We have alot to be thankful for

It is almost Christmas and I think I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

While it has not been the best year in real estate it has not been the worst. It actually takes me back to when I first got in the business in 1986 when people had to have a good job, good credit, and money for a down payment.

Lenders are still lending money, but you have to be credit worthy, have a down payment (unless you are a Veteran) and be able close. So what is so hard about that?

I think that buyers still feel that things will get alot worse and they will get a "better deal" on a home if they wait. They may but what about the time they waste paying rent and not owning and not getting that write off on your taxes.

I think we are at the bottom and there is only one way for prices to go and that is BACK UP!

El Paso real estate is not that bad right now, I have been busier this month than I have in the last couple of months and I think that buyers are starting to feel a little more confident. Interest rates are very low and home prices in El Paso are holding steady and sellers are giving alot of concessions to make their homes more marketable.

Now is the time for investors to get back on line again and start looking at El Paso and all that is going to happen here- we are way short the number of rentals that the military soldiers will need so where are you?

Don't wait too long or you will be sorry.

Realtor of the Year

I was awarded Realtor of the Year for 2009 by the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors at their annual Installation Banquet on Dec. 21, 2008.

I was totally surprised when I found out I had won, but deeply honored.

Now I feel that it is my job to get out there and make things happen from this day forward in the El Paso, Texas real estate market.


Interest rates are dropping and now is an excellent time to buy. Don't wait for rates and prices to go up.

Vets help home prices stay steady

MILITARY PROTECTS HOME PRICES
This article came from Recon Center about San Antonio market but will probably apply to most cities that have a military base.

SAN ANTONIO (Associated Press) – While home prices and sales are generally down nationwide, large military bases have buoyed their surrounding communities.

The Associated Press found that communities surrounding big bases fared better than national averages because of steady wartime employment, more moderate value increases and less reckless lending than in many other boom areas. Some communities have even seen a rise in home prices.

Higher home values also pool around high veteran populations.

Veterans receive loans more easily because of their guaranteed mortgage benefits through the Veterans Affairs Department and lower-than-average interest rates through the Texas Veterans Land Board. Their ability to secure a home keeps the housing demand higher, which allows the home prices around them to stay afloat.

For the 12 months ending in September, the average monthly median price in San Antonio was $151,500, up 1 percent from the same period in 2007, compared with a 9 percent decline nationwide for that period.

San Antonio is home to Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Randolph Air Force Base.

Texas veterans also are more likely to pay their mortgages on time.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, of Texas homes purchased with VA-insured loans, 0.8 percent went into foreclosure in second quarter 2008. That is about half the 1.44 percent overall statewide foreclosure rate and less than one-third of the 2.75 percent national foreclosure rate.

What is Happening to our Ecomony

Buyers and Sellers are scared-what more can I say? We are all hoping that the end of the year also bring an end to our economy woes and everyone thinking "the end is near".

Luckily in El Paso and in the rest of Texas we are not feeling the crunch as badly as other areas.

I just got back from the Nation Association of Realtors convention in Orlando, and so many of the conversations were about short sales. We do not have many short sales in the El Paso, Texas real estate market ! Thank goodness.

Lenders are lending and we were told at the convention that for those that are waiting for the bottom to get there that WAKE UP we are at the bottom and when you are at the bottom, you can only go one way and that is BACK UP. If you are waiting you may wait to long. Homes are priced better than they ever have been and sellers and builders are giving lots of concessions. What if you wait for prices to go down and maybe they will some more, but what if interest rates go up, then the savings you thought you were making is now lost in a higher interest rate.

If you are going to buy, buy now. Nothing stimulates the economy like home sales. Look what happened to the stock market and that happens more often then reduction in equity in homes. Like I said above, there is only one way home prices can go now and that is back up again.

Get pre approved for a loan with a good reputable company and save up for a down payment. You can still go FHA with 3% down payment (I heard it may be going up to 3.5%after the first of the year) and with the sellers helping maybe you can get a seller to help buy down the interest rate and make your payments lower.

Top Reasons to buy in El Paso

1. El Paso, TX real estate market is moving along pretty well right now.

2. El Paso still has very reasonable prices on our homes (compared to other areas of the country)and there are alot to choose from.

3. El Paso, Tx is getting ready to have almost 100,000 soldiers and their families move here by 2013 and we already know that we do not have enough homes to house them in. Most will be renters, either in apartments or houses and there are definitely not enough of those. Investors should be buying homes right now while the market is still a buyers market because very soon prices will be going back up again.

