*Albuquerque NM Real Estate and Homes: Patrick Montrose Realtor/Associate Broker: Coldwell Banker*

Table of Contents: click on a topic 1. Metro Albuquerque Area Neighborhoods 2. City of Albuquerque 3. Albuquerque Public Schools 4. The East Mountains 5. City of Rio Rancho 6. Rio Rancho Estates lot information 7. Placitas 8. Corrales 9. View Metro Albuquerque Listings 10. Condo/Townhouse Information 11. Your New Home Feedback Form 12. Mortgage and Financial Information 13. The 19 Indian Pueblos of New Mexico 14. Ventana Ranch 15. Bernalillo County Wastewater Ordinance- Summary 16. Albuquerque's Old Town 17. The Rio Grande Zoo, Botanic Garden, and Albuquerque Aquarium 18. NM Ski Info 19. Area Maps 20. Population: by Counties 21. Links to other sites 22. Duties of a Licensee or Transaction Broker 23. Buyer's Agent 24. Real Estate Tax Laws: Capital Gains 25. 1031 Tax Exchange Information 26. Clients' Referrals 27. Albuquerque Relocation Information 28. Comparative Market Analysis 29. What's Selling in the Metro Albuquerque Area? 30. Investor Information 31. Reciprocal Links Requests 32. Hotels and Motels in the Metropolitan Albuquerque, NM Area 33. Libraries in the Metropolitan Albuquerque, NM Area 34. Homeowners Insurance: The Basics 35. Feng Shui: The Basics 36. A Brief Biography 37. Links to Realtors in other states 38. Links to Realtors in other countries 39. Links to Hotels in the USA and Around the World 40. Search the Metro Albuquerque Multiple Listing System (MLS). Click to E-mail me

