Clovis Stats and Absorption rates... Number of homes sold in Clovis, NM recently.

Well its time to head back to school and back to work so I thought I would share 

what’s happening in the Real Estate market in Clovis NM this month. 

Things are pretty steady but its still a buyer’s market.

Some quick stats:

Active residential listings in Clovis as of 8/26/13: 363

Active res. listings in NE Clovis: 169

Homes that sold/closed in all of Clovis in the last month: 39

Homes that sold in NE Clovis in the last month: 25

Market Absorption Rate for all of Clovis: 9.3

That's the number of months it should take, based on current rates of sale, to sell all 363 residential listings IF no other properties came on the market in the meantime.

Market Absorption Rate for NE Clovis: 6.8

The conventional wisdom is that 3-4 months absorption rates indicate a sellers' market, 6 months indicates a fairly balanced market, and 9-12 months (or worse) is the sign of a true buyers' market.

So Clovis has a lot of homes on the market right now and it’s a great time to buy. Just to give you something to compare to back in late April of 2009 we had 275 homes on the market and they had just sold 55 homes the month before so a 5 month absorption rate.

Also if you are like me and wonder when a good time to buy or sell is, here are how many homes sold each month for the past 6 months in Clovis.

Jan –Feb  26 sold

Feb -Mar   42 sold

Mar -Apr   58 sold

Apr -May   57 sold

May-Jun   46 sold

Jun – July  45 sold

And to compare this year to last year…. 41 homes sold in the same July-August time frame that had 39 sold this year so not much change. 

Eastern New Mexico is slowly turning a deeper shade of GREEN

Green is slowly marching Eastward over our state. Green building practices have been boasted about for years in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. But in the East, where dairy cattle outnumber prairie dog lovers and talk of “Green” practices still brings to mind hippies, Californians, and tree huggers, consumers and builders are finally seeing the value in researching and implementing green building practices.

It isn’t just about smearing mud on the walls and saving trees any longer – those may be great ideas but today’s Green standards are based on energy conservation. The practical people of Eastern New Mexico realize this means money – more in their pockets and less spent on heating and a/c. It’s smarter building which starts in the design phase and carries through the materials, standards and waste a project produces.
I was doing some research for a client and found that we have no “Green” builders based in Eastern New Mexico. No members of Build Green New Mexico and no builders knowledgeable about the steps to take to certify their homes for energy sustainability.

A quick way to put more money in builder’s pockets would be for them to take advantage of the tax credits available to them. New Mexico offers sizeable tax credits to builders and consumers that should not be ignored. If a home achieves a Build Green New Mexico or LEEDS certification at the lowest level (There are three levels Gold/ Silver and Platinum- Emerald) The builder can get a $5.00 per sq ft tax credit from New Mexico. For example a 2000 sq ft house would get a $10,000.00 tax credit. That is in addition the federal government’s offer of another $2000 tax credit for using sustainable energy practices. If the house achieved a platinum rating, that credit could go as high as $9.00 a sq ft. and that adds up to some nice pocket change.

I don’t know enough about GREEN certifications, practices, or credits, I admit, so my first step will be to take more courses so that I know what I am talking about. A quick resource to turn to would be New Mexico’s Energy Conservation and Management Division website. They have a nice little chart with links of where to go for more information. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ecmd/cleanenergytaxincentives/sustainablebuildingtaxcredit.htm
I do have a listing on Northglen http://fly3.505home.com/ that is probably the most energy efficient, large home on the market in Clovis. The builder is now pursuing a HERS rating to verify the air-tightness of the house. Adkin’s Construction uses a special insulation, Heat Lok 217-4, that is a polyurethane foam which has one of the highest R Ratings available. It foams up and fills every crack and gap between the studs in the walls and adds extra rigidity to the structure as well. They blow in extra insulation over the heated areas of the house so that it looks like a snowstorm hit the attic. I peeked up there and it must have been two feet thick.

When I mentioned that I was going to go after my GREEN certification I got some funny looks from some of the older agents in our office. I think they are afraid that I’ll start trapping prairie dogs humanely and telling dairymen that they should let their cows out on green pastures so they can enjoy the rest of their lives. But GREEN building practices simply make life a little better for my buyers and I’m all about that.