4. Sellers are helping with closing costs in alot of sales so your out of pocket money will be less.

5. Ideal Weather in El Paso-less weather related upkeep to your property

6. Good real estate values- our El Paso, TX real estate values are not going down like the rest of the country. Our market is very regional so do not buy into the national news. Our prices are continuing to rise even though we are in a buyers market and with all that is happening in El Paso right now we feel that values will start really rising again very soon.

7. Have someone else build equity for you-having a good paying tenant will just help you create equity. Yes there may be some vacant months if we can't get it rented right away-but if you buy a nice home and in good condition then those are the ones that the tenants want also.

8. El Paso has a new 4 year medical school and research center that is starting their first class in August 2009 and that will bring in students, doctors, nurses, researchers, etc all of who will need someplace to live.

9. Our regional economic development corporation is working with over 100 companies looking to relocate their businesses to El Paso.

10. We can provide property management and have done that for our clients for close to 20 years and will provide references.

What is happening in El Paso

Well, what can I say about the El Paso, Texas real estate market?

I guess if we believed the national news we would all commit suicide! Well in El Paso, the market is not quite as bad as other areas of the country.

Yes it is harder to get qualified, but lenders are lending and buyers are buying homes. It may take a little longer to sell your home if you are a seller and you will probably be helping the buyers with closing costs in the market right now.

If you are a buyer you are in shoppers paradise!! You will have tons of homes to choose from so you can be very picky to say the least. As I mentioned above you should expect for the seller to help you in some sort of way too.

The best advice for a buyer is to get pre approved and keeping chekcing with your lender (one to make sure they are still in business and secondly to make sure your qualification has not changed).

It is a great time to buy in El Paso, TX!!!

Wow what shall we do?

I know that everyone is very worried about our economy with all that is going on in Washington and the financial industry. I think that sales will continue to go on as they did before but things have to change.

How many of you wondered when all the 100% loans starting coming into play, how long will this take to bite us in the behind? I know that I did.

I think that loans will take place, but it will be like it was in the late 80's--you need money for a deposit, money for reserves and maybe money for closing costs if you can't get the seller to help you and you will need to have good credit. DUH!

Let's not all think doom and gloom because like anything else, things will turn around and we will be happy and selling homes again in El Paso, Texas

Showing Smoke Filled Homes

Have you ever walked into a home that you were showing and about passed out from the smoke smell? Well it really turned my buyers off and they loved the home but would not make an offer on it for just that reason.

I know there are alot of smokers still out there but my advise would be about 6 months before you are going to put your home on the market smoke only outside and in the mean time let the home air out completely.

My buyers wanted new carpet and paint just to try and get the smell out as they have 2 infant daughters.

So sellers, if you smoke, please remember it could cost you the sale of your home.

The Calvary comes to El Paso

This was in Real Deal Magazine out of New York City-great article about El Paso, TX

August 2008
Calvary comes to El Paso


Strong fundamentals, expanding army base to bolster housing market

By Vic Kolenc

More than 70,000 Army soldiers and their families are expected to march into El Paso, Texas, in the next five years.

That prospect has boosted El Paso's housing market in the past three years, and it's expected to lift it again. Although the number of homes sold in El Paso has declined this year, prices continue to rise — counter to what's happening in many other metro markets around the country.

"To a certain degree we've been insulated from the rest of the country, and part of that is the government investing $5 billion in infrastructure at Fort Bliss and the growth of Fort Bliss," said Dan Olivas, president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors.

Fort Bliss, an Army post with 17,600 soldiers, has always been an important component of El Paso's economy, but its influence should grow as the post's military population is scheduled to more than double in the next five years.

El Paso, with more than 730,000 people, is also helped by growth across the Rio Grande in Juarez, Mexico. That area has a population of more than 1.3 million and still enjoys a healthy manufacturing economy despite the economic woes in the United States.

Attracted by El Paso's low home prices and the promise of growth, out-of-town investors pumped up the housing market in 2005 and 2006. That's when home prices increased 18 percent and 14 percent respectively, according to National Association of Realtors data.

"Historically, this city has never had huge appreciations or depreciations. It's been a real steady market for decades" with appreciation of around 3 percent a year, said Charles de Wetter, president of Coldwell Banker de Wetter Hovious, one of El Paso's largest real estate firms. "When there's a slower economy nationally, it's good to be in a place like this."

The median, or market midpoint, price for single-family resale homes in El Paso increased 8.5 percent in the first three months of the year — the sixth-largest percentage increase among 149 metro areas surveyed by NAR. The median sales price in the first quarter was $134,600, compared to $124,000 a year ago.

In 2007, the median price increase was 3.4 percent.

As far as trouble goes, El Paso home foreclosures decreased 52 percent in the first quarter, while foreclosures more than doubled nationwide, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks foreclosures nationally.

