A great agent reads your vibe. A great real estate agent understands market timing. A great real estate agent reads the target area’s vibe, and knows it by heart. A great real estate agent handles all ancillary needs. Finally, and most importantly, a great real estate agent is in it for the long haul and will be there no matter what happens along the way.The agent who talks to you and learns what makes you tick is going to know your motivation in ways that no machine can.That ability drives the success of the entire transaction and is the ultimate indicator of whether or not the right deal is achieved. Sure an app can spew numbers,but what good is that without the sounding board that you need to weigh all the competing factors?

Humans aren’t herd animals, but let’s face it, there are some trends and tendencies that do infiltrate the marketplace, with resulting profound effects on the kinds of deals that are out there. A great agent understands economic issues, geopolitical landscape questions, and long-range planning. Sure an app might be able to tell you how many building permits have been pulled,or whether business license applications are up…but a great agent knows BEFORE some government worker has slogged through a pile of paperwork to type them into the “system.” Case-in-point: one neighborhood in downtown Santa Fe has two new antique shops, a custom guitar-making facility, and a jewelry shop…all preparing to open but not yet official. As the economic recovery continues, there will be waves of activity, or percolating hotspots and a great agent will not only know about these opportunities before anyone else, he will be able to integrate that information with your own personal information to achieve the perfect storm of a deal.

We all want to work and live in communities with great institutions,shopping,amenities, and so forth. But if you need to dig deeper, if you want to do more than scratch the surface, a great real estate agent will take you down a few strata to the real bedrock, and to depths that an “app” can’t take you to. A great real estate agent knows that we are in the together, for the long haul. Long after the deal closes, life changes will require the abilities of someone with a knowledge of YOU. Someone you can help you decide if you should you upgrade,downsize, buy your college kid some living quarters in a faraway state, or otherwise repurpose your real estate holdings to expand and contract along with changes in the economy. So don’t forget to upload the greatest app at your disposal: your Realtor.

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s International Realty is comprised of the most qualified and experienced brokers in the Santa Fe, New Mexico marketplace.

Our commitment to our clientele:

- To offer a quality business environment of trust, responsibility and professionalism.

- To foster teamwork, innovation and accountability.

- To be affiliated with career-minded individuals who are deeply committed to delivering superior service and achieving exceptionally high productivity.

- To serve our diverse clientele and customer base with mutual respect and discretion.

- To demand the highest ethical standard from our brokers.

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Compliments of  Ginger Bowe Sullivan, ANASAZI MORTGAGE

Phone:      505-995-8888,  Toll-Free: 800-995-8888 (if calling outside Santa Fe)

ginger@anasazimortgage.com, www.anasazimortgage.com

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

For those who still couldn’t put on a happy face, Friday’s data should have done the trick. Existing Home Sales were UP 5% in December, their third consecutive gain, to their highest level since January 2011. The inventory of existing homes is down 21% from last year and the months’ supply dropped to 6.2, the lowest level since April 2006. For all of 2011, sales of single-family homes, town homes, condos and co-ops rose 1.7%, to 4.26 million units.

This information is courtesy of  Troy Lepisto at  Prime Lending. Contact him at: tlepisto@primelending.com, 505-670-6399.

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Projected annualized growth from 2011 – 2016 +9.1%

Santa Fe has a low unemployment rate of 5.4%.

Santa Fe home prices are only down 17.7% since they peaked in Q4 2007.

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Bruce Krasnow, famed real estate columnist for The Santa Fe New Mexican, notes that: “Lower interest rates in Santa Fe have reduced sales inventory as more families refinance and stay put.”

Apparently, many Santa Fe home sellers are taking advantage of five year adjustable rate mortgages, that lower monthly payments now, but with the intent of selling when the market recovers.

Santa Fe home buyers be aware, the Santa Fe home market is very small relative to other US markets. Fewer homes on the market mean fewer buyer choices. The screaming deal phase is dying down with fewer and fewer opportunities. Also be aware Santa Fe home sales rose 10% in the 4th qtr, and rose 2.4% overall, 2011 versus 2010.

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Consider an energy clearing, on land/home/people. Shift the natural forces we do not perceive, but can and do affect us.

I will be the first to give testimonial for Jane Phillips, Medical Intuitive, Geyser Holistic Living. Jane visited my home, cleared the space and shifted my energies. Within 3 hours and thereafter, the home feels lighter and brighter. Personally I feel clearer,  energetic, and happier. Also, my listing clients at Sotheby’s International Realty have cleared their homes, facilitating the sale of their homes.

Some of the services offered by Geyser Holistic Living:

- Geopathic Zone Neutralizing

- Energy Release

- Battle Energy Release

- Soil Balancing & Stabilization

- Atmospherice Balancing and Stabilization

- Ghost Busting and Spirit Dimensional Retrieval

- Animal communication and healing

- Guide memory healing

- Hands on healing

Contact Jane for your complimentary consultation

Jane Phillips, CMI, CQO, Medical Intuitive, Geyser Holistic Living

505-471-4826/w, 505-204-2059/c, jane@geyserllc.com

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Your Key to the City

The amazing web tool “Home Junction” is  now ready for your search and mapping of desirable locations in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This fantastic program allows you to search any community in the United States.

