new 10 acres will be in a permanent conservation easement in the care of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, Parks called the agreement “generous.”

The private landowners will allow continued public use of trails that branch off a driveway on the property, and Lipscomb said late Thursday that the couple has no intention of developing the home sites or stopping access any time soon.

“To the credit to those on both sides of the equation, the Save Sun Mountain group and Doug McDowell said ‘We’ll not make this a fight,’ ” Lipscomb said. “And I think that’s a huge reason of why we are here.”

In the meantime, the property that will come into the city’s hands already has a trail that leads to the foot of the mountain and up toward its summit before crossing onto other open space.

City Parks Division Director Fabian Chavez said the city will have to undertake its own process to ensure the new public land is available as a safe place for recreation. Trail maintenance, development of a trail head, signage and a parking area could be on the list, as well as evaluation for possible fencing, he told city councilors this week.

Sun Mountain neighbor Deborah Post was one of a more than a dozen people who worked to raise funds.

“We started out pretty innocently to minimize the impact of development on the mountain,” she said, which “took a turn and became a much grander objective.”

Husband Steve Post also helped rally support. “I think it’s an amazing community effort to save an important part of Santa Fe’s setting for everyone to enjoy,” he said. “We’re just elated.”

The trust plans to hold a public auction soon for the home already located on the Watson estate. One buyer has already offered $536,000, which will be the opening bid, Parks said.

Closing costs and maintenance money will also be needed, she said, so the fundraising effort continues.

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

WASHINGTON — Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers.

The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time homebuyers but is set to expire at the end of November. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new home sales fell 3.6 percent in September, and some industry representatives blamed uncertainty about the tax credit.

Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers.

Senators were still negotiating the expansion of a separate tax credit that lets money-losing businesses get refunds for taxes paid in previous years, providing them with an immediate source of cash.

Senators in both political parties were hoping to add both tax provisions to a bill that would give people running out of unemployment insurance benefits up to 20 more weeks of federal aid. The Senate could vote on the overall bill as early as Thursday, but lawmakers were still haggling over several unrelated amendments Wednesday evening.

Popular bills like the one to extend unemployment benefits often attract amendments that would have a difficult time passing on their own.

Republicans were demanding that they be given a chance to offer amendments to restrict federal aid to the beleaguered community activist group ACORN and on requiring that people receiving unemployment insurance be processed through E-Verify, an Internet-based system that employers use to check on the immigration status of new hires.

Majority Democrats have refused to add the amendments.

If the Senate passes the bill, it would go to the House, which passed a similar bill extending unemployment benefits last month. House leaders have also said they support extending the tax credit for homebuyers.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been negotiating for several weeks with Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to craft an extended tax credit for homebuyers that would pass the Senate.

Lawmakers didn’t release a cost estimate for extending the tax credit, though similar proposals were projected to cost about $10 billion.

Industry representatives said uncertainty about the tax credit is hurting new home sales. September’s decline was the first since March.

It takes 45 days to 60 days to close on a house, making it unlikely a sale made today would be consummated by the end of November, said Lucien Salvant, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.

“Buyers right now have an incentive to hold off, not knowing whether the credit will be extended,” Salvant said.

About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit.

The tax credit for money-losing businesses is a favorite among Republican lawmakers. Businesses could get tax refunds by using losses from 2008 and 2009 to offset taxable profits made in the previous five years. Under current law, they can only offset profits from the previous two years.

The provision would help a variety of industries, including retailers, manufacturers and home builders, though it’s expensive.

“It’s clearly a way to put cash in the hands of some major economic players,” said Clint Stretch, a tax policy expert at Deloitte Tax.

A similar proposal that was ultimately dropped from the economic stimulus package enacted in February would have cost nearly $20 billion over 10 years. Lawmakers are working to reduce the price tag.

Because people are so strapped for cash, this is a good way to get refunds when businesses need them for operating expenses, said Rachelle Bernstein, vice president and tax counsel for the National Retail Federation.

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
POSTED: 3:32 pm MDT October 28, 2009
UPDATED: 5:56 pm MDT October 28, 2009

Passed earlier this year as part of the economic stimulus package, the credit is good for up to $8,000, or 10% of the purchase price, and applies to people who have not owned a home in the previous three years. (There are some income restrictions.) The best part: Unlike a similar program from 2008, the credit does not have to be repaid.

The bad part: It ends on Dec. 1.

Because it usually takes around 90 days to close on a house after a contract is signed, buyers have very little time left to act. As of Thurs., Aug. 27, there were only 96 days left before the credit ends.

“Buyers have to get a home under contract very, very soon,” said Tom Kunz, CEO of Century 21. “They probably should get out looking.”