One thing that's helped keep El Paso foreclosures down is the fact that adjustable-rate mortgages and other creative financing vehicles are not used much in the city, El Paso mortage experts said. Conventional 30-year mortgages are the most popular forms of home financing here.

"A lot of areas of the United States where real estate markets have collapsed are areas where prices rose excessively. In El Paso, that type of market condition did not materialize," said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

"The local economy has remained in good shape throughout 2008, and whenever job creation is strong, it helps support good real estate fundamentals," Fullerton added.

El Paso home prices have continued to increase, even though inventory has risen; the more than 5,100 resale and new homes on the market in early July were substantially above the more than 3,200 homes on the market a year ago.

"Houses are selling in El Paso, but at a slower rate than a year, two years ago," said de Wetter, the real estate broker. "There is demand out there. A lot of sellers in the marketplace are not realistic about pricing, but are getting more so."

New home starts in El Paso are slower this year than last year, noted Ray Adauto, executive vice president of the El Paso Association of Builders.

"We'll be fortunate to hit 3,000 [home starts] this year," Adauto said. "People are having a harder time qualifying for mortgages."

Home builders have spent part of this year trying to get rid of high-end homes above $250,000; some are offering substantial discounts to sell their inventory. Builders have shifted to constructing more affordable homes, at prices below $200,000.

Eugenio Aleman, senior economist for Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis, said in a recent report that El Paso's economic performance since mid-2006 has been "impressive." Even so, El Paso's housing market is "suffering the consequences of the national credit crunch," and home sales will "remain weak for the rest of the year," he predicted.

Olivas, the El Paso Realtors' Association president, doesn't see it that way.

"I don't think we'll see the market dragging for the rest of the year," he said.

He said more troops are expected at Fort Bliss later this year, doctors are going to be moving in for the new Texas Tech University medical school scheduled to open next year , and more home buyers from Mexico are looking in El Paso as violence in Juarez and other Mexican border cities increases.

Olivas added, "We're not going to follow the pattern of the rest of the nation. I think we're ahead of that curve."

Vic Kolenc is a business reporter for the El Paso Times.


The Real Deal reserves the right to delete any comment it finds to be rude, obscene

Wall Street Journal on El Paso

With a Little Help From Its Friends
For years, governments have tried and failed to revive El Paso. Then local investors decided to take action.
By KRIS HUDSON
July 28, 2008; Page R3

EL PASO, Texas -- This border city, once the thriving commercial hub of the U.S. Southwest, is reviving its moribund downtown with the help of some native benefactors.

Still in its early stages, the effort to overhaul dormant hotels and office towers has delivered results already. Over the past two years, property values in a 288-acre section of downtown defined by a new tax-reinvestment district jumped 40% to almost $446 million. And many prominent El Paso structures that have stood empty for decades, including the Plaza Hotel, are being renovated.


This border city, once the thriving commercial hub of the U.S. Southwest, is reviving its moribund downtown with the help of some native benefactors. WSJ's Kris Hudson reports.
The difference between this and earlier revitalization efforts that fizzled is the involvement of deep-pocketed investors, who decided in 2004 to gather their own resources and chart a course for revival. Among them: longtime El Pasoan William Sanders, the founder of real-estate firms Security Capital Group Inc. and LaSalle Partners, and Paul Foster, chief executive officer of Western Refining Inc., an independent oil refiner and marketer based in El Paso.

"This is El Paso's shot to revitalize downtown," says Brent Harris, managing partner of Mr. Foster's real-estate interests. "With the folks that are involved in this, if it doesn't happen now, it's never going to happen."

El Paso, a city of 610,000 tucked into the far western corner of Texas between the borders of Mexico and New Mexico, was one of the first cities settled by Spanish explorers in what is now the U.S. El Paso established itself as the primary stop on the trail from the Mexican state of Chihuahua to Santa Fe, N.M., and later served on the all-weather route for travelers headed from the East Coast to California and back. In 1913, Texas established its college of mines -- now the University of Texas at El Paso -- in the city. For much of the last century, El Paso's major industries were cattle, cotton, textiles, copper refining and the neighboring Fort Bliss U.S. Army post.

El Paso began to lose momentum in the 1960s and 1970s. City leaders point to myriad causes. The spread of suburbanization after World War II produced greater growth in southwestern cities such as Phoenix, Ariz. El Paso lost big industries as the textile trade migrated to Asia and copper refineries and smelters shut down. As the city of Ciudad Juárez, directly across the border in Mexico, grew rapidly -- there are 2.6 million residents in the "borderplex" region of El Paso, Juárez and surrounding suburbs -- El Paso's economy became more intertwined with its neighbor's and subsequently suffered from the devaluation of the Mexican peso.

