Moody’s Investors Service is cutting some ratings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In a move that reflects current marketplace sentiment, Moody’s downgraded the preferred stock rating and bank financial strength rating of both Fannie and Freddie, while affirming the debt ratings on both companies.

District of Columbia-based Fannie Mae’s preferred stock rating was downgraded to A1 from Aa3 and the bank financial strength rating was downgraded to B- from B. McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac’s preferred stock rating was downgraded to A1 from Aa3 and the bank financial strength rating to B- from B+.

Moody’s cited “reduced financial flexibility” and the possibility of a suspension of dividend payments for the cuts.

Fannie and Freddie’s Aaa senior long-term debt, Prime-1 short-term debt and Aa2 subordinated debt ratings were affirmed with stable outlooks.

In early Tuesday afternonn trading, shares of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) fell $1.53 to $8.20 while Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) declined $1.14 to $5.97. Fannie Mae shares have lost more than 87 percent of their value in the past 12 months. Freddie Mac has dropped more than 90 percent.

Tucker Echols of the Washington Business Journal, an affiliated publication, compiled this report.
 

Monday, July 14, 2008
by Kiera Hay • Journal Santa Fe

Parking is always a hot-button issue in downtown Santa Fe — there isn’t enough of it, motorists don’t like to pay for the spots that are available and, in contrast to local malls, you’ll often have to walk a block or two or three after parking to get where you want to go.

Very soon, an influx of city-controlled parking spaces will open up, taking some pressure off downtown’s the chronic parking shortage.

For the time being at least, the most pressing questions about how to mete out the new city spaces seem to have been answered. It remains to be seen how Santa Feans and visitors will adapt to the new order — lots more parking, but fewer free spaces.

“It’s a balancing act to be able to provide enough parking for everybody where it’s needed,” City Councilor Miguel Chavez said.

The City Council voted July 9 to set aside at the 500-space Santa Fe Community Convention Center’s new garage 150 to 200 spots, depending on the season, as monthly spaces available to the public through a lottery.

A lottery will also be conducted for 200 monthly spaces in the downtown Railyard’s new 404-space subterranean parking garage, set to open September 1. Seventy-five percent of those, however, will be reserved for Railyard tenants.

Rates will be the same for cars at both locations, 90 cents for a half-hour and $1.80 for a full hour, with a $9 maximum. Monthly passes are $60 and $70 depending on the hours used, but can go up to $140 for reserved spots.

On Saturdays, the Farmers Market crowd can expect to pay a flat $1 at the Railyard between 6 a.m. and noon and a flat $2 for time beyond that.

In addition to the 404 underground spaces, the city is also planning 500 above-ground spots in the Railyard. Those will cost $1 an hour.

Demand has been much greater at the convention center for monthly passes. The city has 788 requests for parking monthly spaces at that facility, compared to 376 — 132 of which are from tenants — at the Railyard.

Spots for city workers
One contentious issue to arise from the new parking situation has been the number of spots to allot to city employees.

With some debate, the City Council decided on Wednesday to reserve for city employees, depending on the season, 100 to 150 no-cost spots at the convention center. No spaces have been reserved for city employees in the Railyard garage at this point.

“I think that for me what it comes down to is an attitude to value our employees. Our employees need to not be inconvenienced, just like tourists and visitors need to not be inconvenienced as well,” said City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, who voted for the parking plan.

He added, “There are mothers and fathers who need to have the availability of jumping in the car and going to where their children are at. I don’t necessarily want to see them waiting for a shuttle or inconvenienced.”

Dominguez was more blunt during the City Council debate Wednesday. He said he would be “livid” if he were a city employee who was required to ride a shuttle from parking to his job. “Quite frankly, it would suck,” he said.

City employees — with the new convention under construction next to City Hall — currently park at lots located at the Masonic Lodge and Fort Marcy complex, which offer a combined 350 spaces. Many must take a shuttle from those lots to work.

“City Hall doesn’t have it’s own separate parking. City Hall and the convention center have always shared that parking area. I didn’t see this as being too much different now that we have the new convention center,” Chavez said.

Councilors who voted against giving convention center spaces to city employees offered up reasons ranging from the need to offer paying visitors prime downtown spots to encouraging employees to take up “green” transit activities, such as biking and walking.

Chavez said he was aware that spaces needed to be left open for the general public and people conducting business at City Hall and said 100 to 150 city employee spots was “reasonable.” Officials with the city employee’s union have indicated they could ask for more spaces later on, however.

Other parking projects are planned for downtown Santa Fe — including garages at the new Santa Fe County courthouse on Sandoval and by state government near the Roundhouse — and there is the potential for more spaces coming on line through private building like the mixeduse project planned on church property next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis.

But as one result of the Railyard’s new development, free spaces for the adjacent Sanbusco shopping are being converted to a pay system. The center figured it couldn’t protect its tenants from Railyard visitors or employees using Sanbusco’s spaces if they were free and the Railyard’s lots charged, so Sanbusco lots soon will be paid parking. The city will monitor Sanbusco’s about 280 spaces.

