New Mexico Fast Facts and Trivia

• AT Lake Valley, Miners discovered silver in veins so pure that the metal could be sawn off in blocks, instead of having to be dug out by traditional methods.

• The father of modern rocketry, Massachusetts scientist Robert Goddard, whom some called a crackpot, came to New Mexico in 1930 to test rocket-ship models. From those humble beginnings the aerospace industry became one of New Mexico’s leading industries.

• To test the latest rockets White Sands Missile Range was created on the same land where the first atom bomb had been exploded.

• After WWII Los Alamos and Albuquerque had many new laboratories. Hundreds of highly educated scientists and engineers moved into the state. New Mexico soon had a higher percentage of people with Ph.D.s than any other state.

The Santa Fe Association of Realtors has published their 3rd quarter housing statistics and it looks like the overall median price of a home in Santa Fe has risen 14% in the last quarter.  Condo prices overall were trending downward while sales remained relatively stable. Read More…

Thursday, October 9, 2008 
by Kiera Hay • Journal Santa Fe

Amid a litany of dismal economic news nationally, Santa Fe has found a ray of sunshine. Read more…

Thursday, October 2, 2008 
by Polly Summar • Journal Santa Fe

It may be difficult for Santa Feans to think a tourism problem might exist, since providing directions and restaurant suggestions to out-of-towners seems to be part of almost everyone’s life here. Read more…

Friday, October 3, 2008 
by Ginger Clarke • Santa Fe Realty Partners

Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings convey the stillness and vast, pristine beauty of the Abiquiú landscape. Any visitor to this area has experienced firsthand the captivating qualities that so inspired O’Keeffe’s paintings. Read more…

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 
by Phil Parker • Journal Santa Fe

That chill in the air, the snow on the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo — Santa Fe is rounding third base (fall) and heading for home (winter). Read more…

by Andrew Hoffman • SantaFe.com

The immediate impact of the Federal Government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a drop in the conforming (under $417,000) 30-Year Mortgage rate. The Feds have indicated that they will not only inject capital as needed into Fannie and Freddie, but they will give a guarantee to the mortgage-backed securities issued by these firms as well as committing to buy up to $6 Billion in securities. Read more…

by Kiera Hay • Journal Santa Fe

For perhaps the first time ever, the city of Santa Fe is cracking down on vacation rental scofflaws.Over the past few weeks, three local property owners have been hit with criminal citations for illegally operating short-term rental units in the city without a permit, city officials said this week. Read more…

by Kiera Hay • Journal Santa Fe

Negative voices were aplenty Tuesday night at the city’s Historic Design Review Board meeting, as a large crowd packed into City Council Chambers to protest a plan to install a remote monitoring system at the city water division’s pressure regulation valve stations. Read more…

by Pat French • SantaFe.com

With the stock and bond markets in turmoil, we thought we’d ask Santa Fe real estate brokers how these unprecedented financial times might be affecting the ebb and flow of their sales. Rumors of doom abound, but reality can be a different thing. Read more…