Hotels closed downtown, as did the Kress department store, leaving its iconic storefront vacant at a prominent street corner. Many floors in downtown buildings remain vacant with boarded-up windows, and department stores are mixed in with pawn shops and an outdoor swap meet.

Various levels of government have tried to boost El Paso's downtown, building a county courthouse in the 1980s, a state office building in the 1990s, a parking garage in recent years and a federal courthouse now under construction.

"For years, the city had tried redoing downtown on its own," says Verónica Rosales-Soto, redevelopment manager in the city's economic-development division. "But none of that mattered because the private investment didn't follow."

It wasn't until 2004 that private investors began gathering their resources to reverse the downtown's decline. Led by Mr. Sanders, the newly formed Paso Del Norte Group, a club of El Paso's business elite, hired a San Francisco-based consultant to help it draft a plan for overhauling downtown. The group brought in city officials to advise it on the plan's feasibility, but in a move that proved controversial, the business group elected not to subject the plan to widespread public scrutiny in its early phases, reasoning that too many opposing viewpoints might stymie the process.

DEEP POCKETS


• The Problem: El Paso's downtown was dying, and various government efforts to revive it had failed to take root.
• The Economic Game Plan: A group of local investors decided to gather their resources and chart a course for revival that included buying and overhauling dormant hotels and office towers.
• The Results So Far: Property values downtown have jumped 40% to almost $446 million over the past two years.By 2006, the plan was finalized. The Paso Del Norte Group unveiled it for an audience of 1,200 business owners, city officials and citizens at the historic Plaza Theatre downtown. The plan envisioned separate zones for an entertainment district, historic preservation, mixed-use development and a Mercado shopping district, among other things. In October 2006, the City Council adopted a revised version of the plan, which included changes such as removing a few blocks from the revitalization area to avoid disturbing adjacent neighborhoods. The council voted two months later to form a downtown tax-reinvestment district, where property-tax revenue in excess of 2006 amounts is used to help finance new city infrastructure, such as streets and sidewalks.

Mr. Sanders, who declined to comment for this article, formed the Borderplex Community Trust REIT in early 2007, specifically to buy and rehabilitate buildings in El Paso and Juárez. A REIT can pool its investors' money; buy and sell properties; and forgo paying corporate taxes as long as it pays out 90% of its income as dividends.

The REIT, with 216 investors so far, has purchased more than a dozen properties, investors say, including the O.T. Bassett Tower, a 15-story office building erected in 1930, and the 18-story Chase Bank Building, where occupancy has risen to 93% from 43% over the past 17 months.

The REIT intends to sell most of the O.T. Bassett Tower to apartment developer TVO Groupe and retain the first floor to convert to retail space. TVO will begin converting the tower to 30 luxury condominiums later this year. The El Paso-based developer anticipates the project will yield less than half of the 20% return it typically seeks in its investments, but it is willing to accept that to support the broader revitalization push, Chief Executive Charles Garrett says.

Mr. Foster, meanwhile, purchased the 98-year-old, 12-story Mills office building in 2006 and the adjacent, six-story Centre building last year. He also bought the 294-room Plaza Hotel, built in 1929 but vacant for the past two decades, directly across the street from his two office buildings. Mr. Foster has begun a renovation and expansion of the office buildings and moved Western Refining's headquarters there. Plans for the hotel still are in flux, though eventually it will be reopened.

Developments elsewhere in El Paso have added momentum to the downtown revitalization. Texas Tech University has begun construction of a medical campus in El Paso. The U.S. Army's realignment of its domestic and foreign forces stands to nearly double the size of Fort Bliss to almost 37,000 soldiers within the next five years.


MAN WITH A PLAN El Paso attorney James Scherr is renovating the International Hotel (in background).
But even with the rise in property values, not everyone supports the revitalization unequivocally. Some business and property owners object to the Paso Del Norte Group devising the plan privately before unveiling the final version. Their biggest fear is that the city will use eminent domain to seize properties and turn them over to developers if multiblock projects such as shopping centers are proposed.

"To have the city being manipulated by developers into scaring people out of their property is an un-American process," says Enoch Kimmelman, whose family has operated the Starr Western Wear store since 1964 and owns the store's 40,000-square-foot building.

Mayor John Cook denies that developers are steering the city government. A two-year moratorium on the use of eminent domain downtown is set to expire in November, but Mr. Cook says, "I don't really see that the city is going to have to use" it.

Meanwhile, El Paso's problems extend well beyond the vacancies downtown, according to Tom Fullerton, a University of Texas at El Paso economics professor. He says below-average graduation rates in El Paso's public schools and community colleges remain the city's biggest problem, resulting in a loss of $1 billion in personal income annually. The city's median household income measures $33,103, well below the national median of $48,451.