When more of the changes are in place and patterns have been established, “we need to take a real comprehensive look at it and come up with a plan,” Dominguez said.

The city Parking Division does intend to analyze rates and demographics after six months of operation, parking division director Bill Hon said, and other parking statistics will be studied after one year. Adjustments will be made accordingly.

Hon noted that many private parking lots in downtown Santa Fe charge much more for a monthly parking pass than the city will, usually in the $120 range.

Building an Urban Eden

I’ve lived in Santa Fe for nearly 11 years now; I can’t begin to count the times I have driven past the urban wasteland along Cerrillos Road and Guadalupe Street and wondered when, and if, the space would finally be put to good use. Happily, the time has arrived. Yet, despite driving past the Railyard district several times a week, I still had no idea of the scope and vision of the Railyard Park and Plaza until I was given a semi-private tour of the development scene with Brian Drypolcher, Program Director for The Trust for Public Land.

Along with Mary Corcoran, SantaFe.com editor, I donned a hard hat on a hot Santa Fe afternoon and was immediately engrossed in Drypolcher’s articulate and enthusiastic narrative on the park’s history and development. The Railyard area was originally agricultural land and later developed into a warehouse district. After long neglect, the district was earmarked for development by Santa Feans themselves, who gave the clear message that they wanted the development to include parkland. Its central location and historical relevance make it an ideal spot for Santa Feans to gather as a community.

The 10-acre park is far more than just a stretch of land designated for public use. Every feature has been meticulously planned for the community’s enjoyment. Along the western edge of the park is a walk-bike path which boasts blue lights atop each post for an artistic nighttime effect. One of my favorite features, located at the corner of the park at Cerrillos and Guadalupe, is a large ramada—a circular, trellised structure that will be overhung with silver lace vine. Underneath the ramada, visitors will have the luxurious opportunity to contemplate a rose garden while gliding on front porch-style swings hanging from the crossbeams. Across the park, along the SITE Santa Fe building is the equally impressive park entry ramada, topped by an 800-foot-long post-and-beam trellis that will be draped with trumpet vine. The brick path takes strollers or exercisers past a turf-lawn performance slope designed to accommodate any size or type of show, several picnic areas encircled by large stones, and the community “demonstration” garden. Kids (and adults!) will love the play area in the center of the park. No ordinary jungle gyms here; the playground is integrated into the park and includes a climbing wall, a tunnel, a slope with seven slides, nets hanging from posts, a sandbox, and a water play area that will drain into a grove of cottonwoods.

Speaking of water, you might be wondering how a park this size will impact the delicate Santa Fe watershed. Water conservation and harvesting have been an integral part of the project since 1997, when community plans called for spaces that would demonstrate “how to coexist with the high desert in the next century.” To meet this goal, the Railyard Park and Plaza will be fed by an innovative water harvesting system. Most of the irrigation will come from water catchment off the roofs of the Farmers Market building, SITE Santa Fe, El Museo Cultural, the Railyard Performance Center and the Railyard Galleries. The water will be stored in five underground tanks—three 15,000-gallon tanks underneath the Railyard Park parking lot and two underneath the Farmers Market outdoor shade structure—as well as a 35,000-gallon water tower located beside the Railyard Plaza. The tanks will feed an intricate irrigation system that includes the 400-year-old Acequia Madre, which runs along the southern edge of the park and will nourish the community garden in years of ample runoff.

The park’s plantings are also in keeping with the goal of water conservation and sustainability. The only areas of turf lawn are the performance slope and a number of picnic circles; other areas consist either of native grasses, gravel, or a substance called “crusher fines,” finely crushed compacted rock that looks like dirt but is far more durable. Plantings include over 400 trees such as ash, locust, oak, and ponderosa pine, as well as several thousand drought-resistant plants.

As we stumbled over the still-rough ground of the fledgling park, I was delighted to note its happy blend of utility and aesthetics, as well as the sense of history that the park’s design thoughtfully preserves. Take wood laminate light poles, for instance. Manufactured by a utility company, they maintain a sense of the history of the once-utilitarian district while also pleasing the eye with their square, tapered shape; the lights themselves are placed partway down the pole for added interest, and the cords are hidden in the hollow core of the poles. The benches and bollards (thick, low posts which exclude vehicles) throughout the park are made of the same wood laminate as the light poles; the benches will have backs and armrests, complete with a ledge (the perfect place to set your picnic lunch!).

