You may have been hearing more and more how now is a good time to buy a home.
Living in Las Cruces
In Las Cruces NM, now is a great time to buy a home. I understand, the economy is in pretty bad shape in most of the country, but in Las Cruces it looks like we will be dodging the bullet. New Mexico State University business professors do not foresee a deep recession, at least locally.
NMSU business professors Ken Martin, Jim Peach and Chris Erickson spoke on various aspects of the Las Cruces NM economy and the national economy as part of an economic forums hosted by the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. This forum was designed to give the public an expert analysis on the economic recession and how it is affecting business including Las Cruces real estate.
The most recent forum held Wednesday, May 13, the professors said “Las Cruces was in somewhat of a safety bubble”. Erickson said, “employment is still available and local banks are still lending money“ The good news for us locally, is that “Las Cruces NM is much less subject to the kind of recessionary pressures that are affecting the rest of the economy” Erickson said.
The 17% increase in Las Cruces NM real estate pending sales just may be a good indicator the professors are right. The 138 contracts signed in March of this year for the purchase of existing Las Cruces NM homes, represents a 16 percent increase over the 119 contracts signed in February and a 17 percent increase over the 118 homes identified as pending a year earlier. The Las Cruces real estate market easily outperformed the average production of our national marketplace as a whole in the March survey.
I know, I know your reading this and thinking yeah but those figures are for March 2009 what about today. You are absolutely right, so look at the most recent figures taken from the Las Cruces Association of Realtor’s (LCAR) Multiple Listing and Information Service’s (MLIS) on May 19. A total of 138 existing Las Cruces NM homes were waiting to close on the last day of April. That’s a 16 percent increase, over the 119 pending sales in March, and a10.4 percent increase over the 125 sales pending at the end of April 2008.
The writing is on the proverbial wall and buyers who have been camping out on the fence with their S’mores in one hand and their earnest money checks in the other are jumping off the fence and hitting the home shopping trail running. An all time high in affordability, low mortgage interest rates now close to levels last seen 30 to 40 years ago and the government’s new $8,000 tax credit incentive have opened the door to home ownership for many who as recently as a year ago would not have qualified to buy a home, or for the home they really wanted to buy. This is especially true for first-time home buyers, who currently account for nearly 50 percent of all home sales, up from about 40 percent just 12 months ago.
If this evidence is not enough for your intelligent yet skeptical mind, grab your favorite beverage and do a property search on any web site offering a Multiple Listing Search (MLS) and do a little window shopping. You will quickly see why everyone is scrambling to find the home of their dreams at the most affordable price we have seen in years.
