New Mexico’s real estate markets still lag A4 Thursday, June 23, 2011
Aztec has New Mexico’s most affordable four -bedroom, twobath homes. In real estate lingo, “most affordable” means “cheapest.” Four-bedroom, two-bath homes cost an average of $178,850 in Aztec. Nationally there are 527 real estate markets with cheaper, er, more affordable homes. The nation’s lowest priced four-bedroom, two-bath homes are in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where the price is $60,820. All these homes are single-family detached homes, as opposed to condominiums or townhouses. As shorthand, I’ll call them FB/2B homes. Corrales, the pure of soul suburb surrounded by Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, claims New Mexico’s most expensive FB/2B homes with an average of $649,861. Though only 101 markets nationally offer more expensive homes than Corrales, central New Mexico’s bucolic ‘burb isn’t close to competing for national top-dollar honors. Newport Beach, Calif., claims the title with
EDITORIAL
OPINION
HAROLD MORGAN
NEW MEXICO PROGRESS
FB/2B homes averaging $2.54 million. All this go o d s t u f f c o m e s from the national arm of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell calls it the H o m e L i s t i n g R e p ort.See http://hlr.coldwellbanker.com/Pr essRelease.html. Markets included in the survey had at least 10 FB/2B properties. The homes were listed between September 201 0 an d Mar c h 2011. F in d t h e N e w M e x i co listings at: http://hlr.coldwellbanker.com/us 2011/NewMexico.html. The Report covers 2,319 markets, about a 10-fold expan-
sion from previous years, Coldwell said. The 17 New Mexico markets include eight in metro Albuquerque. Besides Aztec, the others, in increasing or der of home price, ar e Roswell, Las Cruces, Gallup, Alamogordo, Clovis, Farmington, Ruidoso and Santa Fe. See www.capitolreportnm.blogspot.com for all the prices and rankings. The prices in the Coldwell report bear no necessary relation to prices in the entire local market. Homes sold during April through the San Juan County Board of Realtors, for example, h ad a m edi an p ric e o f $ 163 ,5 00, accor din g to th e Realtors Association of New Mexico (www.nmrealtor.com). Median means half the homes sold for more than $163,500 and half sold for less. That median price was down 11 percent since April 2009. April sales through the Ruidoso-Lincoln County Board of Realtors had a $204,500 median. Ruidoso’s median price is up 15 percent from April 2009.
Roswell Daily Record
Real estate markets everywhere are dealing with the results from President Obama’s first-time home buyer tax credit that ended April 30, 2010. Such programs may well increase sales in one time period, but only through borrowing sales from a later period. Home sales got the spring 2010 artificial stimulus, only to decline this spring. The administration’s “cash for clunkers” program worked the same way. Auto sales increased, then dropped. The net effect was pretty much zero, with much time wasted on hoopla. For metro Albuquerque, it’s way, way premature to suggest anything positive is happening. Even so, a few glimmers appeared in the May sales report from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors. The numbers of sales have climbed during 2011. Part of the increase is seasonal. People look for homes during warm months.
Albuquerque sales are down from 2010’s false improvement. A more important Albuquerque comparison is with 2009. For pending and closed sales, all five months of 2011 show nice increases from 2009. This happiness doesn’t mean health. The real estate equation is: More people equal more jobs equal more home sales. New Mexico’s private sector added 600 jobs between April 2010 and April 2011. The 600 figure is small enough to be a rounding error. Overall, the state lost 2,600 jobs, thanks to a 3,200-job drop in government employment. Year over year, Albuquerque lost 6,300 jobs and Las Cruces, 1,100. Santa Fe added 900 jobs with 100 more in Farmington. Our state economy may be better in the sense of being less bad. But our state economy and the local real estate markets remain far from real improvement. © New Mexico News Services 2011
Rethinking the War on Drugs
Now that the Global Commission on Drug Policy has declared that America has lost the war on drugs, it’s time to develop new strategies, ones that treat drug addiction as a health problem, not a criminal problem. Illegal drugs have touched every sector of the community from cities to suburbs to rural areas. The victims range from the very young — babies being born with drugs in their systems — to senior citizens. Drugs can be found even in the most secure places, such as prisons and jails, or on school grounds. At the same time, some states are moving to legalizing marijuana, which many say is a gateway drug. So, it is not a great revelation that the war on drugs was lost. It was not shocking when the 19-member Global Commission, which includes former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and former T reasury Secretary George P. Shultz, said last week that America needs a shift in logic. This change needs to include building more accessible drug and alcohol treatment facilities in neighborhoods that have been hurt the hardest. The commission said it is looking at drug policies that are based on methods that have been proven to help reduce crime, lead to better health and promote economic and social development. The best approach is to treat drug and alcohol addiction more as a health-related problem and less as a criminal problem. Drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully prevented and treated if the right programs are accessible. The government must still secure the nation’s borders to try to keep illegal drugs out of the U.S. and should continue to target large drug traffickers. We don’t favor legalization of any of the drugs that currently are banned. This is about a shift in emphasis. Let’s treat more and jail fewer. Over the past 40 years, it’s estimated the government has spent more than a trillion dollars on the drug war. It’s time for a change in policy that addresses those with addictions. Spending money in those areas is the best way to assure that addicts get the help they need to become productive citizens. Guest Editorial The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
LETTERS
A visit to the MVD
The Weiner rule of sexual misconduct What lessons can we learn from Anthony Weiner’s demise? This is America. After the high and mighty have undergone a fall, we need an Oprah moment — a lesson to be learned, an affirmation of the underlying moral law, along with a whiff of redemption. Moreover, as a practical matter, men in elected office need to know in advance what they can and cannot do and still keep their high office. What are the current sexual rules? A whole lot of people are now trying to figure that one out.
Doonesbury
MAGGIE
GALLAGHER COLUMNIST
Consider the list of sex scandals that began with President Bill Clinton, continuing through Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Barney Frank, Larry Craig, Jim McGreevey, Mark Foley, John Edwards, David Vitter, John Ensign, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and
now Anthony Weiner. This list is no doubt partial and incomplete. The list is also depressingly bipatisan and unisexual. Apparently you have to be married, or break the law, to have a sex scandal these days. However, neither of these is a suf ficient condition for explaining which guy gets to keep his job. Actually engaging in sex, as opposed to making revolting requests for it, does not appear to make it more or less likely a politician will keep his job. Dumping your wife, as opposed to merely cheating on her, doesn’t appear to make
anything worse. Not even lying or lawbreaking distinguishes the keepers from the losers — the heroes and the goats. I thought there might be regional variation in what constituents will put up with, but comparing Craig and Sanford to Weiner and Spitzer suggests any remaining regional variations in public morality is trumped by the new rule: If, as a married man, you must do it, don’t do it in a major media capital of the world. Unless you are gay. If you are gay or from
See GALLAGHER, Page A5
Dear Editor: On Tuesday, June 14, I had a most pleasant experience at the Roswell MVD — I was helped by clerks No. 7 and 9 — reason for No. 9 — the computer of No. 7 “froze up” when the clerk was attempting to renew my handicap sticker. Within 30 minutes, yes 30 minutes, I had completed the paperwork for both my drivers’ license and handicap sticker. Everyone was not only polite, but very pleasant. Peg Briney Roswell DEAR DR. GOTT: I read your column every day and thank you for your advice. I would like to know if Welchol is a statin drug. Some doctors say yes, some say no. I would also like to know the warnings and more about this product. DEAR READER: Welchol is not a statin drug. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration several years ago as a new drug for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and it was found to lower LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol as an adjunct to diet and exercise. It is not appropriate for Type 1 diabetics. Side effects can include weakness, constipation, dyspepsia, muscle aches and pains, nausea, stomach pain, headache
ASK DR. GOTT UNITED MEDIA SYNDICATE
and indigestion. Your letter failed to indicate whether you have personally been prescribed the product, if you know someone who has been, or if either party suffers from high cholesterol levels and/or Type 2 diabetes. Your physician may have found a multipurpose drug that works on two problems at the same time, but by writing to ask for
additional infor mation, you bring up a good point. When any medication, even an over-the-counter one, has been prescribed, ask questions. Why is your physician ordering this? What are the side effects? How long will I be on it? How long before I should notice improvement? Do I take it on an empty stomach or with food? In the morning or in the evening? Will it interfere with any herbal supplements I may be on? Never take a drug without being well-informed. That’s part of an office visit — and may be the most important part of the visit. DEAR DR. GOTT: I had openheart surgery five years ago and have been gasping for air ever since. I have talked to other peo-
ple who had the procedure, and they are the same way. I’d like to know if there is a medicine I can take to eliminate this. DEAR READER: I would be more comfortable if you indicated your surgery was performed recently, as five years is much too long for symptoms to continue and for your quality of life to be affected. There are a number of possibilities for shortness of breath (SOB), including scar tissue; stent, bypass grafting or valve failure; a side effect of a prescribed medication; reflux; hypothyroidism; congestive heart failure; and lung disease. Perhaps you are not taking your anti-coagulant correctly, or See GOTT, Page A5
25 YEARS AGO
June 23, 1986 • Navy Airman Recruit Hector Martinez, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ventura Martinez of Roswell, has completed the basic aviation structural mechanic course. A 1984 graduate of Ruidoso High School, he joined the Marine Corps in November 1985. • Ar my Capt. T imothy M. Boswell, son of Jo Boswell of Roswell, arrived recently for duty with the 19th Support Command, South Korea. Boswell is a personnel community activities director. • Navy Seaman Recruit Gregory R. Johns, son of Marilyn C. Gulley of Lake Arthur, has completed recruit training at the Recruit Training Command.