Across Paseo from the main park, TPL is developing the land around the new Farmers Market building, including the shade structure that runs along the railroad tracks, a walkway across the tracks, the Railyard Plaza at the north end of the Farmers Market building, and two pocket parks. Over here, too, form blends beautifully with function. The shade structure, under which vendors will display their wares in warmer weather, echoes the lines of the entry ramada across the road. The attractive wood-covered water tower by the Plaza not only serves its purpose as a water storage facility but is also a tribute to the original water tower that once stood in the Railyard. It is also a fountain: Like rain, water from underneath the tank will drip slowly onto a stone etched with an image of the watershed. The Plaza itself is designated as a community area adjacent to the restaurant at the end of the Farmers Market building. Shade trees will overhang moveable bistro tables and chairs, a concept modeled after New York City’s Bryant Park.

One question remains: Who is going to care for and maintain these 12 acres of urban Eden? According to Drypolcher, the City Parks Division will maintain the park with the help of the newly formed Railyard Park Stewards. Drypolcher explains the Stewards as “a membership organization that will provide advocacy and raise funds for the enhanced care of the Railyard Park and Plaza.” The Stewards will help the City of Santa Fe ensure that the Railyard parklands are safe, clean and well-maintained, with the intention that they become an integral part of Santa Fe community life. They will support this mission by raising funds and recruiting volunteers to help care for and support the parklands; providing for an enhanced level of care for the plants and building improvements; encouraging a variety of community- and family-oriented programming to attract visitors to the parks; and advocating to City government and the community to support the parks and maintain their long-term integrity.

The TPL needs the continuing support of the Santa Fe community to finance the Railyard Park and Plaza. To date, they have raised about $12.8 million, about half of which came from public sources and half from private sources. A portion of monies raised will go to the “Stewardship Seed Fund” to help the Railyard Park Stewards in their mission. If you are interested in donating, contact Laurel Savino at the following address:

The Trust for Public Land
New Mexico State Office, 1600 Lena St., Building C
Santa Fe, NM 87505-3891
505.988.5922, ext. 103
Fax: 505.988.5967
www.railyardpark.org

Real estate agents share views on price trends
By Matt Carter, Tuesday, July 8, 2008.
 
Inman News

 The risk of price declines continues to intensify in markets where prices shot up the most during the boom, but is falling in most other markets, according to an analysis by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.

PMI said the risk of price declines fell during the first quarter in 326 of the 381 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) tracked, or 86 percent. Of the 55 markets where PMI gauged the risk of price declines had increased, all but five were in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.

PMI’s U.S. Market Risk Index is based on home-price data, labor market statistics, housing affordability, household income, past trends in price appreciation, and mortgage rates. The index generates a score estimating the chance that home prices will be lower in two years.

PMI projects a 40 percent or greater chance that prices will fall in 16 of the 50 largest MSAs during the next two years. All but two of those markets — Phoenix and Providence, R.I. — are in California and Florida (see chart).

PMI expects national home-price declines to continue into at least 2009, until excess inventory clears.

The large number of unsold units — the supply of new and unsold homes both exceeded 10 months as of April — is putting “significant downward pressure” on home prices. Builders will need to further reduce housing starts unless sales pick up again soon, as foreclosures and increasing inventories of existing homes will also depress new-home prices, the report said.

Based on first-quarter statistics, PMI rates the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., MSA as having the greatest chance of lower prices in two years — 95.5 percent, up from 94 percent during the fourth quarter of 2007.

With the exception of Las Vegas, the risk of price declines increased in all of the 16 riskiest markets during the first quarter.

The sharpest increase in the risk of price declines was in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., MSA, where PMI calculated the risk of price declines in two years at 84.8 percent, up from 70.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. Other MSAs that saw sharp increases in the risk of price declines included Oakland, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Los Angeles.

The primary driver of the rise in risk scores was a continued increase in foreclosure rates, PMI reported, noting that California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada together represented 84 percent of the increase in foreclosures on homes with prime adjustable-rate mortgages during the first quarter.

But PMI, citing the Mortgage Bankers Association, said 20 states saw foreclosure starts decline in the first quarter, including Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. The risk of price declines is low and headed lower in many markets in those states and others that saw less abrupt price appreciation during the boom.

Detroit saw the greatest reduction in its risk index score among the 50 largest markets, falling from a 27 percent chance of lower prices in two years to 11 percent, PMI said. Other markets where the risk of price declines fell include: Providence, R.I.; Boston; Washington, D.C.; and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich.

Detroit may have seen the biggest improvement in PMI’s Market Risk Index, but real estate professionals who work in that market told Inman News that times are still tough.

Agent Tyra Willis of A.I. Realty said that while prices have dropped “drastically” in the last two to three years, layoffs in the auto industry mean that most locals aren’t looking to purchase a home. Those who want to take the plunge are having trouble getting financing, Willis said.

“Most of those I have purchasing are coming from out of state and paying cash” for properties at deep discounts, Willis said.

Lenders are seldom willing to modify troubled borrowers’ loan terms, she said, which has resulted in a glut of foreclosed properties.

“It just seems like it’s a never-ending battle for us,” Willis said. “There are two or three foreclosures on any block — not just in Detroit, but in the suburbs.”

