Condo rule change would legalize many homes

Julie Ann Grimm: The New Mexican

A state law that goes into effect next month will halt the creation of new condominiums that don’t comply with the city zoning rules.

But most of the condos that skirted zoning rules in the city of Santa Fe during the last couple of decades won’t be negatively affected by the law change. If anything, insiders say, the law and a proposed change to the city code will clear up potential problems for small-time property owners who previously faced a legal quagmire.

About one-fifth of the city’s condominium associations contain dwelling units that exceed density limits for the lot size under city rules, according to a recent staff estimate. Of the roughly 4,309 condominium units that belong to 378 condominium associations in Santa Fe, officials say about 324 units exceed the maximum allowed density for the lot they were built on.

Prior to this year’s session of the state Legislature, buildings and lots could be subdivided as condominiums and recorded with the county clerk absent any city review. State Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, succeeded after several tries to get legislators and the governor to amend state law so that cities can opt to require such a review.

City officials are taking steps to codify the change here. A proposal to amend the city Land Use code was approved Monday by the Public Works Committee and is on the agenda for the Finance Committee next Monday. A final vote and public hearing at the City Council meeting is scheduled for May 30, after which it would take effect immediately.

The practical result of the city adopting such an ordinance change would be two-fold, city Land Use Director Matt O’Reilly said.

“This ordinance, in a nutshell, is a way of addressing, within reason, the condominiums that exist illegally,” he said, “and permanently stopping forever this from happening in the future.”

Of the estimated 324 units that are illegal today, the city ordinance will effectively “grandfather in” about 80 to 90 percent. O’Reilly said that term actually isn’t an accurate description of what would happen. The right term, he says, is that those units will become legal structures that don’t conform to city zoning rules.

A small group of illegal condos would not be legalized, however. They include condominium units that were built without a building permit, and those that are still owned by the person who originally created the illegal condominium. Lots where owners have development rights but have already put up too many dwelling units under zoning rules also won’t become legal under the proposed changes.

Most of the affected properties are on the north and east side of the city, and half of them were originally intended to be guest houses, he said. In those older parts of the city, O’Reilly said, there are many legally nonconforming structures already, owing largely to the fact that much of that region was developed before zoning laws were enacted in the 1960s.

Condominiums that would become legal nonconforming structures when the city approves the law change don’t require any additional paperwork to get that status, but O’Reilly said owners who wonder about the status of their condominium should contact the land-use department.

“If you have reason to believe that yours was built without a permit, you might want to come see us,” he said.

Permits ensure that electrical and plumbing systems are safe, among other details.

Another consequence of making the illegal condos legal is that owners who had previously run into hurdles in refinancing, sales and efforts at renovation will now be able to accomplish all of those tasks.

Jennifer Jenkins, a development consultant in Santa Fe, said she had mixed feelings when she first learned about pending changes to the state law and the city code, but she believes the city is moving in the right direction.

“We have to comply with zoning. We do. It is normal. And for somebody to purposely create a project that is a nonconformity, they are just creating problems,” she said. “They are creating problems for themselves. They are creating marketing problems. They are creating future legal issues. It is in nobody’s interest to intentionally do that.”

Jenkins said she is pleased that the city plans to add what she called “the grandfathering language” as a consumer protection.

Wirth, an attorney, said he backed the state law change because the system was causing situations that were nearly impossible to navigate.

“We call this a legal quagmire,” he said, “because you’ve got, oftentimes, an innocent purchaser who bought one of these things, with the title insurance, who then finds out that it was illegally zoned and that they have a piece of property that is not worth a whole bunch.”

