2010 Archives RePost: Jack Shaking Like a Frenchman in a Thunderstorm

When asked "If that's the way you feel about it, why do you continue to put off moving South (to Silver City)?" We all know that decisions about moving can strike fear in the heart of the very brave. "Decisions have to be made Jack. Don't sweat it dude," a rogue SD realtor Agent replied. Jack was overheard recently at a meeting of the First Heathen Church (non denominational) of Cold Hill South Dakota: "It was Elvis that died, so why am I in Hell?" He told the congregation, "I'd rather bait an alligator with my manhood or sleep in a bunk bed under Oprah than face staying here another year or have to face another Northern winter. It's just too damn cold for anything approaching Real Living.* So after visiting the Land of Enchantment, the decision was clear. Move to Silver City New Mexico. 4 Gentle seasons combined with a natural beauty not found in many places North, West or East. "That's the ticket", he said. Don't forget the Hot Springs soaks (see image to left), the Sweat Lodges, Native American "meetings", the Arts, Music, Food, Recreation, and Rock Hounding opportunities..... The diversity of this area is extreme. Everyone can find a place of comfort here, and all are welcomed. Old rockers and rollers, we of the baby boom generation particularly, seem to do fine here, and find many who also share similar likes and loves. Straights and stiffs get along here together as well as do those of different political and spiritual backgrounds. Melting Pot Green Chile Stew.. mmmmm good The perfect retirement location? Is anyplace perfect? Ok so perfect may be a stretch. But I can give this area a near perfect rating based upon it's numerous opportunities for living well and living healthy, - and what's perfect for me will not be the same for everyone.. If that's the way you feel about where you are hanging your hat, please contact this Baby Boomer, Realtor, Rocker and Roller. Let me show you the workings of "our well kept secret" here... Come visit New Mexico. Be forewarned, you may never want to leave........ (*RL is coming to New Mexico soon)

Silver_Blogger account recovered

 Finally getting some progress on recovery of my ancient blog.... 

Onward through the fog.........

2013. Off to a cool start!

Overnight temperature low of 6 degrees F.  Wow!

All I have to say on this subject is....... Brrrrrr.

Let me say that again. Brrrrrr.... I am seriously looking for a break / change in this near record cold spell that has hit the entire South West region.

Silver City has the reputation of having 4 gentle seasons. One of our seasons needs a little taming this year.  It's been three days since shirt sleeves weather left and was replaced by arctic conditions. Current forecast is for another 1-2-3 days before we can get out and play in comfort. Looks like Ill be swinging the metal detector again very soon.

From California to Texas, the Southwest is experiencing record cold temperatures. In comparison, we are not doing so bad. A few frozen pipes are getting reported in the area, but nothing like the folks next door to the West, who are seeing a plumber's paradise with frozen lines reported all across this normally warmer zone. (our Az friends always get fried in the summer heat, and now they are getting the worst of the cold too.

With 60% of our USA citrus coming from California, I hope the 20 degree weather from last night did not significantly hurt this years crops.

Rolling Stones Gem and Mineral club is heading up to Cook's Peak (South) this Saturday, and it appears that it will be a great day out with seasonally normal weather - That means it's going to be nice!

----Archer--->

Do you own Real Estate in New Mexico and have plans to sell down the road? Are you thinking about moving to NM, but have questions about the real estate market? Do you just want to visit about the opportunities which this part of the Land o Enchantment offer? (Give me a call or email, and let's chat)

The 3.8% Tax Basics explained

Top Ten Things You Need to Know About the 3.8% Tax (From NAR - National Association of Realtors)

1) When you add up all of your income from every possible source, and that total is less than $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint tax return), you will NOT be subject to this tax.

2) The 3.8% tax will NEVER be collected as a transfer tax on real estate of any type, so you’ll NEVER pay this tax at the time that you purchase a home or other investment property.

3) You’ll NEVER pay this tax at settlement when you sell your home or investment property. Any capital gain you realize at settlement is just one component of that year’s gross income.

4) If you sell your principal residence, you will still receive the full benefit of the $250,000 (single tax return)/$500,000 (married filing joint tax return) exclusion on the sale of that home. If your capital gain is greater than these amounts, then you will include any gain above these amounts as income on your Form 1040 tax return. Even then, if your total income (including this taxable portion of gain on your residence) is less than the $200,000/$250,000 amounts, you will NOT pay this tax. If your total income is more than these amounts, a formula will protect some portion of your investment.

5) The tax applies to other types of investment income, not just real estate. If your income is more than the $200,000/$250,000 amount, then the tax formula will be applied to capital gains, interest income, dividend income and net rents (i.e., rents after expenses).

6) The tax goes into effect in 2013. If you have investment income in 2013, you won’t pay the 3.8% tax until you file your 2013 Form 1040 tax return in 2014. The 3.8% tax for any later year will be paid in the following calendar year when the tax returns are filed.