Citing numbers from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or OFHEO, PMI says prices fell at the annual rate of 6.1 percent during the first quarter, compared with 4.44 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Falling prices means smaller commissions, Willis said, making it harder to earn a living after paying marketing expenses and overhead. Willis said she’s been “doing leases galore” to generate income and build clientele for a recovery. But she’s also thinking about getting out of the business altogether, after four years as an agent.

Independent broker Jan Bond of Bond Realty LLC said he’s adapted to the current market by specializing in bank-owned properties in the metro Detroit area.

“I’ve been in the real estate market since 1985, and for the last two years, I’ve been dealing pretty much with REOs,” Bond said. “From my perspective, I’ve seen the prices driven so low, you can’t pass up a bargain. I’ve had a house sell where the $3,000 commission — $1,500 each for the listing and selling agent — was more than the actual price of the house.”

Bond said the banks he works with usually have a minimum commission of $1,500 for each side of the transaction.

“I keep telling them this is a crazy market, you have to offer bonuses to the agent,” Bond said. “If they don’t follow that advice, these properties can sit for a year. The basements flood, (scavengers) steal the copper, there’s illegal dumping. If the water is running, you might have a $3,000 water bill.”

Because he operates his business out of his home and has little overhead, Bond said he can get by on two closings a month, and putting together 20 to 30 broker price opinions for clients at $60 to $100 each.

“When you put it all together, I like to tell people I’m making a living, but I’m not making a killing,” Bond said.

While PMI sees conditions in Detroit improving, the picture in Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall continued to deteriorate during the first quarter. According to OFHEO, prices in the MSA fell at an annual rate of 5.39 percent during the first quarter, compared with annual appreciation of 12.11 percent during the fourth quarter of 2007.

Mott Kornicki, broker associate at SIB Realty in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., said prices in the region don’t have much more room to fall.

“The prices have already declined, and my opinion is we’ve seen the bottom already,” Kornicki said. “The people who couldn’t afford to hold on are out already — they have either sold at a loss or walked away.”

Many were speculators who, when they couldn’t flip a property, found it difficult to keep up on their mortgage payments, homeowners’ association dues and taxes.

“If they have a $6,000 mortgage, it’s $8,000 or $9,000 a month to carry that investment,” Kornicki said. “If they’re lucky, they can find a tenant that, if it’s a really, really nice (condo), the most they would pay is $5,000 a month.”

At night, he said, the lights are on in only 10 to 15 percent of the high-rise oceanfront condos near his office — an indication at how few are owner-occupied.

“Most of the people who are in a hard place are investors who got into the market out of greed, when the market was red hot,” Kornicki said. “Things turned against them.”

Buyers, however, are holding out for better prices, Kornicki acknowledged.

“The buyers that are out there, they read the news from different sources, and they see decline, decline, decline. They think they can buy for 50 cents on the dollar, but it’s not true,” Kornicki said.

Complicating the picture is that in some oceanfront condo developments one seller will be trying to pull off a short sale at a deeply discounted price while another is asking a 10 percent premium over what they paid during the boom.

“I don’t know how the appraisers come up with a value, because the actual sales are so few and far between,” Kornicki said. “It’s tough to make a living, but for the last two months I’ve seen an increase in the number of people looking to buy or invest in Southeast Florida.”

Buyers who need financing, he said, are putting “30 percent down and keeping their fingers crossed they get approved.”

One way Kornicki’s office is surviving the downturn is by finding tenants for clients, charging 10 percent of annual revenue or one month’s rent. He also hopes to do more broker price opinions, at $400 to $450 per report, by marketing his services on the Web.

***

Monday, July 7, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

Keeping It Wild
Sabinoso Lands Could Soon Be a Protected Area
The absence of the Sabinoso wildlands in eastern San Miguel County from most road maps is perhaps fitting given the forlornness of its hulking mesas and dry streambeds during these long, dusty days of summer.

It exists near where the high-desert plains along N.M. 104 east of Las Vegas abruptly sink and form sandstone canyons more than 1,000 feet deep.

Ranchers once called this place home, as evidenced by abandoned homesteads still filled with items like a rickety rocking chair and a yellowing copy of “Casper, the Friendly Ghost.”

Largely untrammeled by man, the Sabinoso is now close to being kept that way by the federal government. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation designating 17,638 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management as a federally protected wilderness. The bill must now be taken up in the Senate and signed by the president.

“Sabinoso is a pretty spectacular area,” said Nathan Newcomer of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, which has been lobbying to protect Sabinoso for about three years. Newcomer said the area is one of New Mexico’s last intact Great Plains ecosystems.

A wilderness designation would put Sabinoso off-limits to the kind of energy development, offroad vehicles and other activities seen across so much of the West, while offering solitude to outdoors enthusiasts who trek in by horseback or foot.

Former New Mexico senator Clinton P. Anderson was a driving force behind the 1964 Wilderness Act, which aimed to protect areas where the natural world is unhindered and “man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Four federal agencies manage more than 105 million acres of wilderness, or nearly 5 percent of the United States, according to the Wilderness Society.

In the 1970s, BLM began identifying holdings that might be suitable for the wilderness designation. For years Sabinoso has been one such “wilderness study area.” This year’s legislation, sponsored by Rep. Tom Udall, D-Santa Fe, would move Sabinoso from limbo to wilderness for perpetuity.

“Sabinoso is more than an incredibly beautiful patch of land — it is a thriving ecosystem and a piece of New Mexico history,” Udall said in a recent statement. “Visitors to the area will find horses, wild turkeys and other birds most people never get a chance to see. They will also find homesteads that go back generations and pristine wilderness that still looks like it did when settlers first came to this part of North America.”

The House passed Udall’s legislation unanimously last month. A spokesman for Rep. Steve Pearce, a southern New Mexico Republican and Udall’s opponent for the Senate, said Pearce “did not object to the bill.”

Wild West
Bounded by private ranches, the Sabinoso study area about 40 miles east of Las Vegas is essentially unreachable by the public. Getting even close to the area requires a long, bumpy ride over private two-track roads, through several gates and past cattle that frequently block the way.

The dirt road stretches for several miles before a turn-of-the-last-century homestead with a metal roof and broken glass windows marks about as far as you can go on four wheels. It’s another couple miles or so on horseback or foot to reach the proposed wilderness.

“Having a wilderness area doesn’t mean people have to (be able to) get here,” said BLM’s Taos field manager, Sam DesGeorges, who saddled up a few government horses last week for a tour up Sabinoso’s canyons. Still, BLM is presently looking at a few locations where it could establish a right-of-way and trail head.

The tour followed a faint, stony trail that might have been used for mineral exploration some time ago. It’s pretty much the only sign of modernity for miles around.

Federal land need not be entirely pristine or untouched to qualify for a wilderness designation. Rather, the law defines wilderness as an undeveloped area “retaining its primeval character and influence” and which “generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable.”

The designation would grandfather in the grazing rights of 12 permittees who hold leases to graze up to 1,700 head of cattle each year. But wilderness would bar any other development, such as oil and gas exploration, as well as motorized vehicles.

BLM could build some trails, but DesGeorges said the public might prefer to experience the area the way he did, through exploration.

Six canyons stained buff, red and tan offer ideal terrain for hikers, horseback riders, photographers, geologists and hunters.

A diversity of habitats, from the heavy woodlands up high to the willows and cottonwoods along the rivers down below, support a variety of birds like the red-tailed hawk and wildlife including mule deer and bobcats.

But on a scorching July morning last week, the only signs of life were deer and bear scat along the trail and a couple of rabbits hunkered beneath shady rocks. And when the locusts fell silent and the wind rustling the ponderosa momentarily paused, a stillness took over where you could almost hear yourself sweat.

A 6,150-foot-high mesa bisects the land, and the ride up is a steep, rocky, bushwhacking affair up a trail thick with juniper and pinon. Lagartija Creek was bone dry on one side of the mesa, while on the other, a stream coursing through the 1,000-foot-deep Cañon Largo trickled toward the Canadian River.

Newcomer, of the Wilderness Alliance, said a broad alliance of ranchers, environmental groups and local and state lawmakers support protecting Sabinoso.

“Wilderness,” he said, “is something all New Mexicans have a stake in.”

Monday, July 7, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

Keeping It Wild
Sabinoso Lands Could Soon Be a Protected Area
The absence of the Sabinoso wildlands in eastern San Miguel County from most road maps is perhaps fitting given the forlornness of its hulking mesas and dry streambeds during these long, dusty days of summer.

It exists near where the high-desert plains along N.M. 104 east of Las Vegas abruptly sink and form sandstone canyons more than 1,000 feet deep.

Ranchers once called this place home, as evidenced by abandoned homesteads still filled with items like a rickety rocking chair and a yellowing copy of “Casper, the Friendly Ghost.”

Largely untrammeled by man, the Sabinoso is now close to being kept that way by the federal government. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation designating 17,638 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management as a federally protected wilderness. The bill must now be taken up in the Senate and signed by the president.

“Sabinoso is a pretty spectacular area,” said Nathan Newcomer of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, which has been lobbying to protect Sabinoso for about three years. Newcomer said the area is one of New Mexico’s last intact Great Plains ecosystems.

A wilderness designation would put Sabinoso off-limits to the kind of energy development, offroad vehicles and other activities seen across so much of the West, while offering solitude to outdoors enthusiasts who trek in by horseback or foot.

Former New Mexico senator Clinton P. Anderson was a driving force behind the 1964 Wilderness Act, which aimed to protect areas where the natural world is unhindered and “man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

Four federal agencies manage more than 105 million acres of wilderness, or nearly 5 percent of the United States, according to the Wilderness Society.

