So, now what happens?

With the tax factor/incentive out of play, many predict that the market will see a bit of a hiccup.  In fact, only two weeks after the expiration, national home sales have shown significant declines.  While it’s still to early to look at the entire month of  May statistics, we’re pretty sure there are going to be down ticks across the board.  Showings and pendings have also slowed a bit, both good indicators of what if going on.

These happenings are topped with the highly tumultuous mortgage market.  With the big crashes on Wall Street last week, (and, wow, I just looked at today’s Dow and it’s down at least 100 points) mortgage rates are a 2010 lows again.  However, we also just read that mortgage applications have dropped off 27% since April.  Thus, even though rates are low, not many people are applying. Interesting signs indeed.

In summary, the tax credit has passed but home prices remain incredibly low, which still makes this a great time to buy. If you can lock in a great rate and find a nice place, you just may find yourself a fabulous deal. 

Link the AP Article on April Home Sales Here

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1. Go for the long haul
When looking for a home, search for one that you could see yourself living in for several years — at least five to seven years is ideal. Buying — and moving — to a new home takes a lot of time and effort, and can add up significantly in closing and moving costs, etc. Staying in place longer will help you avoid those added expenses. Plus, the extra time spent in your home could be just enough to help you ride out a downturn in the real estate market.

2. Leave room to grow
Aim for a home that can adapt to your needs as your life changes, say, if you have a new baby, or Junior moves back in after college. If you can’t afford a place that’s large enough to meet your anticipated future needs now, look for one that will allow you to build on later on.

3. Be flexible
Consider a place with rooms that can serve multiple functions, so the home remains highly functional for you through the years. For example, an open-floor-plan-style home is very adaptable. A kitchen that overlooks a family room is helpful when one’s children are young (you can cook while watching the kids), while such a kitchen is also great for entertaining your friends once the kids leave the roost.

4. Go for your type
Think about what style of home fits you best — house, condo, townhome, etc. — they’re not one size fits all. For example, a single-family home — which sits on its own lot and must be maintained by the homeowner — may be great for a person seeking privacy, but not so wonderful for somebody who doesn’t want to worry about mowing the lawn, fixing the plumbing, etc. Meanwhile, a condo might be perfect for somebody who wants a “lock ‘n’ leave” lifestyle, but not for somebody who doesn’t like sharing a wall with his neighbors.

5. Check the surroundings
When you purchase a home, you not only get a house, you also buy into a neighborhood. Think about whether that neighborhood will suit you. Sure, you might love the house itself, but will the loud neighbors next door or the school across the street become too bothersome for you? Also, do you like the feel of the neighborhood and does it offer everything you need? It’s best to find a place in a community that you’ll enjoy.

6. Buy what you can afford
It’s easy to shoot for the sky and overspend when buying a home — you understandably want the best your money can buy. Examine your finances, keeping in mind current and future expenses, and don’t exceed your means. It’s smarter to buy a home you can easily afford than one you have to stretch to get into. Stay down to earth, and you’ll be better prepared should unexpected financial commitments and problems arise later down the road.

7. Think “home” first
When purchasing a home, don’t imagine the dollar signs you’ll see the day you sell it. A home is just that — primarily a “home,” and not an investment. So, buy a place that’d be great to live in first and think about its resale value second. Predicting real estate cycles and home appreciation is tough enough for the experts — and much more for the average home buyer. Plus, while home renovations tend to add value to a residence, they rarely recoup more than what was spent on them.

8. Look at both old and new
It’s nice to move into a place that’s brand-new. But, new isn’t always better. Consider both old and new. While you might not like a previous homeowner’s decorating decisions, you might like the owner-installed upgrades — like a finished basement and a backyard deck — that a new home might not have.

9. Location, Location, Location
You’ve heard this tip before, but a home’s location does matter. A house that’s located on a busy, noisy street may be less enjoyable to you as a homeowner than one situated on a quiet, secluded cul-de-sac. Plus, a home on a cul-de-sac is likely to be worth more than a poorly located one when it comes time to resell. So consider a home’s location before you’re smitten by a spectacular interior.

10. When it comes time to sell
While you want to think of your place as a home first and not an investment, it doesn’t make sense to purchase a white elephant, either. You should put at least some thought into how easy — or difficult — it’ll be to resell the home one day. If a home is so unlike other nearby homes in terms of size, style, price, etc., you might want to skip it and look elsewhere — it could become a burden should you want to someday move on.

Source: Trulia.com

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

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

 The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.43 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.37 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.72 percent.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.40 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.38 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.06 percent.

The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.54 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.60 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.23 percent.

“Following bond yields, long-term mortgages rates edged up slightly this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Although rates for 5/1 ARMs and traditional 1-year ARMs are around half a percentage point below 30-year fixed mortgages, consumers appear to be seeking the stability of fixed-rate mortgages. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, ARMs averaged only about 6 percent of the number of mortgage applications in September and October thus far.”