Albuquerque and The Land of Enchantment: Where else but Albuquerque can you step across extinct volcanic mesas on one edge of the city and traverse to the top of an almost 11,000 foot mountain peak on the other? Where else can you visit an historic old-world plaza one day and a modern atomic museum the next? Where else can you play a challenging round of golf in the morning and blaze down a rigorous ski slope in the afternoon? Where else? No where else, because there's no place on earth like Albuquerque- a rare contrast of time, terrain and people. Today, you have a chance to be part of our thriving community of more than 712,000 residents who call the Albuquerque ( founded in 1706) Area home. For more information: Click on Albuquerque- Rio Rancho- The East Mountains- Placitas- Corrales Patrick F. Montrose - REALTOR®, BA, MAT Associate Broker Certified Relocation Specialist Coldwell Banker Legacy Realtors 6767 Academy Road NE Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109 Pat@PatMontrose.com (505) 828-1000 Main Office Line (505) 857-2344 Office Direct Line (505) 239-4253 Mobile (505) 212-9357 Home Fax (505) 821-0399 Office Fax Albuquerque Real Estate and Homes: Relocating to the Metro Albuquerque, NM area? Selling your home? Buying another home in the area? Looking to buy an investment property? Well, welcome to the Montrose team, we are ready to assist you with your next real estate transaction. We do real estate the way real estate should be done - we care about our clients, treating them like friends and family. We follow every transaction from start to finish, troubleshooting any problems to avoid those last minute stressful situations. It's hard enough moving into a new area, but to find the "perfect" home you can use some friendly and experienced help. Whether you're buying or selling Residential real estate (both resale and new construction), Commercial, or Vacant Land (even a Bed and Breakfast), contact us. With over a decade and a half of experience in the Metro Albuquerque Area real estate market, you can be assured of a knowledgeable, professional, and experienced Realtor. We stay on top of the ever changing rules and regulations by attending continuing education courses on a regular basis to better serve our clients. As a veteran I can even help with military relocation and I'm on the F.E.R.S. list of approved Realtors. I'm associated with another Realtor, so if the situation calls for it, there is always another Realtor to back me up. This will insure full coverage on every transaction, with at least one of us available to answer your questions and guide your transaction. Check out our "client referrals" to see how our past clients feel about us. "Client Referrals". Click to E-mail me If you are unfamiliar with the Albuquerque, NM Area and would like a description, with pictures, of each neighborhood within the entire Metro Albuquerque Area, please click here to go to that web page. Clients have told me that they have found this page very helpful in choosing areas that may interest them for possible relocation. Albuquerque is in the middle of a Buyer's Market, so if you are thinking about Buying a home in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Area, now is the time to move ahead with the process of purchasing a home. Please feel free to call or e-mail me for more information about current market conditions in the Metro Albuquerque Area. SELLERS: What's it worth? (click here): Thinking of selling your home? Would you like to receive a free Computer Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home's real estate value? If you have us market your home for you, we attain the highest possible sale price within the shortest time on market. If you choose, we offer Seller's Agency to promote your best interests. We are having great success attracting Buyers with our website- homes are selling faster than those not listed on the Internet. Coldwell Banker Legacy New Mexico: *What percent of Coldwell Bankers Legacys listings have sold in the last 12 months? - 92% (national average is 85%) *What was the average time it took to sell those listings? - 34 Days *What was the average sale price for those homes? - $212,504.00 *What was Coldwell Banker Legacys list-price to sale-price ratio for those homes? - 98.22% BUYERS: What's your next home like? (click here): "Your New Home" - Thinking of buying a home and relocating to the Metro Albuquerque Area? Use our feedback form to tell us what you want in a home and we'll search the entire Multiple Listing System to find the perfect match for you in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Real Estate Market or provide information on new home construction and send the MLS printout to your e-mail mailbox. Why waste time searching complicated MLS databases, we'll do it for you, and if you want, send you information on any new homes that come on the market that meet your search criteria. We maintain a good working relationship with new home builders in the Metro Area, and have the latest up-to-date information on the newest subdivisions and the models being built there. If you choose, we offer Buyer Agency to aid in your home search for both resale and new construction. We never charge a fee to represent a Buyer and we have a perfect record for saving our Buyers money on both the new home and closing costs. Click here to review the duties of a licensee in New Mexico that's provided to every person we deal with regardless of whether or not an Agency relationship is choosen by the Buyer. MLS: "Multiple Listing System"- do you want to search the Multiple Listing System (MLS) yourself? Our local MLS has a consumer version that you can do a home search yourself. You can go there and search for a property and get basic information concerning it. You can then e-mail the MLS number (six digits: for example #446645) to me and I will e-mail you the full Realtors printout, with up to 15 photos of the property. Realtors have the only "real time" MLS, keep in mind that this website is updated every 24 to 48 hours and some homes listed as Active may have already been sold and gone into Pending, other websites may have a time lag of a week or more, so please make sure to check any properties with me for the most up-to-date and complete information. Please bookmark (save to "Favorites") my web site so you can find your way back to here. Search the Metro Albuquerque MLS: Click here! and don't forget to return to my website. You can use the "back arrow" in the extreme upper left hand corner of your Internet Browser to return to this website or click on Favorites (a star in the latest version of Internet Explorer) or simply reenter my website address, "www.patmontrose.com." What's selling in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Area? (click here): A list of homes, by average price and area, showing how many sold and the average price per square feet. This report also includes Area Maps to help pinpoint where the homes are located. We have two versions of this report, the complete version that consists of two pages or statistics and three pages of maps; if you have a high speed Internet connection or the patience to wait for a large download, this is the version for you. We also include a shorter version for those people using a dial-up connection and don't have the time or e-mail space for the full version. The form you fill out will let you tell me which version you prefer. Thinking of investing in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Market? We can provide you a breakdown of the average priced home in the various areas within the Metro Albuquerque, NM Market. We maintain a relationship with New Home Builders and keep an up-to-date file on the amount of money down that is required for investors and can help in identifying those "Investor Friendly" builders. Builders encourage Buyers to be accompanied by a Realtor, so we can bring you to their model homes to see their style of construction and help in the contract writing phase of the purchase. Builders in New Mexico do not charge a premium if you are working with a Realtor- the home price is the same if you are working with a Realtor or go into the development on your own. In most cases, we have saved Investors money at the closing table; if you are from out of state, we can be eyes and ears locally and monitor the construction process for you. We have even attended the final "walk through" of the home, the last step before the closing of the sale. For more detailed information about investing in the Metro Albuquerque, NM market, please click here to go to that page of my website. Information about Condos and Townhouses in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Area? (click here): Are you a student at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and thinking of buying a condo or townhouse to stay in while attending UNM? Are you thinking of downsizing or need information on condos and townhouses throughout the Metro Area? Are you over 55 and looking for a community of other over 55 residents? As a Realtor we have information and access to every condo and townhouse for sale in the Albuquerque real estate market. Click here for information about Condos and Townhouses in the Metro Albuquerque Area. Do you own a lot in Rio Rancho Estates? Beware, there are a variety of people trying to make money from long time holders of Rio Rancho Estates lots. They are offering everything from maps, to insurance, to newletters, to purchasing your lots for small sums of money. The latest scam is that the caller will tell you your lot is worth $25,000; $30,000 or more; all you have to do is send then $749 (or some similar amount) to cover their costs, and they will have or find a buyer for your lot(s). Do not fall for this, no real Realtor will charge you an up front fee to sell your lot(s). Currently lots in unimproved areas of Rio Rancho estates are not selling, unless you take the $1,000 (or similar amount) offer you have received either through a telephone call or in the mail. My advice is to wait out the current downturn in the real estate market, keep an eye on your taxes, if they are raised significantly, call me and I'll let you know if the area around your lot is being developed. Keep in mind, there is little development going on at this time, my best advice is to hold onto your lot(s) and wait for the market to pick up. Forbes Magazine has listed the Albuquerque Area as one of the areas that will make a real estate comeback, in the first tier of areas to recover. Click here for information on lots I have listed for sale, and the true market value of your Rio Rancho Estates Lot! To send an e-mail, click here: RRE@PatMontrose.com Currently, the only lots selling in Rio Rancho Estates are those in developed areas for those people who wish to build a home on the lot or those located within the city limits of Rio Rancho and that have full infrastructure (not all lots within the city limits have streets, utilities, electricity, etc and when the city brings in the infrastructure they are assesing individual lot owners for the section for the improvments that extend along the street side of their properties, these assesments can run as high as $22,000, payable over 10 years), those lots may sell to someone who is interested in building a home that has the utilities and roads already in. Unless the money is really needed at this time, i would wait until the Area goes through a correction, settles down and investors and regular Buyers start contacting Realtors for listed properties. New Mexico is a non-disclosure state. That means information about real estate is deemed private and confidential and can only be given to the owner of a property. We get daily requests for information that does not include a name and address, we respect your privacy but we no longer answer e-mails that leave a name and address off. Click here to read our Statement of Privacy. Do you need a list of Hotels and Motels in the Metropolitan Albuquerque, NM Area? (click here). While we don't recommend any one particular hotel or motel, we will gladly e-mail you an extensive list of available places to stay in the Metro Albuquerque Area. The East Mountains Real Estate Are you thinking about living in the East Mountains? The East Mountain communities are just a short drive away from Albuquerque, with country living in Sandia Park, Cedar Crest, Tijeras, Edgewood, and Moriarty. There are both high end developments and small cabins, so just about every price range is covered. For information about an area where land is measured in acres instead of feet, click here for information about East Mountains Real Estate, one of the fastest growing areas in the Metro Albuquerque Area. Ski information for the State of New Mexico. (click here) Stats, annual snowfall, number of trails, number of lifts, and more. We are constantly adding new information, please bookmark this website for the latest updates. If you have new information on ski sites, please contact us. What's happening in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Area? (click here) What's Happening in the Metro Albuquerque Area? If you know of an event occurring in the Metropolitan Albuquerque, New Mexico Area, please send me an E-mail with the details and we'll place it right here on our website. We try to make our website as informative as possible, and we rely on our visitors to let us know "What's Happening?". Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta: In 2008 we celebrated The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the largest hot-air balloon festival in the world, it took place at Balloon Fiesta Park near Alameda and Jefferson in Albuquerque, NM. We celebrated our 37th Anniversary, of the Balloon Fiesta, with this seven day event. This is the event that people from all over the world attended, both as participants and as spectators. Click here to look at some of the pictures we took at a past event. I have available, a large collection, approximately 100, of Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta "Coins" from a long time collector. Each "Coin" is one Troy Ounce of .999 pure silver, and depending on the "coin", some have 24 caret gold overlay designs on them. They are what coin collectors call silver rounds, only government issued money, with a denomination on it, can really be called coins, but each does contain one troy ounce of silver. If you need a particular "coin" for your collection, please e-mail me the date and type and I'll let you know if I have one. I have them separately and in sets of two, three, and four. Pricing is determined by the year of issue and what the "coin" commemorates, i.e. the Fiesta, the balloon shapes, the Balloon Glow, etc. The prices will be at least 50% off of the book price, according to the original collector, and they are packed and ready to ship. Most of the "coins are from the 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's, with the majority in the 1990's . Click here to look at a few pictures of some of the coins.