In the 1970s, BLM began identifying holdings that might be suitable for the wilderness designation. For years Sabinoso has been one such “wilderness study area.” This year’s legislation, sponsored by Rep. Tom Udall, D-Santa Fe, would move Sabinoso from limbo to wilderness for perpetuity.

“Sabinoso is more than an incredibly beautiful patch of land — it is a thriving ecosystem and a piece of New Mexico history,” Udall said in a recent statement. “Visitors to the area will find horses, wild turkeys and other birds most people never get a chance to see. They will also find homesteads that go back generations and pristine wilderness that still looks like it did when settlers first came to this part of North America.”

The House passed Udall’s legislation unanimously last month. A spokesman for Rep. Steve Pearce, a southern New Mexico Republican and Udall’s opponent for the Senate, said Pearce “did not object to the bill.”

Wild West
Bounded by private ranches, the Sabinoso study area about 40 miles east of Las Vegas is essentially unreachable by the public. Getting even close to the area requires a long, bumpy ride over private two-track roads, through several gates and past cattle that frequently block the way.

The dirt road stretches for several miles before a turn-of-the-last-century homestead with a metal roof and broken glass windows marks about as far as you can go on four wheels. It’s another couple miles or so on horseback or foot to reach the proposed wilderness.

“Having a wilderness area doesn’t mean people have to (be able to) get here,” said BLM’s Taos field manager, Sam DesGeorges, who saddled up a few government horses last week for a tour up Sabinoso’s canyons. Still, BLM is presently looking at a few locations where it could establish a right-of-way and trail head.

The tour followed a faint, stony trail that might have been used for mineral exploration some time ago. It’s pretty much the only sign of modernity for miles around.

Federal land need not be entirely pristine or untouched to qualify for a wilderness designation. Rather, the law defines wilderness as an undeveloped area “retaining its primeval character and influence” and which “generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable.”

The designation would grandfather in the grazing rights of 12 permittees who hold leases to graze up to 1,700 head of cattle each year. But wilderness would bar any other development, such as oil and gas exploration, as well as motorized vehicles.

BLM could build some trails, but DesGeorges said the public might prefer to experience the area the way he did, through exploration.

Six canyons stained buff, red and tan offer ideal terrain for hikers, horseback riders, photographers, geologists and hunters.

A diversity of habitats, from the heavy woodlands up high to the willows and cottonwoods along the rivers down below, support a variety of birds like the red-tailed hawk and wildlife including mule deer and bobcats.

But on a scorching July morning last week, the only signs of life were deer and bear scat along the trail and a couple of rabbits hunkered beneath shady rocks. And when the locusts fell silent and the wind rustling the ponderosa momentarily paused, a stillness took over where you could almost hear yourself sweat.

A 6,150-foot-high mesa bisects the land, and the ride up is a steep, rocky, bushwhacking affair up a trail thick with juniper and pinon. Lagartija Creek was bone dry on one side of the mesa, while on the other, a stream coursing through the 1,000-foot-deep Cañon Largo trickled toward the Canadian River.

Newcomer, of the Wilderness Alliance, said a broad alliance of ranchers, environmental groups and local and state lawmakers support protecting Sabinoso.

“Wilderness,” he said, “is something all New Mexicans have a stake in.”

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008

Sales of existing-home sales increased in May with buyers responding to lower home prices, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1 of 4.99 million units in May from a level of 4.89 million in April, but are 15.9 percent below the 5.93 million-unit pace in May 2007.

NAR President Richard F. Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., said buyers are seeing value in the current housing market. “Home buyers are starting to get off the fence and into the market, drawn by drops in home prices in many areas and armed with greater access to affordable mortgages,” he said. “Today’s buyer plans to stay in a home for 10 years, which is a good strategy for building long-term wealth.”

The national median existing-home price2 for all housing types was $208,600 in May, down 6.3 percent from a year ago when the median was $222,700.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there’s still a lot of inventory in the market. “The large supply of homes on the market clearly favors buyers, and it should take several months to draw the inventory down,” he said. “Stabilization in home prices can only occur with buyers returning to the market, so we are encouraged by rising home sales, particularly in distressed markets. Foreclosures and short sales appear to be a larger part of the market, particularly in California, and are creating a drag on current home prices.”

Total housing inventory at the end of May fell 1.4 percent to 4.49 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 10.8-month supply3 at the current sales pace, down from a 11.2-month supply in April.

Although conditions remain mixed around the country, unpublished snapshot data shows a number of areas are experiencing much higher sales activity than May 2007, including Sacramento, the San Fernando Valley and Monterey County in California; Sarasota, Fla.; and Battle Creek, Mich.

“Keep in mind that the volume of home sales is the primary driver of economic activity that is tied to housing,” Yun said. “It’d be premature to say the improvement marks a turnaround. The market is fragile, so a first-time home buyer tax credit and a permanent raise in loan limits would be important steps to get the housing engine humming.”

