Santa Fe Real Estate Investment Strategy

by Anna Vanderlaan on November 17, 2009

 Back Door Santa Fe

This is an investment strategy for Santa Fe.   Buyers are sophisticated these days and we all know about location, location, location.  Within that obvious criteria there are a few other things to consider in the purchase of Santa Fe real estate to optimize the return of your investment when you sell (not if).  Consider when you buy how easy it will be to sell.  I always advise the customers I work with on this aspect of their purchase. 

1)      Find areas that have shown steady appreciation over the years, and in this market perhaps the areas that have shown the least depreciation in these hard economic times.

2)      Single story homes have a larger market than multi level homes.  Although there is a rumored statistic that people who live in homes with stairs live eight years longer, who has the energy to live that long anyway.

3)      3/2/2.  Three bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2 car garage.  Ideal.  This formula works for the widest range of life styles. 

  1. Who doesn’t like a garage? Protect your vehicles, store your stuff, create a workshop, security if you don’t want people to know when you are home, etc.  A garage has the widest range of uses of any other space in the house.
  2. Bedrooms: one to sleep in, but three addresses the widest range of lifestyles  without being too many: guest room, office, studio, project room, play room, storage….. etc.
  3. 2 bath minimum…… modern lifestyles just don’t afford us the time to wait for our turn.

4)      Santa Fe style, it’s hard to go wrong with that:

  1. Vigas, those lovely round beams that are so hard to dust, but often hold the roof up.
  2. Kiva, that’s a corner firplace with no sharp corners, although any fireplace will do.  If there’s one in every room (very old style), even better.
  3. Saltillo tile floors, they look great and you can’t see the dirt.
  4. Flat roof, well they look good, and if properly installed, and maintained regularly actually last as long as more conventionally finished pitched roofs.
  5. Stucco, if there’s a crack in it you’re really styling, but I’d patch it anyway.

5)      1500 square feet to 2,000 square feet.  That’s not to big and not to small for all us Goldilocks’s out there.

In Santa Fe these gems can be found in all price ranges all within ten minutes of the Plaza.  Please call I’ll be happy to show you.

{ 0 comments }

Top 10 Single Family Investment Picks for anyone.

by Anna Vanderlaan on March 13, 2009

Consider the following:

20% down payment

80% financed at 6% for 30 years

Rental income potential that will cover mortgage payments, tax,  insurance, and misc. fees.

Turn key condition

A location that has had reasonable appreciation historically

A floor plan and features that are most saleable by todays life style standards.

Locations that have sold well in the past.

A reasonable projected  yield on investment based on conservative estimates of appreciation.

Make a non emotional choice in your investments.  There are a lot of ’sexy’ so called investments in Santa Fe, but they don’t pay for themselves.  If you are interested in buying a ’sexy’ Santa Fe investment for the highly speculative potential appreciation then the best justification for it is to also make personal use of it.   Another sensible justification would be if you can get it for a price so low that there is already equity in it in the current market.  These are rare even in today’s market conditions.

I recommend investing in real estate and include a conservative projection on appreciation in addition to meeting all the above listed criteria, maybe even a little positive cash flow.  In my opinion a well thought out investment in real estate is the best place to put one’s money and effort.  Everyone needs a place to live, god’s not making any more of it, and the population isn’t getting smaller.  Add to that the relative stability of the Santa Fe market, and the “buy low sell high theory”, then now is the perfect time.

Regarding the oft heard fear of the market dropping further I dare say what difference does it make if you are not selling your investment short term and you have bought a property that pays for itself.  It doesn’t matter what you buy for it matters what you sell for.

You may contact me for a list and a preview of my top ten picks for single family investments around Santa Fe.  Or keep checking my blog for the list later in the week.  I will also be posting a list of short term rental and condo investments in the future.   Please feel free to call for more information.

{ 0 comments }