 Link to Original Article

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From an recent AP article:

Santa Fe tops global list for its clean air
 
 
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s capital, which regularly tops rankings for its quality of life, has something new to brag about. The first-ever World Health Organization survey on air pollution said Santa Fe’s air quality readings are among the cleanest in the world.
Santa Fe Mayor David Coss said he’s pleased but not surprised as the city consistently gets high rankings from the American Lung Association.
“It’s one of the things we love about living in Santa Fe,” he said.
The high mountain desert city is used to ranking high on lists of best places for living, visiting and playing. In fact, Coss said he is traveling to New York next month to find out if it will win Conde Naste travel magazine’s No. 1 ranking of places to visit.
“We were voted in the top three best cities to visit,” he said. “I am going to see if maybe we are No. 1.”
Santa Fe and the Canadian Yukon Territory’s capital Whitehorse were among the cities with the top rankings in the global survey from WHO, which measures the levels of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers — so-called PM10s — in almost 1,100 cities.
Whitehorse had a yearly average of just 3 micrograms of PM10s per cubic meter, while Santa Fe measured 6 micrograms.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Whitehorse Mayor Bev Buckway. “A lot of people come up north and they smell the air and the say, ‘Oh wow. Amazing. The air smells so good,’” she said. “And we tend to take it for granted because we just have that all the time.”
Washington, D.C., had a level of 18 micrograms, Tokyo measured 23 micrograms, and Paris had 38 micrograms of PM10s per cubic meter.
Cities in Iran, India, Pakistan and the capital of Mongolia rank among the worst on the planet for air pollution.
The southwest Iranian city of Ahvaz walked away with the unfortunate distinction of having the highest measured level of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers. Ahvaz’s annual average of PM10s was 372 micrograms per cubic meter. Heavy industry and low-quality vehicle fuel are the main causes of air pollution in that desert city of 1.3 million.

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Fiesta de Santa Fe: Spirit of community on parade
Robert Nott | The New Mexican
   

 Some were hysterical — like the float featuring pirate ravens fighting ninja prairie dogs. Others were historical, like the Johnnie’s Cash Store float celebrating 65 years of small-town, family-owned business. Some celebrated long-held traditions of the region, as with the La Sociedad Folklorica float. And some were just cars and trucks draped with banner advertisements for political figures, local organizations and long-standing community groups.

Yet, the more than 100 floats and vehicles involved in Sunday’s Historical/Hysterical Parade — which started around 1 p.m. and wound through the streets of downtown Santa Fe for a couple of hours — certainly shared a sense of community.

Which is what the parade is all about, according to many of the participants, who showed up as early as 6 a.m. Sunday at the starting gate on Guadalupe Street near the DeVargas Center to register and prepare.

“It’s about sharing the true meaning of Fiesta, and not just getting caught up in Zozobra,” said Jessica Lucero, a member of La Sociedad Folklorica and a former La Reina de la Fiesta. “Our float celebrates the state’s official cookie, the bizcochito. A lot of Northern New Mexico traditions are based on family and friends getting together and making memories, and a lot of that activity revolves around food.”

Maria McMahon, who serves on the parent advisory council for the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, feels the same way. The church’s float featured a roughly 12-foot replica of the cathedral — with room enough for a youth marimba band to play.

“The parade is a huge community event, a huge social event,” she said while volunteers put the finishing touches on the float. “These are the sort of things you don’t always get in the big cities. Isn’t that why we live in Santa Fe?”

Part of that life in Santa Fe — according to some students from the Santa Fe University of Art and Design — is the ongoing battle between defenseless prairie dogs and predator ravens over at the college campus.

Float spokesperson Yusef Seevers related a rather convoluted tale of how the prairie dogs, realizing they were being picked off by the pirating ravens, began taking up ninja battle tactics to fight back. The float featured a rather gruesome-looking image of huge dark birds descending on a prairie dog village.

The float’s band planned to play music throughout the parade as the float moved along the route. But that band’s name seemed to change as quickly as the story behind the ravens and prairie dogs.

“Call us Improv,” Seevers said of the band. “We play original work, contemporary, classical, post-modern, apocalyptic. We span across the entire musical range; we span across boundaries. We are the boundaries. In fact, that’s our new name — call us Boundary.”

Santo Niño Regional Catholic School parents and students set up a more sedate, playful float across the way, one based on the children’s game Candyland, replete with Candy Cane Forest, Gum Drop Mountain and the Chocolate Swamp.

School Principal Theresa Vaisa said the fifth-grade students came up with the concept for the float — on which small buckets filled with candy rested. The students also made their own Candyland costumes.

Kindergartner Shania Murillo was helping prep the Candyland float around midmorning Sunday. Proving herself to be a master at brevity, she answered all questions in one word. Does she like Candyland? Yes. Is the parade fun for the community? Yes. Will she fall off the float? No.

Aside from some vehicles promoting local and regional politicians, there was little sign of political floats, be they historical or hysterical. But citizen Susan Lopez entered a car decorated by banners calling for Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block’s resignation.

“Resign now,” one of her signs read. “Our schools need the $.”

As both a mother and a Santa Fe Public Schools employee (though she emphasized she was not speaking for the district), Lopez said the news that impeachment hearings for Block could cost taxpayers $1 million motivated her to get involved.

She said parade officials initially suggested to her that they would not let her in the parade. “They said the float has negative connotations and they want to keep it cheerful,” she said.

“I pointed out that this has always been a political parade, that I am not defaming anyone, and that I am just stating the facts. This is not politically motivated — it’s common-sense motivated.”

She credited parade officials with accepting her argument and letting her take part. Perhaps it helped that she had the popular Peanuts character Charlie Brown walking near her car during the parade.

When the parade was over, Lopez said she received almost unanimous support from spectators along the way, although one lady said to her, “That’s not nice.”

Other floats were musically oriented — like the one that Capital High’s performing-arts department entered with a “Yellow Submarine” theme. All four Beatles were present, as were some Blue Meanies, the Walrus and other “Submarine” characters.

But Capital senior Jennifer Valerio was pretty honest about why the group chose this theme: “Because our marching band was learning ‘Yellow Submarine’ to play in the parade.”

Parade officials said there were no major problems or disruptions during the event. Oddly enough, they said no one seems to know when the parade actually started as part of the city’s Fiesta celebration, though they are fairly sure it dates back at least 50 years.

 WINNING ENTRIES

Hysterical

1st place: Wings for Hope/Toys 4 Tots

2nd place: Santa Fe Spirit Cheer

3rd place: The Hive

Musical

1st place: Santa Fe Care Center

2nd place: Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

3rd place: Divine Destiny

Western

1st place: Bear Creek

2nd place: First Impressions

3rd place: Santa Fe County (Fair) Queen

Historical

1st place: La Sociedad Folklorica

2nd place: Johnnie’s Cash Store

3rd place: La Chica Latina

Link to Original Article Here

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The following piece from the New York Times outlines the nationwide foreclosure situation and discusses how much worse it may get.

ARTICLE:

As Lenders Hold Homes in Foreclosure, Sales Are Hurt
 
By Eric Dash; The New York Times

El Mirage, Ariz. — The nation’s biggest banks and mortgage lenders have steadily amassed real estate empires, acquiring a glut of foreclosed homes that threatens to deepen the housing slump and create a further drag on the economic recovery.

All told, they own more than 872,000 homes as a result of the groundswell in foreclosures, almost twice as many as when the financial crisis began in 2007, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate data provider. In addition, they are in the process of foreclosing on an additional one million homes and are poised to take possession of several million more in the years ahead.

Five years after the housing market started teetering, economists now worry that the rise in lender-owned homes could create another vicious circle, in which the growing inventory of distressed property further depresses home values and leads to even more distressed sales. With the spring home-selling season under way, real estate prices have been declining across the country in recent months.

“It remains a heavy weight on the banking system,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “Housing prices are falling, and they are going to fall some more.”

Over all, economists project that it would take about three years for lenders to sell their backlog of foreclosed homes. As a result, home values nationally could fall 5 percent by the end of 2011, according to Moody’s, and rise only modestly over the following year. Regions that were hardest hit by the housing collapse and recession could take even longer to recover — dealing yet another blow to a still-struggling economy.

Although sales have picked up a bit in the last few weeks, banks and other lenders remain overwhelmed by the wave of foreclosures. In Atlanta, lenders are repossessing eight homes for each distressed home they sell, according to March data from RealtyTrac. In Minneapolis, they are bringing in at least six foreclosed homes for each they sell, and in once-hot markets like Chicago and Miami, the ratio still hovers close to two to one.