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.04 percent in May from 5.92 percent in April; the rate was 6.26 percent in May 2007.

Single-family home sales rose 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.41 million in May from 4.34 million in April, but are 14.5 percent below the 5.16 million-unit pace in May 2007. The median existing single-family home price was $206,700 in May, which is 6.8 percent below a year ago.

Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 580,000 units in May from 550,000 in April, but are 24.6 percent lower than the 769,000-unit level a year ago. The median existing condo price4 was $223,400 in May, down 2.1 percent from May 2007.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Midwest rose 5.5 percent in May to a pace of 1.16 million but are 16.5 percent lower than a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $165,300, which is 0.7 percent below May 2007.

In the Northeast, existing-home sales rose 4.6 percent to an annual rate of 910,000 in May, but are 15.0 percent below May 2007. The median price in the Northeast was $278,000, down 2.4 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West increased 2.0 percent to an annual pace of 1.02 million in May, but are 12.8 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $286,600, which is 16.0 percent lower than May 2007.

In the South, existing-home sales slipped 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.91 million in May, and are 17.0 percent below May 2007. The median price in the South was $175,000, down 4.3 percent from May 2007.

# # #

1The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, home sales volume is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and family buying patterns. However, seasonal factors cannot compensate for abnormal weather patterns.

Existing-home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are based on transaction closings. This differs from the U.S. Census Bureau’s series on new single-family home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a deposit. Because of these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. In addition, existing-home sales, which generally account for 85 percent of total home sales, are based on a much larger sample – nearly 40 percent of multiple listing service data each month – and typically are not subject to large prior-month revisions.

2The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to the seasonality in buying patterns. Month-to-month comparisons do not compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family buying patterns. Changes in the geographic composition of sales can distort median price data. Year-ago median and mean prices sometimes are revised in an automated process if more data is received than was originally reported.

3Total inventory and month’s supply data are available back through 1999, while single-family inventory and month’s supply are available back to 1982. Condos were tracked quarterly prior to 1999 when single-family homes accounted for more than nine out of 10 purchases (e.g., condos were 9.5 percent of transactions in 1998, 8.5 percent in 1990 and only 6.1 percent in 1982).

4Because there is a concentration of condos in high-cost metro areas, the national median condo price can be higher than the median single-family price. In a given market area, condos typically cost less than single-family homes.

Existing-home sales for June will be released July 24, and the next Forecast/Pending Home Sales Index is scheduled for July 8.

by Jackie Jadrnak • Journal Santa Fe

Designer, builder demonstrates ‘zero carbon footprint’ house
Faren Dancer is trying to jumpstart the future by demonstrating how to build a zero-energy house.

That’s right: A home where residents can laugh at rising utility costs, because solar panels generate enough electricity to offset power use. Where the house is sealed tightly enough to keep cool air from leaking out in summer and sneaking in in winter.

He’s not stopping there. Dancer is thinking about energy used in the cradleto-building life of the construction materials. He is using wood salvaged from old barns inside the home, and dirt compressed from the site to make the bricks for the walls.

The inspiration, he said, came in 2006 when he saw an Al Gore-type presentation by Ed Mazria, a pioneer in Santa Fe’s passive solar construction. It showed seas rising from global warming, swallowing America’s coastlines.

“I decided I was only going to build zero-energy homes from that time on,” said Dancer, who serves on Santa Fe’s Green Buildings Code Committee. The group is considering how to meet the 2030 Challenge — a goal adopted by the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Congress of Mayors to have zero carbon emissions from new buildings by the year 2030.

“Santa Fe probably is more aggressive than other cities in making a mandatory HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rating — next year there will be a baseline rating to achieve,” Dancer said. He predicted the city building code will require a 70 HERS rating — that means new homes would have to be 30 percent more energy-efficient than previous ones.

Ever since January, the city has required that new homes have a HERS rating before a certificate of occupancy can be issued, according to Jack Hiatt, land use director. “It’s like giving a car a mileage sticker,” he said. “Now, it can be any number.”

The city’s Green Buildings Code, which will set a maximum allowable rating, will be ready for City Council committee review in the next few months, according to Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger. It could be law by the end of the year, she said.

“I don’t foresee any major problems,” she said. “We’ve had great support from the building industry.”

To illustrate how green building can be done, all the way down to zero net energy use, Dancer is putting up a 4,125-square-foot home in Monte Sereno, a development south of the Santa Fe Opera. At a ceremonial groundbreaking for the home Monday — it’s called “The Emerald Home” — Dancer wielded a bright green shovel on a hillside dotted with piñon and juniper trees. “We have to work together to create the future we know we need to create,” he said.

“Zero carbon footprint — that describes very well what we are trying to do in Santa Fe,” Wurzburger said.