Sense of urgency

What they will find may surprise them: Many of the prime properties have already been snapped up. Home sales have been on the upswing, and inventories are so depleted in hot markets that first-time buyers are struggling to find homes in their price range.

In Whittier, Calif., for example, there are few repossessed homes for sale. Those are easy to buy because there isn’t a lot of red tape and the bank wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Instead, most of the properties are short sales, where the sellers have to convince their lender to let them sell the house for less than they owe.

“That’s why there’s such a sense of urgency now,” said Irma Tapper, a Century 21 real estate agent in Whittier. “The banks have to approve short sales, and they’re taking three to six months to do that.”

That means a first timer putting a bid on a short-sale might not get an answer form the bank until well after the Dec. 1 deadline for the tax credit. So when an actual repossession listing hits the markets, it creates a feeding frenzy.

Chuck Whitehead, who runs the Coldwell Banker agency in Temecula, Calif., said one recent listing hit the market on a Friday and by Monday there were 57 bids.

The National Association of Realtors attributes much of this activity to the first-time buyer tax credit. It estimates that 1.8 million buyers will file for the credit, and 350,000 of them wouldn’t have been able to buy without it.

“It makes a big difference because most of these clients are in a lower price range,” said Michelle Edmunds, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Temecula, Calf., who has closed sales for six first-time buyers. “The houses they buy need work and normally they wouldn’t want to move in because of the [less than perfect] conditions the homes are in.”

That is true for Wesley Forsythe. This June, the 30-year-old computer consultant and his girlfriend bought a row house in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. Since he paid just $80,000 for the three-bedroom, two-bath place, the credit acted like a 10% discount.

“It allowed us to expand our price range and plan additional renovations,” he said. “My mortgage is several hundred dollars less than what my new rent would have been.”

Forsythe applied for the credit immediately after closing, filing an amended 2008 tax return. The IRS cut him a check in less than seven weeks. He’s spending it now on new hardwood floors, repainting most of the interior and renovating a bathroom. He’s stretching the cash by doing much of the work himself.
Cash for Clunkers effect

Of course, analysts worry that this frenzy will dry up once the tax credit expires. They argue that without the incentive, much of the pressure on homebuyers to act quickly will vanish, and the nascent housing recovery could slump.

In many ways the tax credit is similar to the Cash for Clunkers program that ended this week. Already, auto dealers are anticipating that car sales will evaporate after accelerating during the program.

“It’s just like Cash for Clunkers,” said Robert Dye, a senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group. “It runs the risk of a let-down as the program runs its course.”

Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is a former real estate broker, is pushing legislation to extend the tax credit through next year, increase it to $15,000, include non-first-time homebuyers, and remove income restrictions.

The effort has drawn strong industry support.

“We need to stimulate the move-up buyer,” said Century 21′s Kunz, “so it works its way up the pricing food chain. That’s what we need to get inventory moving again.” To top of page

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

The action is another important step in the Aamodt case filed 43 years ago to settle the water-rights claims by Nambé, Tesuque, Pojoaque and San Ildefonso pueblos. The pueblos, the state, the city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County in 2006 reached a settlement that needs congressional approval. This year, Congress has steadily advanced legislation to ratify and fund the settlement, but no final act has been passed. Some of the nonpueblo landowners in the valley with domestic wells have fought against the settlement for years and continue to oppose portions of it.

Meanwhile, the federal district court must finalize the priority dates on acequias in the valley as part of the settlement. Priority dates were given by the state to more than 70 streams in the area and people with water rights had an opportunity to ask for a change in the date.

Priority dates on irrigation ditches are a critical part of New Mexico’s water law and the wheeling and dealing by cities and developers over water rights. New Mexico follows a “first in time, first in right” approach to water — the first person, or ditch, to use water beneficially has the senior claim on the water. The ditches with the oldest priority dates receive their water first off a stream.

The pueblos are recognized as the first people in the valley to use water for farming and other uses, so they have first rights to water.

Priority dates on the acequias in the Pojoaque Valley range from 1728 within the Rio Tesuque to 1907 on parts of the Rio en Medio. Gerald Peters, for example, believes the priority dates on several irrigation ditches fed by the Rio en Medio should be older than the those given by the state. The state gave the Questa Ditch a 1907 priority date; Peters believes it should be 1899.

According to a legal notice published Friday in The New Mexican, people who have challenged their ditch’s priority date and those who want to challenge any changes have until Dec. 31 to file notice they intend to participate in the court proceedings. They must also attend a pretrial conference Jan. 13 with the special master reviewing the priority dates. This is the only opportunity people with surface water rights will have to participate in the adjudication of priority rights, according to the state. Anyone who doesn’t participate won’t be able to object later.

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican