Real Estate, an Investment for All Seasons

I am haunted by the fear that our children may lose their way in a world that values money for what it can by and not for the good it can do. I am haunted by the idea that our children are growing up in a society that places too much emphasis on the job you have, the salary you make, and the title you wear. An impatient world measured in days, not years, and populated by instant winners, lottery lovers, and a battery of million-dollar game shows. A time when investing has become a romantic notion of high-flying day traders and IPO millionaires or, worse, has become synonymous with a crapshoot plagued by corporate scandal, worthless stock options, and bankrupt pension funds. Most of all I’m haunted that we’re teaching a generation that riches come quickly or not at all. ─Gary Keller, Preface to The Millionaire Real Estate Investor (2005)


Gary Keller published those words in 2005 in the preface to The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. Do you feel the same way Gary Keller did? Four years after Gary published the above words, current world economic conditions sadly reveal that his fears were well founded.

But we don’t have to feel helpless or paralyzed by fear. And we don’t have to write a book. Gary Keller in anticipating the future, already wrote the definitive book on how avoid being a victim of his those things he feared. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor is both a handbook and a road map for achieving financial freedom, and there has never been a better time to start the journey.

The investment models in the book are based on the practices of more than 100 successful investors who followed a proven path that ultimately led to wealth building and financial independence. Based on interviews Gary Keller and his coauthors Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan conducted, they determined that the investors were people of varied backgrounds and resources who shared a burning desire to succeed. Their success depended on a crucial first step to move beyond fear and doubt to develop and follow a plan to change their lives.

Because of the Millionaire Real Estate Investor we can afford to see the current economic conditions as an opportunity rather than a setback. Interest rates are at the second lowest they have been in ten years home prices are at a level few could have conceived two years ago and we have a timely tool for charting the way to financial well being. Examples in the book show that:
1. Building financial wealth through real estate is possible.
2. Building financial wealth through real estate is possible for everyone.
In Gary’s words, anyone can, not everyone will.

It is to be noted that even though all the investors in the Millionaire Real Estate Investor achieved million and multimillionaire status, the word millionaire in the title is used as a synonym for well being, and the term wealth should not to be confused with riches.

If you are interested in finding out more about the MREI method of financial success, attend one of the seminars we are offering in Albuquerque, NM at the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce and at Keller Williams Realty . For more information, call: 505-363-5156 or 505-304-5080.

February 2009 Market Update --The Greater Albuquerque Area of New Mexico

Indicators for February’s residential real estate market in the Greater Albuquerque Area were inconclusive as to whether the market was shifting upward or down. We had more new listings entering the market than in January but the inventory decreased. The combined total for detached, single family homes, condos and townhomes on the market was just over 6,000. That’s good! We had more closed sales in February than in January but fewer pending(properties with accepted offers awaiting closing) sales.

In January there were 324 closings and in February 343-significantly less than at the same time in 2008. Not every market area saw sales activity. The busiest areas were the City of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho followed by the Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms area.

Average sales price continued its decline, but the median price showed a slight increase. Single family detached homes were $209,515 (average) while the median was$184,900. The top selling price range for detached homes was $200,000 - $249,000, and for condos and townhomes $140,000-$159,000. The average number of days on the market increased to 96 with an almost nine-month supply of homes onthe market.

It is difficult to evaluate the trend of the market based on the current statistics. We may have to wait for April and springtime to see if trends become more defined. Are they the result of seasonal adjustments or market conditions? Are they a combination of both?

Body Count 13 - No Serial Killer on the Loose

Body Count 13, the headline of the Albuquerque Journal screams in bold three-fourths-inch type. And in smaller type, making us breath a sigh of relief, There’s no Serial Killer on the Loose, APD [Albuquerque Police Department] Chief Says. But the unearthing of so many bodies next to a gated community on the edge of the southwestern expansion of the city is a worrisome mystery that continues to unfold. Two of the bodies have been identified as young women in their twenties who disappeared 2004-2005. The cause of their death and why they were buried in that spot is yet to be determined. The search continues. No one knows if more bodies lie hidden there. Local and national television news photographs show a site that looks like a huge archeological dig. I needed to see it for myself.

Just over a year a go, I helped a client move into a gated community adjacent to vacant lands that are now the subject of nationalheadlines. I called up my former client and we agreed to visit the site together. The directions are: south on Coors to Dennis Chavez, to right on 118th Street across from one of the neighborhood school being built according to LEED specifications. The gates swing open for me as I turn right from 118th street into my former client’s community. He is waiting for me. He climbs into the car and we return to 118th, turn right and in two minutes are at the excavation site.

It is as I saw it on CNN--neat mounds of earth and trenches are spread over the fenced-off 100 acre area that a builder had started to prepare for residential construction. Some of the dig is quite close to the street. A van parked on the site has Crime Lab prominently written on its side. We park near a police car on the street and get out of our car for a closer look and to take pictures. The site is quiet. Today is Sunday. My client says that on weekdays diggers with shovels are all over the site. A few other people are are parked nearby and are taking pictures also.

One of the photographers is from the Albuquerque Journal and we talk about how unlikely it seems to have a crime scene in such a beautiful spot. The mesa stretches peaceful, serene and undisturbed as far as eye can see westward. Eastward and to the south, the Sandia and Manzano Mountains rise - today a blue-green backdrop for the city of Albuquerque. As the city expands westward in the only direction in which undeveloped land remains available, we have arrived at this place that as recently as five years ago was peaceful, pristine, undisturbed land conceivably ideal for the perfect crime or a permanent resting place. As things stand, New Mexico, geographically one of the largest states in the Union and in population one of the smallest, seems paradoxically blessed and cursed with an abundance of such spaces.

Almost one year ago, my then client, a former real estate professional himself, relocated from another state and chose to buy a home in this newly developing area precisely for the beauty, the views and the nearby vast open spaces. Had it not been for the downturn in the community, building in this adjoining development would have continued without interruption and we would not have had to wait for for hikers to make the gruesome chance discovery. Findings, so far, indicate that disturbance at the site apart from that of the builder, date back four or five years, hence the APD’s determination that no serial killer is currently running loose.

For the time being, residents are breathing a sigh of relief. But the discovery is unfortunate and disquieting. Albuquerque and indeed all of New Mexico hope no more bodies will be found, and impatiently await the solving of the mystery and the restoration of order in a community that is more often than not described with words that evoke safety, beauty, calm, quality of life.