To jump start your search, go to the home page of SantaFeOne.com, and on the middle of the page entitled “Find a Great Place to Live”, you can type in the name of the city that you are interested in and also the kinds of amenities that you would like to search for.

The program will then take you through a quick registration and onto a satellite mapping program. In this map program, you are able to  modify your home search criteria; for example, by using price, home size and many more factors you can rapidly zero in on the right properties. By seeing your targets on the screen, you can efficiently organize your search and, most importantly, you can easily visualize your dream location.

In addition to rapidly finding the  areas that match your Santa Fe Lifestyle goals, you can also save your search results for later use or further refinement.

If you need help with this state-of-the-art satellite mapping program, let me know. I know that you will have lots of fun using this unique real estate tool, Home Junction. Then, by contacting me with your targets, we can easily find  your dream home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Renovations for Home Sellers

Here are some expert tips from Alex Wolfe on how to choose the right types of work to boost the profitability on your home sale:

• Expert color matching and touch-up of existing paint.
• Invisible repairs on interior plaster and exterior stucco.
• Cleaning, repairing, refinishing woodwork.
• Faux blending repairs on many surfaces.
• Replacement and/or refinishing tiles.
• Refinishing tubs and sinks.
• Replacement of lighting & plumbing fixtures.
• Floor repair & refinishing.
• Cabinet, door adjustment and weatherizing.
• Replace glass, remove/replace mirrors, bath enclosures
• Concrete, masonry repair
• Rain gutter, minor roof repair
• Flagstone, brick repair

I would like to thank Alex Wolfe for these professional recommendations. Call Alex for your complimentary home evaluation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He can be reached at  505-466-1929.

For more information on Santa Fe Lifestyle and Santa Fe Real Estate -

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Serving you Santa Fe Real Estate and Santa Fe Style for 21 Years.

Sotheby’s International Realty

When financial experts speak: it is time to listen. We’re listening, and what we’re hearing is that although the  state of lending has undergone a major transition, the savvy borrower tunes the media out.  Instead,  listen to a financial expert. By collecting advice specific to your situation and to the deal at hand, you will save money, save time, and be ready to jump into the market  at the most opportune moment. We would love to connect you with the right advisor for you. For one expert’s voice, we are excerpting a financial advisor’s comments right here:

Conventional –Of course we still do the standard 80% conventional loans, but we also have low down programs – Fannie Homepath and Freddie Home Possible – up to 97% loan with MI down to 640 score – We also have up to 95% Lender Paid MI – slightly higher rate, but no MI – better payment – qualify for more house -  many people are not aware that we can get to higher LTV’s again with conventional lending that will yield better payments for those who can meet more stringent Debt to Income ratios than FHA – We are allowed 45% with  Fannie Mae and 50% on Freddie Mac.

Jumbos- Up to 5 Million at 70% with no origination fee – We will beat any terms.

FHA 203B Standard – If Debt ratio exceeds 50% and we cannot use a conventional loan, FHA 203B will allow us to go to 60% with compensating factors. Lower credit scores are allowed at some lenders  – credit scores from 500-580 can borrow 90% and 580 + can borrow the full 96.5% – Rates tend to be lower than conventional but the MI is more  – The down payment is still only 3.5%. Sellers can contribute up to 6% toward closing costs. Manufactured Home and New Land/Manufactured Home put- together’s  still allowed.

 FHA 203K Rehab- The 203K allows one to purchase and up to $100,000 to rehabilitate property all in one loan with just 3.5% down and a 620 score and up to 55% DTI. Rehab money can be used for energy efficiency upgrades, additional Square footage – basically allows you to rebuild a home from the ground up – Why build when there are so many existing homes on the market and you can build from the foundation and walls that exist

VA – Serving those who served is more satisfying than ever before and  more vets are in the market now that Iraq has ended and Afghanistan is winding down.  100% financing with 580 score and 90% with 500 to 620 – No credit score requirements and up to 45% DTI requirement.

USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing – USDA GRH has the attractive features of being:  A Conventional loan with  NO down payment,  NO monthly Private Mortgage Insurance,  Up to 6% seller closing costs contribution allowed for all reasonable closing cost and pre-paid items, ( my costs rarely exceed 3-and never exceed 4% max ), NO hit to the rate for the zero down high LTV product – Comparable rates to conventional  – exact rates and prices change daily, NOT a first time home buyer program- unrestricted, Gift funds from anyone to close – (Fha requires family member no further than 1^st cousin),  No post-closing reserves needed,  No seasoning requirement to sell- No 90 day hold rule.   However – Geographic and income restrictions do apply – basically everywhere outside of the Santa Fe City limits is qualified – even LOS ALAMOS  - the USDA link to see the maps and geographical qualifications is    http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do   You can zoom in to actual street names in some area – if you are in doubt you can enter the actual address- Let me know if you need any help with that – once we verify geographic we than have to look at income – it caps at 115% of median – Santa Fe County levels are Family of 1-4 78000 and Family of 4+ 102950 – other county limits are available – call me –  most people are under that – no problem – they do allow an allowance for dependent care so young families and those with dependent elders have an easier time qualifying for this product  The next hurdle will be the prequalification of the debt to Income ratio – The DTI requirement for USDA GRH is lower at 41% than even Fannie Mae conventional – So even though they have no down payment they have to live well within their means  If the debt ratio is too high for USDA GRH but they have 3.5% down payment, we can switch to FHA in most cases  New Manufactured homes out of a dealership are allowed but not existing Man Homes on this program.