Still, James Scherr, a native El Pasoan, is betting the renaissance downtown is the beginning of something bigger. The attorney bought the 38-year-old, 200-room International Hotel downtown out of foreclosure for $1 million in 2004. He is spending $20 million, including $5 million in city-provided incentives, to get it back in operation as a Doubletree hotel by the end of the year.

"El Paso is going into the 21st century with our running shoes on," he says. "Right now, this town is poised for takeoff."

--Mr. Hudson is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's Dallas bureau.

Write to Kris Hudson at kris.hudson@wsj.com

My latest buyers are very happy

My last couple of buyers have been very happy with the negations that I have been able to get for them.

Right now sellers are helping in alot of cases with buyers closing costs and on the last couple of closing I have had I have been able to negotiate anywhere from $1600-$3000 in help from the seller. In some cases there is a give and take meaning that to get that much help the buyers had to be willing to pay close to list price(as long as it was priced well from the beginning).

All in all it is a great time to buy in El Paso. There are alot of homes to choose from and sellers that are willing to help buyers get into the home easily.

What a great market we are having

I bet you don't hear that too often in today's markets! What is a short sale? We just don't have them here in El Paso.

El Paso has a great market right now, even with alot of homes on the market and some seller's giving concessions to the buyers, we are not seeing home prices dropping.

June was a great month and we are expecting July to be even better.

Our foreclosure rate is down almost 50% and that is due to the fact that most sellers can sell their home before they get into trouble.

We are the 21st largest city in the nation and the 2nd or 3rd safest year after year.

Ft Bliss is growing by leaps and bounds (almost 96,000 new troops and family members by 2013) and they are enlarging the base by 3 times what it is right now.

There is a new medical school and border research center opening next year that is the first one on a border ever and a new Children's Hospital has been approved.

What else can I say? IT IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY A HOME IN EL PASO, TEXAS

Washington DC

We just got back from the National Association of Realtors convention in Washington DC and it was very informative and lost of fun.

We stayed on Connecticut Ave close to Dupont Circle and took the Metro everywhere. From someone out in the desert that is still fun!.

We learned that alot of markets are dealing with short sales and lots of foreclosures so that makes the real estate market in El Paso, Tx look super. We do not have many short sales and our foreclosures are down 50%.

It is still a great time to buy in El Paso and the market has really picked back up and sales are strong. Some sellers are still giving concessions but prices are selling about 3% list price to sales price ratio.

Back to DC, if you go there soon there is a great Tuscan restaurant on 19th St called I Ricchi that was wonderful and the presentation was what made the evening. Our waiter was an appraiser also so he was fun to talk to since we were all in real estate.

We got to visit our Congressman and State Senators at the Capitol Building and we went to the Newsmuseum near the Capitol Building and it was fantastic.

Great News about Local Markets

Markets that missed the boom now sport rising home prices
Monday April 21, 1:37 pm ET

By Amy Hoak

In some housing markets, homes aren't only retaining value -- they're gaining


CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Challenging real estate markets can be found across the U.S. as home prices decline, sales fall and foreclosures rise. But in some places the biggest challenge has been convincing would-be buyers and sellers that local conditions don't resemble the national trends.


It's a challenge that Randy Jeffers, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, faces all the time.

While the number of sales has fallen somewhat, he still regards his market of Amarillo, Texas, as a seller's market right now. The median price of an existing single-family home in Amarillo was up an annualized 11% in the fourth quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.

"Often they're surprised about what is going on locally or statewide," he said of his clients. As the country's collective housing ills land bold headlines, locals incorrectly extrapolate the information to their own markets, Jeffers added.

The housing problems largely aren't national but regional in nature, said Susan Wachter, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

"The interesting thing is that there are parts of the country where housing prices are doing fine, thank you," she said. In fact, only five states are in what she would consider a housing recession: California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Michigan.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, 73 out of 150 metropolitan areas showed an increase in the median existing single-family home price compared with the same quarter in 2006, according to statistics from the national Realtors group.

That isn't to say these markets are immune from some national trends.

For one, stricter lending standards put in place in the wake of poor mortgage performance in many parts of the country are affecting people regardless of where they live. Requirements of larger down payments and higher credit scores are keeping some people from buying homes, especially first-time buyers, and are often driving down the volume of sales.

If the job picture weakens as a result of a slowing economy, that could also affect some of the most stable markets.

Recently, however, the places where homes seem to be holding the most value are those where prices didn't surge during the boom years and where economies are staying strong. In large cities, it's often the areas that are located closest to the city's core.