7) In any particular year, if you have NO income from capital gains, rents, interest or dividends, you’ll NEVER pay this tax, even if you have millions of dollars of other types of income.

8) The formula that determines the amount of 3.8% tax due will ALWAYS protect $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint return) of your income from any burden of the 3.8% tax. For example, if you are single and have a total of $201,000 income, the 3.8% tax would NEVER be imposed on more than $1000.

9) It’s true that investment income from rents on an investment property could be subject to the 3.8% tax. BUT: The only rental income that would be included in your gross income and therefore possibly subject to the tax is net rental income: gross rents minus expenses like depreciation, interest, property tax, maintenance and utilities.

10) The tax was enacted along with the health care legislation in 2010. It was added to the package just hours before the final vote and without review. NAR strongly opposed the tax at the time, and remains hopeful that it will not go into effect. The tax will no doubt be debated during the upcoming tax reform debates in 2013.

1883 Silver City Street Map - Way Cool!

image courtesy "friends_of_silvercity"

January 2011 Real Estate Statistics - What they mean!

January 2011 Existing Home Sales

The Numbers and what they mean to you.

Existing Home Sales for January 2011 were modestly UP (+2.7%) vs. December 2010's substantial increase (from prior month at +12.5%).

Annually this works out to 5.36 million units based upon January SOLD stats vs. 5.22 million annually when based upon December's reported sales..

Existing Home Inventory (houses listed for sale) dropped by 5.1% to 3.38 million home units listed. With current sales and sales predictions, this equates to a monthly inventory reported to be 7.5 months. This follows the existing trend of improvement (reduction in total inventory) over prior periods. The trend is encouraging in many ways.

TWO VERY INTERESTING BITS OF DATA (IMO worth rereading and reposting):

1. CASH SALES accounted for 32% of all home sales reported. This is an ALL TIME HIGH and is more than 3 times the average. Investor mania in full bloom. Values in the market are the best I've seen.

2. FORECLOSURES and SHORT SALES accounted for 37% of all home sales reported. More to come I believe.

Some areas where foreclosures make a significant % of all homes sold:
Nevada - 57% of homes sold were Foreclosures or Short Sales
Arizona - 49%
California - 44%
Florida - 36%

We are still one of the areas little affected by distressed sales. We have foreclosures, but the numbers (at least to date) are relatively small when com pared to the really ugly markets like the big 4 above.

Speaking of foreclosures. The Silver City Foreclosed Home HOTSHEET is rocking and rolling, and the feedback has been great. Thanks for the kind words and input. My servers can handle a few more subscriptions to the free list, but YOU NEED TO ACT SOON. Getting notification by email when any new Foreclosed listings come on the market is what the Hotsheet is about.

There are a few free spaces left for the Silver City RESIDENTIAL HOTSHEET (my most popular email notification tool) and I've a bunch of free subscriptions left for the LAND and RANCH HOTSHEET. You may request any HOTSHEET subscription by clicking the appropriate link.

More Down Side perhaps.. The average price of the existing home sold was slightly lower than the prior months average. This negative trend in average sale price remains in tact. : (

Foreclosure Exposure - Robo Signing - Mubarak

Hi from Silver City New Mexico.. NOT NEW and NOT MEXICO

Gotta love this part of New Mexico. Photo taken near edge of town just west of water towers.

The gold nugget photo is public domain photo and is XXX large for here. We do have decent prospecting opportunities in this area. Relic hunters and Rock hounds will find themselves "at home" here too.

"On with the Show, Good health to you" do you remember the 60's song.................

The Bank Foreclosure numbers for January 2011 are out:

January Bank repos are up 12% month over month.
Lets look at how this breaks down in judicial vs non judicial states:

Non judicial states seem to be ramping up foreclosures, jumping a full 23% month over month. This is what I expected to see.

Judicial states report a decrease of foreclosed homes of 7% month over month. I find this interesting data and not what I expected.

Consider Florida, where there is an enormous backlog in the courts (due in part to the robo-signing scandal). Foreclosures are down a full 54% year over year. The market for foreclosed properties has not improved significantly in any way, much less improved by 54% .

It appears that banks have postponed or slowed down the foreclosure process significantly in states where the courts are involved - The numbers reduced significantly where there are robo-document signing issues. It would seem that for most distressed owners in most cases, it's more of a temporary pause before the eventual foreclosure.

Does this imply a longer recovery time as the abnormally high number of foreclosures wash through the system before we can dig ourselves out of the foreclosure mess?

Like many communities, Silver City has mostly dodged, to date anyway, a worst case foreclosure scenario.

We can look at metal detecting, rock hounding, and playing some music if you visit here too..

Please let me know how I can help you meet your real estate goals.

----archer--->

Mubarak speaking now and making threats. Please give it up buddy. You've had your run already... Take the money and run...