Such is the word from the Santa Fe Association of Realtors. Prices, they say, are holding steady. Condos are doing worse.
“Now is the time to buy,” according to Association President Mary Schroeder.
That is, if you can find financing for anything more expensive than a FEMA trailer (pictured, left).
Press release after the cut.
Also, an aside: Negative 10 percent seems to be the magic number. Seems like everything’s down by about that much.
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In this week’s article on Thornburg Mortgage, I quoted former venture capitalist and author Eric Janszen on whether the housing crash that ultimately claimed one of Santa Fe’s largest employers could’ve been predicted or not.

Our phone interview ranged too far for that article, but we thought Janszen’s thoughts on capitalism’s boom-bust cycle and the rise of what he calls the “FIRE economy”—for finance, insurance and real estate—were worth sharing at length.

Basically, he thinks the government started selling everybody out to big creditors decades ago, and the massive debt burden that resulted has paralyzed the economy.

Janszen, who lives in Boston, also has some thoughts on the federal recovery plan, with its focus on “green jobs”: “How many mortgage brokers does it take to screw in an energy-saving lightbulb?” he asks.

You write the punchline.

SFR INTERVIEWS ERIC JANSZEN

I liked your Harper’s article on the housing bubble.

Thanks. It seems to be panning out.

That was back in early 2008, when many people hadn’t yet grasped the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis. But you went so far as to predict the next bubble—green energy.

I’m actually working on a book on that. So far it does seem likely to focus on infrastructure.

The refrain I keep hearing was that nobody saw the real estate crash coming. You say people could’ve seen it coming.

Many people did, of course. And many people who did made money on seeing it coming. It wasn’t all that hard. There were a few fantasies you had to not buy into. One is that housing prices always go up, and stock prices always go up.

If any other product was sold based on those premises, you’d think people would be somewhat skeptical. It’s pretty marvelous to convince so many people of something that can’t possibly be true.

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Preliminary results from today’s election indicate the proposal to tax homes that sell for more than $750,000, in order to generate money for affordable housing, has failed.
According to the city’s website:

The unofficial results in the March 10, 2009, City of Santa Fe Special Municipal Election show that the Workforce Housing Tax was voted down. The unofficial results show 4,557 ballots (54.2%) cast against the initiative and 3,845 ballots (45.8%) cast in favor of the initiative.

Glad I didn’t place a bet or make a public prediction, because I really thought it would pass.

Tomorrow, city of Santa Fe voters will get to decide whether to tax high-end homes (well, ones that cost more than $750,000; there seems to be some dissent as to whether this constitutes high-end or not) to help pay for affordable housing. Zane weighed in on the tax in last week’s paper and, not to ruin the suspense or anything, but he may have more to say on it in our next issue as well. There’s been lots of other activity on this election as well, including a petition drive from the Santa Fe Living Wage Network, as well as many flyers from the Realtors’ Association.
If you’re not sure where to vote (city elections do not necessarily use the same polling spots you would have used in the general election) be sure to check with the city clerk’s office. A list of polling places and other info is after the jump, courtesy of the city’s public information office. Continue reading »

KNME’s public policy program InFocus invited me to appear on their panel again and, for once, the annual New Mexico parade float wasn’t up for discussion.

The panel segment, “The Line,” starts with ethics for a few minutes at about 10:30.

Then, at 35:30, part two of The Line begins. Discussion subjects included Santa Fe’s “mansion tax” election, film incentives, the proposed mixed martial arts ban and a few Abq-centric issues that I really didn’t have much of a clue about.