Places the boom forgot
Single-digit appreciation may have looked meager in the years of the boom, when red-hot markets experienced bidding wars and high investor interest. Now, as some markets experience steep price drops, those rates aren't looking so bad after all.
Areas in upstate New York, Texas, some Rocky Mountain states and the Carolinas are faring better than the rest of the country in terms of price appreciation these days, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

In general, there weren't caravans of speculators in these areas driving up prices. Plus -- unlike some trouble spots in the Midwest such as Detroit -- many of the local economies in these markets remained stable.

Utah -- where home prices rose 9.27% in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the fourth quarter of 2006 -- was the state with the highest appreciation rate, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Utah was followed by Wyoming, where prices rose 8.27% over the year, North Dakota, where prices rose 7.87%, and Montana, where prices rose 6.90%.

Still, in Billings, Mont., buyers often say they're waiting for prices to come down, said Dan Wagner, president of the Montana State Association of Realtors. But because they never soared during the boom years, prices likely aren't in need of a correction, he said.


Where the jobs are
The strong employment picture in Seattle caused home prices there to rise after other major cities reached their peaks. Appreciation there in the fourth quarter was just over 1%, according to NAR, but it is believed that the city's employment landscape is keeping Seattle housing from losing value.
A similar situation is shaping up in other markets.

Home-prices in major cities fell 10.7% in January compared with January 2007, according to the Case-Shiller home price index. The index tracks 20 cities, and 19 of them saw year-over-year declines. But one market experienced modest home-price gains over the year: Charlotte, N.C., another market that never saw a huge run-up in prices during the boom.

An influx of banking and research jobs in the Carolinas -- especially in Charlotte and the Research Triangle -- has been important to its stability, said Marty Frame, general manager of Cyberhomes.com. About 15,000 jobs were created in the Charlotte area last year, said Dot Munson, president of the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association. Large employers in the area include US Airways, Bank of America and Wachovia.

The jobs are luring people to the city, she said, and one of the biggest challenges transplants have is getting their former homes sold if they're coming from a market that is sluggish.

"They have to rent for a while or do something creative for a place to live," Munson said.

Job growth has also been strong in Texas, where the oil and gas industries are big employers. In March, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area experienced the fastest year-over-year rate of job growth among the nation's major metropolitan areas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Second place went to the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington market.

Texas ranked eighth in OFHEO's list of states with the highest year-over-year appreciation during the fourth quarter of last year, preceded by Alaska, Washington and New Mexico.


Close to the core
In metropolitan areas, including San Francisco, Washington and New York, homes are typically retaining more of their value the closer they are to the city's core, Wachter said. In fact, declining home values in an area's suburbs are tending to drag down the average for the rest of the metropolitan area, she said.
Manhattan, however, tends to be a real-estate juggernaut all its own.

The average price of a Manhattan apartment was up 47% in the first quarter, compared with the first quarter of 2007, according to Brown Harris Stevens, a provider of real-estate services in the area. The boost was largely due to an increase in high-end sales that occurred at two luxury condo developments.

But the median price of a Manhattan apartment, which is less impacted by high-end activity, also rose 13% over the year, according to the firm.

One driver of the market: A rising demand for three- and four-bedroom units in Manhattan, said Jim Gricar, executive vice president of Brown Harris Stevens. More families are opting to live in the city as opposed to seeking larger homes in the suburbs, as was common in the 1980s and early 1990s, he said.

"After years of the city reinventing itself... (Manhattan is) attracting families and keeping people who might have moved to Scarsdale," he said.

Foreclosures WAY DOWN in El Paso (YEAH!!!)

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY IN EL PASO- this just shows that our market is not like most of the country:

El Paso foreclosures fall 52%
By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 04/17/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


El Paso continues to see a declining number of home foreclosure filings while foreclosures continue to skyrocket nationally.
El Paso had 328 homes in some stage of foreclosure in the first three months of this year, down 52.3 percent from the 688 foreclosure filings for the same period last year, show data from RealtyTrac, a California company which tracks foreclosures nationally. Filings decreased 24.5 percent in March.

Meanwhile, home foreclosures increased 58 percent in the United States in the first three months of this year compared to the same time last year. Foreclosure filings increased 57 percent in March.

Foreclosure filings are decreasing in a few areas around the nation, especially in Texas, where the housing market has been more stable than in other parts of the nation, said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman.

"El Paso seems a little more dramatic than some other areas in terms of the downward trend," Blomquist said.

Texas had a 5.5 percent decline in foreclosure filings in the first three months of this year and a 16.1 percent decline in March, RealtyTrac data show.

"We see a lot of foreclosures in areas where (home) prices skyrocketed out of control, and people couldn't afford the homes, but people were able to get into homes because of the (past) loan products out there," Blomquist said.