“The housing market is still trying to recover in the second half of the year. The Federal Reserve reported in its October 21st regional economic review that housing market conditions improved in recent weeks, primarily from a pickup in sales of low-to medium-priced houses. However, residential construction activity was reported to remain weak in most areas. New construction of single family homes rebounded in September, rising at a 3.9 percent annual rate, but did not erase all of the declines set in August, based on figures released by the Department of Commerce. Moreover, homebuilder confidence, as measured by the National Association of Homebuilder’s Housing Market Index, fell slightly in October and marked the first decline since January of this year.”

Attorney: $388,000 due for potable water and $51,000 due for treated sewage effluent

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

Las Campanas Limited Partnership is current on payments for the joint city/county Buckman Direct Diversion Project, but still owes the city of Santa Fe for past-due water bills, attorneys said this week.

The luxury development, now under the control of Lloyds Banking Group, this summer fell about $1.6 million behind on its share of the Rio Grande diversion project. On Monday, a check delivered to the city took them out of arrears, project manager Rick Carpenter said.

In the case of a separate arrangement with the city’s Water Division, it’s not clear why no one demanded payment sooner on what officials now say is up to $388,000 in payments for potable water — bills that have stacked up for service provided to Las Campanas since 2004 — and about $51,000 for treated sewage effluent billed in August, Assistant City Attorney Marcos Martinez said.

The development uses effluent from the city sewage-treatment plant to irrigate golf courses.

Managers at the luxury development say they don’t agree with the city’s accounting. Michelle Hoeft, a spokeswoman for Las Campanas Limited Partnership, said Thursday that the numbers “are in dispute.”

The issue at hand, she said, is that in 2004 a water cooperative took responsibility for a portion of the water delivered there, and the city began sending bills to both the Las Campanas corporate partnership and the co-op.

“Everybody was making payments,” Hoeft said. “From an administrative standpoint (the co-op was) writing checks and the partnership was writing checks. The process now has been to separate these two entities and try to reconcile what was legitimately paid for by the partnership and the co-op and how those payments got applied.”

The past-due bills came to light after Councilor Miguel Chavez asked for an audit of all the city accounts associated with the financially troubled development, according to Martinez.

The city delivers potable water to the development for irrigation and for domestic and commercial uses there. A legal agreement in place for more than six years stipulates that the city will each year sell up to 322 acre-feet of water to the subdivision until the Buckman Direct Diversion comes online.

That project is being constructed under a three-way deal between the city and county and Las Campanas, who agreed to proportionately split the cost of more than $216 million in shared facilities. The original plan was for Las Campanas to build its own water treatment plant nearby, but the development is in the process of changing those plans.

Just last week, the county agreed to allow Las Campanas to become a wholesale water customer of the county and to share in the cost of a new pipeline to make that possible.

Such an arrangement will likely require alteration of the Buckman contracts, which requires approval from the City Council. Since construction on the shared facilities has been under way for more than a year, project manager Carpenter said the county and Las Campanas have agreed to pay for changes to the Buckman project associated with their arrangement.

Becoming a wholesale water customer of the county does not relieve Las Campanas of its obligation to the Buckman project, estimated at about $11.2 million of the $216 million design-build budget. Including Monday’s payment, Las Campanas has paid about $4.2 million, Carpenter said.

They were spot-on with their prediction of Wednesday’s storm, which dumped several inches of snow in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, sent water rushing down the Santa Fe River and brought gusty wind problems to the Santa Fe Municipal Airport.

Forecasters had predicted major thunderstorms in the central Rio Grande region, wind gusts of 50 miles per hour or more and up to 7 inches of snow above 7,500 feet in the mountains.

The Santa Fe snowpack telemetry site, near the ski basin above 11,000 feet in elevation, gained more than half a foot of snow Wednesday. But melted down into a cup, the snow at the measuring point only equaled a gain of about an inch of water. Information for the Elk Cabin snotel site east of Santa Fe at 8,200 feet elevation was not available Wednesday evening.

“This was a very wound-up storm with a lot of moisture wrapped in it,” said meteorologist Chuck Jones from the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

Temperatures in Santa Fe plummeted from the 70s on Tuesday to the 40s on Wednesday, and a steady rain fell in the downtown area.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for north-central and northeastern New Mexico through Wednesday late afternoon as the storm that formed over California moved across Arizona and into New Mexico. The same storm dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of Colorado and an inch of rain in Albuquerque.

Accuweather predicted snow through Wednesday night in the mountains. Jones said parts of the state, including Santa Fe, would continue to feel the storm’s effects through today with cloudy, cold weather. Mostly sunny skies are predicted through the weekend for the Santa Fe area.

 Staci Matlock | The New Mexican