Before the housing implosion, the inflow and outflow figures were typically one-to-one.

The reasons for the backlog include inadequate staffs and delays imposed by the lenders because of investigations into foreclosure practices. The pileup could lead to $40 billion in additional losses for banks and other lenders as they sell houses at steep discounts over the next two years, according to Trepp, a real estate research firm.

“These shops are under siege; it’s just a tsunami of stuff coming in,” said Taj Bindra, who oversaw Washington Mutual’s servicing unit from 2004 to 2006 and now advises financial institutions on risk management. “Lenders have a strong incentive to clear out inventory in a controlled and timely manner, but if you had problems on the front end of the foreclosure process, it should be no surprise you are having problems on the back end.”

A drive through the sprawling subdivisions outside Phoenix shows the ravages of the real estate collapse. Here in this working-class neighborhood of El Mirage, northwest of Phoenix, rows of small stucco homes sprouted up during the boom. Now block after block is pockmarked by properties with overgrown shrubs, weeds and foreclosure notices tacked to the doors. About 116 lender-owned homes are on the market or under contract in El Mirage, according to local real estate listings.

But that’s just a small fraction of what is to come. An additional 491 houses are either sitting in the lenders’ inventory or are in the foreclosure process. On average, homes in El Mirage sell for $65,300, down 75 percent from the height of the boom in July 2006, according to the Cromford Report, a Phoenix-area real estate data provider. Real estate agents and market analysts say those ultra-cheap prices have recently started attracting first-time buyers as well as investors looking for several properties at once.

Lenders have also been more willing to let distressed borrowers sidestep foreclosure by selling homes for a loss. That has accelerated the pace of sales in the area and even caused prices to slowly rise in the last two months, but realty agents worry about all the distressed homes that are coming down the pike.

“My biggest fear right now is that the supply has been artificially restricted,” said Jayson Meyerovitz, a local broker. “They can’t just sit there forever. If so many houses hit the market, what is going to happen then?”

The major lenders say they are not deliberately holding back any foreclosed homes. They say that a long sales process can stigmatize a property and ratchet up maintenance and other costs. But they also do not want to unload properties in a fire sale.

“If we are out there undercutting prices, we are contributing to the downward spiral in market values,” said Eric Will, who oversees distressed home sales for Freddie Mac. “We want to make sure we are helping stabilize communities.”

The biggest reason for the backlog is that it takes longer to sell foreclosed homes, currently an average of 176 days — and that’s after the 400 days it takes for lenders to foreclose. After drawing government scrutiny over improper foreclosures practices last fall, many big lenders have slowed their operations in order to check the paperwork, and in two dozen or so states they halted them for months.

Conscious of their image, many lenders have recently started telling real estate agents to be more lenient to renters who happen to live in a foreclosed home and give them extra time to move out before changing the locks.

“Wells Fargo has sent me back knocking on doors two or three times, offering to give renters money if they cooperate with us,” said Claude A. Worrell, a longtime real estate agent from Minneapolis who specializes in selling bank-owned property. “It’s a lot different than it used to be.”

Realty agents and buyers say the lenders are simply overwhelmed. Just as lenders were ill-prepared to handle the flood of foreclosures, they do not have the staff and infrastructure to manage and sell this much property.

Most of the major lenders outsourced almost every part of the process, be it sales or repairs. Some agents complain that lender-owned home listings are routinely out of date, that properties are overpriced by as much as 10 percent, and that lenders take days or longer to accept an offer.

The silver lining for home lenders, however, is that the number of new foreclosures and recent borrowers falling behind on their payments by three months or longer is shrinking.

“If they are able to manage through the next 12 to 18 months,” said Mr. Zandi, the Moody’s Analytics economist, “they will be in really good shape.”