Reverse Purchase- This is my favorite program and it is drastically under used and under promoted. This program is really designed for Seniors over 62 who have sold their large family home or intend to or for any other reason have a larger than normal – 30-40% -down payment, but maybe do not have the credit or income they once did  -  and are relocating or just doing a down grade to smaller and more manageable property. The buyer does not have to have any certain credit score nor are they required to document income. So it is perfect for someone who has retired or semi-retired and is accustom to a certain lifestyle and home quality that they might not have the income to meet debt ratio requirements for. The Reverse Purchase has one other nice feature – It has no payment required for the rest of your life.

A client said it best, “Right as we were ready to retire- the market crashed – although we had plenty of adequate savings for down payment, we found that we did not qualify for a mortgage as we could no longer prove we had enough verifiable income for a home we were willing to live in. With Drew’s help and a Reverse Mortgage we are in our home and saved our retirement. We now live in a beautiful new home in a warm climate with no payment ever and no worries about losing our home ever – saved our retirement.”

I got paid, but even better- I saved someone’s retirement – Do you think that makes me happy? It does and it will make you happy too.

Portfolio- LOW and NO Credit Scores and High Debt Ratios  - We recently licensed with a new portfolio lender –they make and keep every loan they make. The underwriting is not as loose as the old sub-prime, but not as tight as Conventional/FHA/VA/USDA. It is based on Fannie Freddie guidelines, but since they keep the files and do not sell them, the interpretation of those guidelines is flexible, and closer to what HUD allows without the stringent overlays of Fannie Freddie resellers. Rates and terms are higher but the guidelines are more relaxed. If people have been declined we can try to save the deal – For example, they allow 58% Debt to Income ratios and investor’s can do 85% loans with no MI – Credit down to 530 with VA/FHA

Ranches and Hobby Farms – This is a great market for new Mexico and have been difficult to get done up until recently – When a property that has an income producing element to it may still be considered a residential property.  So, even though there is income from the property on the tax returns, we will still underwrite it as a residential loan as long as the income produced by the property is reasonable and not the primary source of income for the borrower.  The guidelines state the income being produced by the property must be 10% or less of the borrower’s total income, however, for the right scenarios we can make exceptions to this rule.  We’ll also allow the borrower to use the income from the property to qualify for the loan.  Examples include properties with vineyards, orchards, horses, etc.

In Closing

Remember the 1988 Democratic convention when Bill Clinton got cheers for finally uttering those two words- In closing !

Of course I would like to talk to you about our Service Difference for the City Different. We provide concierge –level service with all calls returned promptly, after hour’s appointments and document pick services when needed. We also offer totally transparent pricing and I will beat any written estimate anyone will submit to me.  Banks are flooded and let’s face it – they get paid the same whether they put effort into your loan, or if they decline the loan- I only get paid like you – to succeed. We do not take no for an answer without a fight. We all go to the same lenders and dip into the same rate pools for rates and fees – Service and response times are what matter and mine are stellar! Did I mention I return calls promptly ?

Please feel free to let me know if you have questions, need clarification or just do not want to receive these quarterly educational pieces. If so and it is just about the email flow, please let me know how else I might communicate with you – a brief explanation would help us understand whether it is us or the email that is generating the unsubscribe request- if you prefer a call – let me know that as well, please. We strive to maintain the list and remove those who request removal – If we missed you please just nicely ask again and we will make sure to get you off the list this time for sure.

Drew Richman, ACCEPTANCE CAPITAL MORTGAGE CORPORATION, Branch Manager –

Mortgage Broker/Banker NMLS #289152, Never a complaint !

Please look it up.  www.nmlsconsumeraccess.com
drichman@acceptancecapital.com
www.myacmc.com/new-mexico.html(505) 216-9807 Landline, (505) 216-9801 Fax, (505) 204-0683 Cell, (800) 381-8194 Both

I hope that  you have enjoyed these words of wisdom from an expert. I strive to help you find the perfect advice to make your real estate transaction as rewarding as possible. For more information on Santa Fe Lifestyle and Santa Fe Real Estate -here is my contact information:

Anthony Atwell, Associate Broker, ABR,CRS,ePRO,GREEN   505-670-2177

Sotheby’s International Realty