Dancer admits that this model home is designed to appeal to the high-end consumer. Its asking price will be $2.2 million, he said. With only about 18 homes already built in a development expected to include more than 400, he’s hoping he can convince buyers to choose the zero-energy option.

But green construction techniques don’t have to be limited to rich movie stars. In Vistas Bonitas, a housing development near Rufina behind Home Depot, homes with a 55 HERS rating are being built by Kim Shanahan for less than $200,000, according to Dancer.

Next spring, Dancer said, he hopes to launch construction of a second zero-energy model home — that one only 1,000 square feet on an offgrid site at Glorieta Mesa. “My goal as a builder is not just to cater to the rich, but to show an educational model,” he said. “The techniques and materials and building approaches can be scaled down to a much smaller project.”

The city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College will videotape the construction of the Monte Sereno home to show others how it can be done. According to Dancer, who teaches green building techniques at the Community College and got a grant for the documentary, the video will be incorporated into an online course scheduled to be offered at the college by fall 2009.

The city project will use the video as part of a program to teach builders about different green techniques, along with information about various tax credits or rebates available with various approaches. “This, for us, is an informal pilot project,” said Hiatt. “It’s meant to be a demo of how contractors have to deal with green building in the future.”

When finalized, according to Dancer, the city building codes will require compliance in six categories:

Site impact. This would take into account, for example, how much the land and vegetation are disturbed.

Energy efficiency. Insulation, energy-efficient appliances, thermal efficiency of windows, solar and geothermal heating or electricity all could be factors.

Water efficiency. In his model, Dancer has water catchment to store up to 5,100 gallons of runoff from the roof. Low-flow faucets and shower heads are pluses in this category, as well as double-flush toilets. (Those toilets have two settings, for either a spritz of water for urine or a stronger flush for the more solid human waste, according to Dancer.)

Resource efficiency. This is the category that looks at whether or not materials are recycled, or come from a local source (such as dirt from the site and not timber cut down in Canada).

Healthy indoor air quality. In his model, Dancer said, he is not using carpeting, which sheds chemical fumes, and is avoiding formaldehyde, a common ingredient in cabinetry. A filtered air exchange system brings in fresh air so air in the well-insulated house doesn’t get stale.

Homeowner education. “You can put in a wonderful system, but if the homeowner is clueless and leaves the lights on and the door open, it’s all for naught,” Dancer said.

A massive foreclosure rescue bill overwhelmingly cleared a key Senate test earlier today, drawing broad support from Democrats and Republicans alike.   The Senate voted 83-9 to speed up work on the $300 billion mortgage aid plan, putting it on track for a final vote as early as the end of the day.  The vote reflects a keen interest in both parties in claiming election-year credit for helping homeowners amid tough economic times.  Still, the measure faces a veto threat from President Bush and disputes among Democrats about key details.  Those challenges will probably delay any final deal until mid-July.  The centerpiece of the package is a foreclosure rescue program in which the Federal Housing Administration would provide $300 billion in new, cheaper mortgages for distressed homeowners who otherwise would be considered too financially risky to qualify for government-insured, fixed-rate loans.  The bill would tighten controls and create a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which provide huge amounts of cash flow to the mortgage market by buying home loans from banks.  It also would provide a $14.5 billion array of tax breaks, including a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers who buy a home in the next year and boosts in low-income tax credits and mortgage revenue bonds.

(c) 2008, REALTORS® Association of New Mexico.  All rights reserved.

NAHB issues ‘all-out’ call to Congress
The National Association of Home Builders today announced that the trade group “has initiated an all-out effort to get Congress to pass … stimulus legislation” that includes a temporary home buyer tax credit. The credit is intended to encourage home purchases by first-time buyers.

The trade group has placed ads in The Washington Post, USA Today and Capitol Hill-focused publications Roll Call and Politico in reaching out to members of Congress. In addition to the tax credit, the legislation supported by NAHB also includes provisions related to FHA modernization, reform of government-sponsored mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and changes to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, among other items.

California home construction still slow in May
California new-home production in May continued to lag behind last year’s production levels as home builders continued to grapple with low demand due to the glut of foreclosures flooding the market, the California Building Industry Association reported today.

According to housing permit data supplied by the Construction Industry Research Board, total housing starts in California, as measured by building permits issued, fell 37 percent in May when compared to the same month a year ago, to 7,035 units, the highest monthly total of the year thus far. Single-family home production dropped 52 percent while construction of multifamily units dipped 5 percent when compared to May 2007.

In May, permits were pulled for 3,531 single-family homes statewide, down 52 percent from May 2007 but up 4 percent from April to the highest level so far this year. Multifamily housing starts — condos and apartments — totaled 3,504, down 5 percent from May 2007 but up 23 percent from the previous month.

CBIA Chief Economist Alan Nevin noted that the prospect of a major recovery by the end of the year is looking less and less likely as demand for new construction continues to wane in the face of the ongoing foreclosure crisis.