Link to Original Article in the New York Times Here

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ARTICLE:

Infectious confections line Santa Fe’s Chocolate Trail. Santa Fe’s renown chocolate trail is dotted with artisan shops that satisfy the sweet tooth

By: Jill Koenigsdorf | For The New Mexican

Any town that has four world-class chocolate shops in a 5-mile radius is my kind of town. Santa Fe is home to the infamous Chocolate Trail, a cocoa-dusted route that connects four esteemed purveyors of this fine food of the gods. Incredible as it sounds, there are actually some people who eat or give chocolates only on holidays — but now that science has informed us chocolate is chock full of health-giving flavonoids and antioxidants, we can all enjoy some guilt-free trailblazing.

Todos Santos

Entering Hayward Simoneaux’s 11-year-old Todos Santos is like stepping into a chocolate-dappled wonderland. The eyes roam from folk-art Pez dispensers depicting Ganesh and Wonder Woman to a parade of giant lollipops, and then to a case filled with antique chocolate molds in the shape of a crayfish, a skull and even a revolver.

Simoneaux is a New Orleans transplant who became interested in making chocolate in part because
he was collecting old chocolate molds he wanted to put to use. He puts much creativity and care into the presentation of his wares, and you will find delectable chocolates tucked inside anything from miniature Mexican wrestler masks, to containers made from recycled telephone keys, to little boxes that look like ancient books.

And what’s inside the pretty packages transports the taste buds to chocolate nirvana. His truffles are perfumed with rare pairings like tarragon and candied grapefruit peel, or hickory-smoked sea salt. And the pumpkin-seed toffee is to die for.

His chocolate milagros, costing between $12 and $30, are coated in edible silver or gold and are works of art. The shop’s pricing ranges from $1.50 for a playful foil-covered chocolate ring to $125 for a majestic tower.

Elegance meets fun in this festive shop.

Kakawa Chocolate House

What do Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jefferson and Aztec warriors have in common? They all drank elixirs made from chocolate. Peter Wolf, owner of the 5-year-old Kakawa Chocolate House, is doing his best to replicate the same concoctions revered throughout history — when chocolate was for kings and cocoa was so precious it was used as a currency.

But you won’t find anything even remotely resembling Swiss Miss. What you will find is thick, exotic brews flavored with ingredients such as roses, nuts, ancho chile, hibiscus and musk. The drinks are $3.50 for 3 ounces or $6.50 for
6 ounces.

The chocolatiers use mostly organic ingredients, sweeten with agave or honey and often substitute oat or almond milk for dairy. For Valentine’s Day, they offer The Love Potion, a sensuous concoction that uses an herb called damiana, known for its aphrodisiac properties. And if these rich beverages of the ancients still haven’t fully satisfied your yen for chocolate, don’t leave before trying one of the pomegranate or lavender truffles ($3 each).

The chocolatiers at Kakawa are passionate about these creations, so much so that chocolate expert Ariana Rossi has the DNA of chocolate tattooed on her arm.

C.G. Higgins Confections

Over the last 17 years, owner Chuck Higgins routinely has sold about 12,000 caramel apples during the two weeks of the state fair — a feat that requires about two tons of caramel. Knowing that should instill confidence that this man knows his sweets. And if this isn’t enough, C.G. Higgins is the official candymaker for Santa Fe’s 400th anniversary. His Chile Caramel Corn and Chile Pecan Brittle each took home first place at the renowned Fiery Foods show in Albuquerque.

Higgins offers a different take on truffles, using high-quality Guittard chocolate as the base, but omitting the hot cream often found in the chocolate ganache. That gives the treats a longer shelf life.

The center of his truffles — which cost $3 each — has a wonderful fudgy texture, and the
truffles come in tempting flavors like Blackberry Balsamic, Cardamom Raspberry or Jalapeño Lime. And what would Valentine’s Day be without chocolate-dipped strawberries? Higgins is already taking orders for these sexy treats, which are made on-site that very day. They sell for
$3.50 per delight, and six for $20.

If it’s fudge you desire, you’ve come to the right place. Black Forest Cherry, Chocolate Pecan, Raspberry Chipolata, or tried-and-true Maple Nut are all available for $17 per pound. Patrons can also enjoy happy hour in the cozy cafe, with specially priced sipping chocolates and espressos available from 4 to 6 p.m.

The Chocolate Smith

Jeff and Kari Keenan, owners of this 9-year-old confectionery, must know that once customers taste their chocolates, they will be hooked. The Keenans have copious amounts of samples on every flat surface. The aroma of chocolate fills the air, coming from the open kitchen that shares the sales area. Customers can watch the chocolates being made and see the signature pâtés being cut on the marble slabs.

These yummy pâtés are a dense, firm ganache covered in Dutch cheese wax, which makes them perfect for travelers. The Chocolate Smith uses local and organic ingredients whenever possible. The shop’s barks are wildly popular, especially the White Chocolate Lemon Lavender or the Green Chile Pistachio varieties, which cost $8 per quarter-pound.

You can custom-make an assortment for
$29.50 a pound. Were I to do this, it would definitely include the sake-soaked, chocolate-covered ginger; the chocolate-dipped apricots; and the succulent Don Juan Pecan Italian soft-style caramels.

There are many grab-and-go gifts available for under $10. You can also go for the whimsical Day of the Dead tin gift boxes, which cost $24.95.

Link to Original Article

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ARTICLE:

Santa Fe Economy: Optimism tentative, but definitely in the air: Turnaround time?
Bob Quick | The New Mexican 

It’s not a rip-roaring recovery, but things are finally starting to pick up after several woeful years, say local business people, an economist and others.

“I think we can say the worst is behind us,” said Mark Boyd, an economist with the state of New Mexico’s Department of Workforce Solutions. “The economy looks a lot stronger these days.”

“The feeling I get in the last couple of months that things are starting to turn around, thank God,” said Maggie Hanley Welles, the new association manager of the Santa Fe Gallery Association.

There’s still negative job growth in New Mexico, Boyd said, but the economy has reached the point where it’s going to start showing some positive growth again.

Santa Fe, Boyd said, was ahead of the rest of the state in lost jobs, especially when it came to construction. “Construction jobs stayed down a long time,” Boyd said. “It was a huge hit, and it showed just how deep the recession was.”

Most recently, the mining, logging and construction sector of the local economy lost more jobs — 100 jobs since November, according to the state Labor Market Review.

On the other hand, three industries — information, government and other services — reported over-the-year employment gains.

Four important industries — retail trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities and educational and health services — reported flat employment levels.

“The Santa Fe job market has been weak for over two years but is improving,” the Labor Market Review said. “At its worst last summer, the number of jobs was down as much as 6.8 percent over a
12-month period.”

By the end of 2010, Santa Fe’s employment picture started to improve with the pending construction of a new Walmart, with 300 employees, later this year and the announced expansion of CleanAIR Systems, with 50 new jobs.

Boyd expects revised economic performance numbers to be available around the end of March.

Bryan Chippeaux, president of Century Bank, said Santa Fe took longer than many places to feel the effects of the recession and is now seeing a belated turnaround.

“Real estate is improving, but no one is calling it a trend,” he said of Santa Fe’s real-estate market. “Everybody is nervous.”

Chippeaux said Santa Fe has benefited for the last year or so from a stronger stock market performance. Santa Fe is a beneficiary of discretionary income earned from investments in stocks and bonds.

As for Century Bank, “we made money this year, just not as much as we’ve typically done,” Chippeaux said. “We’re working much harder and making less money.”

One reason for that is the federal regulations that continue to come down, often resulting in additional expenses for banks, he explained. That means a lot of banks will be looking for additional fees to compensate for those expenses.

As for Santa Fe’s important tourism sector, Art Bouffard, president of the New Mexico Lodging Association, said last year’s tourism numbers “showed a slight uptick” over the previous year. “We think it’s going to increase slightly in 2011.”

Santa Fe’s Community Convention Center is bringing visitors to town, but not enough, Bouffard said. “It’s a lot of locals. They’re not bringing money to Santa Fe.”

Bouffard also said the Hyatt Place, Santa Fe’s newest hotel, off Cerrillos Road, “is doing fairly well.” Given the downturn in the economy and tourism numbers, no other hotels in Santa Fe are being planned, Bouffard added.

Keith Toler, director of the Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau, said “the word is out that we’ve got a convention center. So far this year, 74 events are under contract, with another 38 tentatively planning to sign contracts.”

He added: “We will probably exceed the 182 events we had last year” at the convention center.

Among the returnees are the Bead Fest and the Japanese Cultural Festival. One of the largest conventions, with 500 visitors, is a cancer research group arriving in mid-February.

Art sales have been and will continue to be an important part of Santa Fe’s economy.

When it comes to those sales, “I am somewhat of an optimist,” said Welles of the local gallery association. “We’ve seen mixed reports of slow times and fairly good sales this month and during the holiday season.”

Welles calls it “lucky” that Santa Fe is a winter resort as well as a summer one. “It’s good for the hospitality industry and for the gallery industry,” she added.

Artists, Welles added, “need to be very creative and exert a certain amount of ingenuity to keep their numbers up.”

This includes visiting art fairs around the region and the country and doing art auctions online, she said.

Welles also said a new website, www.santafeart.tv, was launched at the beginning of the year and is a “fantastic way” to foster interest in Santa Fe galleries and artists.

The Santa Fe Gallery Association has also introduced a new category of association membership that allows for associate business members to join at reduced rates.

“This is a good time to be a member,” Welles said. “We’re really trying to get this show on the road.”

Link to Original Article Here

Contact Matt Desmond and Ryan Bolton

With record breaking cold temperatures and a significant amount of snowfall, especially up the mountain at Ski Santa Fe, the city is hunkered down for a long winter nap. The high temperature on Monday was hovering around 12 degrees, which seems balmy compared to today’s predicted high of 5 degrees! There was also supposed to be a fair amount of snow to come with the cold. Thus far we have only seen about 3 inches total scattered throughout town over the past two days. However, there is more snow in the forecast for today and tonight, so totals may reach higher.

Despite the relatively low snowfall numbers in Santa Fe, surrounding areas have seen over a foot of snow and Ski Santa Fe has received a hefty 19 inches.  This is great news for hearty skiers who are willing to brave the cold temps to catch some fresh tracks.

So, what’s in the forcast for the near future? It looks like we’ll return to typical February Santa Fe weather as soon as this weekend with highs in the 40s under partly cloudy conditions. This cold snap may be short lived, but at least we were able to get a small glimpse at what winter looks like.

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Located on Water street for as long as we can remember, The Catamount Bar and Grill is moving to the Railyard District and will occupy the space formerly known as The Railyard Restaurant (La Stazione). The owners of the Catamount have already begun an extensive renovation of the old Railyard space, and are slated to open by April or May. This weekend will be the last dates they will be open in the former space. 

Serving great beer and food, the Catamount has historically been known as the best bar in Santa Fe to watch a game or catch an occasional show. They also host trivia nights and always run specials on party holidays and big game days (i.e. St. Patricks Day/Superbowl). The new space in the Railyard should be suited even better for the Catamounts’ needs as there is ample parking, outdoor seating, and a newly renovated interior.

So, stop by the new Catamount in a couple of months. You may just find two tired realtors telling stories of the big fish they just caught.

Contact Ryan Bolton and Matt Desmond

Article:

By S. Mitra Kalita in the Wall Street Journal

Sales in many vacation communities across the U.S. soared last year to levels not seen since boom times, driven by deep discounts, cash purchases and buyers’ rising stock portfolios.

On Mercer Island, Wash., waterfront sales nearly tripled in 2010, compared with a year earlier, reaching par with 2006 volume there. Sales on Hilton Head Island, S.C., rose 14% for the year. Palm Beach, Fla., experienced a 40% annual increase and a 54% increase in homes under contract, indicating an especially strong fourth quarter. Palm Beach sales volume now is comparable to its 2007 peak. These figures were gleaned by brokers in each locale.

.”The proverbial train has left the station,” said Ned Monell, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Palm Beach. “We haven’t felt energy like this in a long time. Buyers sense that they’ve been on the sidelines long enough.”

The question now is whether the momentum will last. The strength of second-home sales paints a stark contrast to the overall housing market, which is expected to worsen in 2011.

Existing-home sales in November rose 5.6% on an annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors, a trade and lobbying group. Last month, the Case-Shiller housing index of 20 cities showed prices across the U.S. fell in October, and most analysts predict another 5% to 10% slide in the coming year.

Data for the nationwide vacation-home market aren’t tracked regularly. The National Association of Realtors conducts an annual survey of home buyers, but results for 2010 won’t be out till March.

Yet the market for vacation homes, based on local sales data, appears to be booming. The comeback, NAR economist Lawrence Yun said, has been helped by gains in the stock market and an improving economy, which have made wealthier Americans more upbeat about the future. “It also implies that prices in some markets have come down so much that people are fighting for those properties,” said Mr. Yun, noting that demand is strongest in areas close to stable labor markets.

According to the NAR, one in 10 real-estate transactions in 2009 was for the purchase of a vacation home. And though a small fraction of the overall market, it is significant because vacation homes are often big-ticket properties and attract discretionary buyers. Just four houses sold last year on Madeline Island, Wis., for example, but the island’s average dwelling sells at two to three times the price of the county average, said Eric Kodner, a realty broker on the island.

Sales of second homes are showing an uptick even in more-affordable communities. In some locations, prices are even inching upward. Cape Cod sales climbed nearly 9% in 2010 from 2009, while prices rose 7%. Monroe County, Pa., in the heart of the Pocono Mountains, saw a 3% decline in transactions, but its Lake Naomi resort community was up nearly 15%. A one-acre plot off Lake Naomi recently fetched $1.1 million, a record deal for the area.

Still, in most markets where demand has improved, prices haven’t. For Realtor Andy Twisdale in Hilton Head, S.C., it is too soon to rejoice; prices are down almost a third over the past five years. “People are buying at the very low end of the product,” he said. “The financing is very difficult. Banks are requiring 25% down and crystal clean credit.”

Buyers who qualify or can pay cash say this is the time to take the plunge. On New Year’s Day, the Makarewicz family arrived in Pocono Pines, Pa., to look for a vacation home. They already own their primary residence in northern New Jersey and own a property in Damascus, a northeastern Pennsylvania town along the Delaware River. But the family says the latter doesn’t offer enough things to do: Not enough shopping. Not enough activities for kids. Not even enough fish.

“How’s the bass here?” Joe Makarewicz, a vice president for sales at a financial-services firm, asked Re/Max Realtor Rob Baxter as the two looked at floor plans.

The family plans to sell the Damascus house, which would allow them to pay cash for one near Lake Naomi. The resort community at Lake Naomi boasts pools, tennis courts, a recreation center and a golf course—and is equidistant from New York and Philadelphia.

Some second homes had been stuck on the market because sellers wouldn’t budge on price; unlike owners of primary homes, they often aren’t in a hurry to move.

“Sellers have become aware that they have to price their homes accordingly,” said Harald Grant, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s in New York’s ritzy Hamptons region. “There’s a perk in the market because a lot of prices have come down to where they should be.”

This shift became clear to K. David Hirschey, who runs a consulting business in Minneapolis, as he hunted for a home on Madeline Island.

After competing in a summer swimming competition on the island, Mr. Hirschey decided to buy a home there, perhaps to rent it a few years and maybe retire there eventually. The first offer he made was rejected, he recalled, because the seller said, “We don’t negotiate on properties here.” The same thing happened with his bid on the next house.

Then he found a third property—four bedrooms, three baths—that began as a sale by owner, was taken off the market, then relisted under one broker, then another. It had been initially priced at $1.25 million, and remained on sale for two years.

“When I saw it, it was listed at $687,000,” said Mr. Hirschey, a father of four children. He offered $530,000, furnishings included. “They wanted to negotiate and I said no,” he said.

The tactic—an all-cash offer—worked, and Mr. Hirschey closed on the house in November, just in time for his family to spend the holidays there.

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