Pam Sparks, who oversees the mortgage loan department at Pioneer Bank in El Paso, said El Paso's foreclosure decline "is not surprising. I think that's because we've always been a fixed-rate (mortgage) community, and that's kept El Paso out of trouble."

Jose Escobedo, head organizer in El Paso for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, which counsels people with mortgage troubles, said the RealtyTrac data is "encouraging."

But Acorn continues to see an increase in the number of people coming into its El Paso office with mortgage problems and trying to avoid foreclosure, Escobedo said.

For more information: www.realtytrac.com.


Heading down:
Foreclosure filings in El Paso for the first quarter in recent years, and percentage change from previous year:

2006: 775, up 37.2 percent.

2007: 688, down 11.2 percent.

2008: 328, down 52.3 percent.
Source: RealtyTrac

Life is Great in El Paso and NOW is the time to buy

Today is suppose to be in the mid to high 80's and with slight breezes. This is our windy season but that is the only weather related problem that we usually have and that only lasts for a few months.

Are you ready to buy in El Paso, TX. Now is the time because there is going to be so much happening that will change our market and we are going to see prices start going up again.

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, Ft Bliss is already expanding and will expand by close to 100,000 people (soldiers and families) by 2103. The new medical school and research center for Border Health will open its first class in 2009. The high tech weaponary has already started here and soon the defense contractors will follow. The new Children's Hospital will bring in close to 300 more nurses and doctors.

That is just a short glimpse of what is going on and where will all those people live? Don't you see that now is the time to buy in El Paso?

Don't Fence me In

I'm sure most of you have read about the Border Fence that the Gov't wants to put up to keep illegal immigrants out of the county and especially along the Texas border.

Well does the Berlin Wall ring a bell for anyone and weren't we the ones that wanted the wall torn down in the first place?

Why do we want to wall in our country? I do understand that we need to handle our immigration problem but I don't think that building a wall is really what we want. How do you think that will look and more importantly do you really think it will work?

How about if we charge ( and a big amount) a fee to the people that employ illegal immigrants so that it is too costly to employ them-maybe they won't want to come over illegally and maybe they will want to become citizens and earn a living the way the rest of us do.

I would love to hear your comments.

Great Weekend in El Paso Real Estate

Just wanted to let you all know that the El Paso real estate market is starting to get a little busier.

This past Saturday I had 4 back to back listing appointments and one showing. On Sunday I showed some homes and wrote an offer.

I think that I will get 3 of the 4 listings and they are all in nice areas and if the seller will let me price them correctly, they should sell if we can get the buyers in there to see them.

With close to 4,000 homes on the market we need to let our sellers know that buyers are now very picky and can get almost anything they want. It is also a time to make sure that all buyers are pre approved for their loan before they start looking for homes.

Our market is starting to see some pretty funky (low low ) offers but the sellers are not giving in and giving the homes away. Most buyers are trying to see how low they can get a home and for some buyers it takes 3 or 4 contracts to fail for them to find out that we are not in a bargain basement real estate market.

Sure prices are coming down some and some sellers are giving help with closing costs but not to a great extent. Each market is regional and we are not like the rest of the country and taking big hits and we don't have alot of foreclosures (thank goodness).

Now is the time to buy in El Paso before our prices start going back up again and the reasons are below in some of my other blogs.

Are you going to buy in El Paso?

Now is the time to buy a home or income property in El Paso, TX. The market is on an upswing meaning that our prices should start to climb very soon.

I know that you read all the doom and gloom in the newspapers but all of that information is national not regional.

Ask any Realtor in El Paso and they will tell you that there is too much going on in our town for it to be a bad market.

Ft. Bliss will have over 37,000 new soldiers and over 50,000 family members arrive by 2103. What do you think that will do to real estate prices?

A new 4 year medical school and Border Health Research Center will open its doors in August 2009 and will be hiring doctors, professors, researchers, nurses, etc. What do you think that will do to our real estate prices?

Ft. Bliss is developing high tech weaponry already and when the high tech companies start coming in to do business, what do you think will happen to our real estate prices?

Now is the time to buy before we start going up in price. There are alot of homes on the market and some sellers are starting to give some incentives and builders even more, but that will change shortly.

Don't let this opportunity pass you up.

Now a member of Technorati

I am now a member of Technorati and here is a link to their site.
Technorati Profile

Spanish Contribution to El Paso area by Leon Metz

It is probably true that on Oct. 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered what we now call America.

But it was an America with no established borders, which means America essentially meant North America.

And North America also included Mexico, just as much as it meant what we now call the United States as well as Canada.

But focusing on Mexico, Columbus Day eventually became Dia de la Raza, the "Day of the Race." The arrival of Spaniards on that day in effect marked the beginning of the mestizos, the beginning of the mixing of blood, the beginning of Mexico.