Technology alert!: We carry a laptop with us that contains the entire Multiple Listing System. EVERY home listed by every real estate company in the Metro Albuquerque, NM Real Estate area has been downloaded to our laptop! (We update the listings every night) We can send MLS Listings directly to your e-mail address or fax machine. We have added the Multiple Listing System to our PalmOne Zire PDA! I can now bring up information about every home and land parcel on the market as we drive by it, answering your questions about price, size, and other informative details about the property. If you need information, we'll gladly e-mail it to you as a PDF File or Word Doc, whichever works best for you. PDF Files can not carry a virus, so we tend to send PDF Files, unless a Word Document is requested. I even e-mail copies of Purchase Agreements, Inspections, Counteroffers, etc. directly to your mailbox as a PDF File. As the real estate industry goes further into the technological age, we try to stay in step with it to better serve our clients.

Trivia Fact - In the first 12 months after building a new home owners spend an average of $8,905 and buyers of existings homes spend and average of $3,766 on their home and grounds.

Quick Metropolitan Albuquerque, NM Real Estate Facts:
* Less homes owners stopped making mortgage payments in the first half of 2007 than did in the first half of 2006.
* Foreclosures rose 58%, in the first half of 2007, nationwide but DECLINED 30% in New Mexico.
* New Mexico averaged 1 forclosure for every 395 households, the national average is 1 in every 134 households.
* It has been estimated that as much as one fifth of foreclosures are started on investor groups rather than primary residences.
What does this mean? The Metropolitan Albuquerque Area continues to grow, mortgages are continuing to be offered to qualified Buyers, and homes continue to appreciate!

Want mortgage or financial information? Please click here. Want investor information? Please click here.

Click here to e-mail me!

Tax Credit for Homebuyers

First-time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November 2009 may be eligible for the lower of an $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home tax credit. Remember a tax credit is very different than a tax deduction – a tax credit is equivalent to money in your hand, as opposed to a tax deduction which only reduces your taxable income.

The tax credit starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000. Buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Housing-Related Provisions

Tax Incentives to Spur Energy Savings and Green Jobs — This provision is designed to help promote energy-efficient investments in homes by extending and expanding tax credits through 2010 for purchases such as new furnaces, energy-efficient windows and doors, or insulation.

Landmark Energy Savings — This provision provides $5 Billion for energy efficient improvements for more than one million modest-income homes through weatherization. According to some estimates, this can help modest-income families save an average of $350 a year on heating and air conditioning bills.

Repairing Public Housing and Making Key Energy Efficiency Retrofits To HUD-Assisted Housing—This provision provides a total of $6.3 Billion for increasing energy efficiency in federally supported housing programs.Specifically, it establishes a new program to upgrade HUD-sponsored low-income housing (for elderly, disabled, and Section 8) to increase energy efficiency, including new insulation, windows, and frames.

Expanding Housing Assistance—This provision increases support for several critical housing programs. It includes $2 Billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More Help for Homeowners in the Future

Another thing to keep an eye on in the coming weeks is President Obama’s plan to help struggling borrowers before they are faced with a default on their mortgage.

According to reports, the Obama administration is discussing plans to help borrowers who are struggling to stay afloat, but who have not yet fallen behind on their payments. At this point, details are scarce; however, reports indicate that President Obama is looking to spend approximately $50 Billion to directly help homeowners before they face foreclosure and financial disaster.

While this is good news for individual homeowners, it will likely be good for the housing industry as a whole. That’s because, assisting struggling borrowers before they default should help stop the wave of foreclosures, which are estimated to top two million this year. That, in turn, will help stabilize home prices.

The Economic Stimulus Plan is huge, and impacts a number of industries. I’ve highlighted some of the major provisions that may impact you now and in the future.

If you've been passing up on buying a home because of the expense of anticipated cosmetic repairs, you're missing out on a great opportunity. Sure, it used to be that if you bought a home and then applied for a home equity loan to pay for repairs, the result would be two separate loans (or worse, a mortgage plus a short-term loan for repairs that often had a much higher interest rate). This is not the case anymore if you qualify for an FHA Streamlined 203(k) loan.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's FHA Streamlined 203(k) loan allows qualifying home buyers to finance up to an additional $35,000 into their mortgage to improve or upgrade their home before move-in. With this product, home buyers can quickly and easily tap into cash to pay for property repairs or improvements, such as those identified by a home inspector or FHA appraiser. And the best part is, the additional funds are combined into your mortgage, so you only have to worry about one loan.

There are, of course, rules and guidelines we have to follow, and not every repair qualifies. But if you or anyone you know are interested in taking advantage of this great opportunity, give us a call, and we'll gladly provide you more information about this valuable program.

Courtesy of:
BESS DAUNIS
SENIOR LOAN OFFICER
LEGACY MORTGAGE
505-857-2216
BESSDAUN@AOL.COM

If you like statistics and more detailed information concerning the Albuquerque Housing Market please click here to go to that page of my website.

Statistics for Rio Rancho Estate Lots as of January 2009: Number of lots on the market= 3,235 Lots

The following statistics are for ALL lots in Rio Rancho Estates, both those in undeveloped and developed areas; the lots in developed areas have a Fair Market Value that is much greater than lots that are in undeveloped areas and they greatly effect the higher prices shown. An undeveloped lot can be have a Fair Market Value that is only 10% of a developed lot.

Statistics for Lots currently on the market in Rio Rancho Estates:

High: $14,947,900 Low: $4,000 Median: $30,000 Average: $63,464 These are List prices NOT Sale Prices
Days on market: High: 1,246 Days Low: 0 Days Median: 108 Days Average= 155 days
Most lots in undeveloped Units are selling in the $5,000 to $15,000 range; the closer a lot is to development, the higher its Fair Market Value.

The current statistics for properties in the entire (1,250 square miles) Metro Albuquerque Area market are: