Albuquerque Market Update - The Impact of Impact Fees

According to the City of Albuquerque impact fees help fund critical major infrastructure.Therefore the government made impact feese a requirement for builders of new commercial and residential buildings since 2004 as representing a fair, proportionate share of the cost of the parks, roads, drainage facilities and public safety facilities necessary to serve new developments.

Now, five years later, as reported by the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors, the city is considering a reduction in impact fees. The fees were imposed at the height of the boom when builders couldscarcely build fast enough to meet the demand for new homes. The builders did not like the added fees but kept on building and likely as not passed them on to buyers. But the downturn came and the rest is history. New home construction is almost at a standstill. K B. Homes left town; some companies merged,( Pulte and Centex most recently; and others simply ceased production.

Currently, around the city, building sites with electricity, cable, gas and water in place, are quiet, waiting for someone to bring them alive again with the sounds of hammer and saw and the buzz of Spanish dialects of roofers and tilers. The reduction of the impact fee may just be the one added incentive we need at this time for the activity to return. With the near cessation of new housing starts and first-time buyers taking advantage of the $8000 tax incentive, the drop in prices fueled by short sales and REO pricing, the Albuquerque area has been significantly whittling away at its inventory. The latest housing statistics from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors, point to signs of recovery in the housing market.

Acdcording to the GAAR report, the reduction in impact fees for green construction would be 100 percent and for all others, 50 percent. This particular incentive plus may well be signifying the end of the downturn and the swing of the housing market pendulum in the opposite direction of recovery and I would not be at all surprised to see building construction sites around the city starting to come alive in the short run.

Gift Realty NM

Eloise Gift
Gift Realty NM

First Day

Today marked an important milestone in my life and business. I completed the final step in launching my own brokerage by finally going to the New Mexico Real Estate Commission to request the transfer of my associate real license for that of a qualifying broker and am not sure why I waited this long to make the change. As they say where I grew up, the longest road has a turning and so I have come to the turning in my real estate career road.

Deciding to activate my qualifying broker’s license is a significant yet insignificant step. The more things change, the more they remain the same. What’s different and what’s the same? I have given up my former de jure physical address to which most of my mail was sent and now I won’t have to drive five miles to pick up my mail. It will arrive at the mailbox at my previously de facto and now also de jure office. I have the same phone number, same email address, the same clients and customers wanting same information, attention and results.

Tomorrow I will awaken, go to the gym, return home have breakfast, get dressed and walk across the hall to my office as I have done most mornings for five years. I will make and return phone calls, read and reply to emails, write or update contracts, read and reply to snail mail, pay bills, write thank you notes, break for lunch and in the afternoon, go out on appointments or preview homes.

With respect to responsibility for getting things done, the buck now stops with me, as it should have always. But in real estate, the QB bears ultimate responsibility for most of the sins of the associate brokers. They get hauled over the coals if their associates err. If I screw up the QB will still be taking the heat. But, guess what? Now I am the QB, the go-to person, the chief cook and bottle washer, the decider; and the buck stops with me.

First Day

So how did I spend my first day as a QB? This day started with a very illuminating tour of a neighborhood park construction site. Then it was clean-up day. After leaving the office of the Real Estate Commission, I spent several hours in between calls updating online and hard copy files. We leave footprints in so many places so I retraced my footsteps at some sites and made new footprints at others:

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In keeping with my customary schedule,I ended the day with a listing appointment before heading out to one of my community activity board meetings. The more things change, the more they remain the same.