Today, Spanish is the most common second language in the United States. I've read that there are more Spanish speakers in Los Angeles than in some South American countries.

And language is not the only area where Spanish makes a contribution. We see it particularly in Southwestern U.S. art and drama, and especially in religion.Ê

For 400 years, this area we call the El Paso Southwest, like all of Mexico, celebrated and reveled in the Spanish heritage. Our city -- outside of Spain -- for many years hosted the only Siglo de Oro theater festival in the world. Presenters arrived from Spain, South America, the United States, Mexico and Europe.

The El Paso Southwest was once over 80 percent Catho lic, and to a large extent, still is.

I have not heard the expression "Viva El Paso" in years, but even I recall when it was once a common expression in this community.

On both sides of the Rio Grande, the breeding and raising of horses, in particular, once played a major role in area settlement. The word caballero, generally interpreted in Spanish as "gentleman," actually takes on the connotation in Spanish for "horseman," the "ero"on the end pertaining to the horse.

The presently reviled Don Juan de Oñate, in 1598, held North America's first Thanksgiving in El Paso, the exact site depending on where one places the meandering, twisting Rio Grande at that time. And although some knew Oñate as a cruel man (and perhaps correctly), he brought with him a four-mile-long entourage of cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, etc., these being the real conquerors of the West.

Today, longhorn cattle are synonymous with Texas, but they came from Spain, and obtained their North American citizenship by wading and swimming the river with Oñate into our own back yard.

Those longhorn cattle, so synonymous with Texas, crossed the river "probably" near the present (but now closed) Hacienda Restaurant. And it was these horses, and these cattle, more than any other animal, that we today owe so much.

Descendants of these animals spread not only across Texas, but into New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. And primarily from these sprang some of the greatest horsemen on earth, particularly the Comanches.

All of us older folks recall seeing movies of Indian raids, these riders striking wagon trains, isolated travelers, and sometimes remote settlements. But their main quest was the stealing of livestock, particularly horses. Apaches and Comanches soon learned to ride as if they were born on horseback.

And we owe a lot to the Spanish-Mexican vaquero. He gave us the "horned saddle," ropes being wrapped around the horn, giving the cowboys more leverage in controlling cows.

Leon Metz, an El Paso historian, writes often for the El Paso Times. E-mail: cmetz48888@aol.com

Bark Park In El Paso

Bark Park lark: Upgrades to new area will include bleachers
By Michael Hernandez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 03/13/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


Natalie Rodriguez, 10, urged her teacup Chihuahua, Cocoa, through an obstacle at Album Park on Tuesday. The 27,000-square-foot play area for pooches is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. As debuts at the Bark Park go, Cocoa, a tea-cup Chihuahua, was a bit shy exploring the oversized playground at Album Park on Tuesday as he kept his distance from the larger dogs who rambled nearby.

"He likes to run around so I'll bring him back again," Natalie Rodriguez, 10, said before scooping up a trembling Cocoa. "I want him to come play again and maybe jump through some of the things here."

As the city's only recreational spot for dogs, the 27,000-square-foot patch of land on the western end of Album Park, 3110 Parkwood, has attracted many pooches in the six months it has been open, pet owners said.

The Bark Park is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Ruby Gavilanes watched Leo, her 9-month-old Boxer, race around the Bark Park and sniff out new friends.

She said the fenced-in square is a popular spot for dogs and their owners to socialize.

"People here have introduced themselves to us and told us what day and time they bring their dogs, so they can have little play dates," said Gavilanes, a resident of Far East El Paso.

Security lighting and bleachers so that dog owners can have a place to sit have been planned as upgrades for the Dog Park, city officials said.

Pet owners have said they like the new location of the Bark Park. A previous version of the recreational spot was closed after city officials determined it was in a flood plain at Album Park and contributing to dangerous bacteria, including E. coli, that was found in park's ponding area after heavy rain.

Gavilanes' husband, David, said El Paso should look to build more Bark Parks.

"I can't believe this is the only one," he said.

Michael D. Hernandez may be reached at mhernandez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6151.

More comments on our Hero Parade

Nearly two decades ago, George Stout attended a parade to honor troops returning home from Operation Desert Storm.

On Wednesday, he and about 12,000 others attended a parade honoring soldiers again returning from Iraq and the Middle East.

Stout, a Vietnam War veteran, who missed out on the warm homecoming experienced by other soldiers, had a four-foot wooden sign that read "God Bless our Troops." The sign also had a prisoner-of-war and missing-in-action tribute and displayed three American flags.

"I've been carrying it ever since" the Desert Storm parade, said Stout, who clenched the sign Wednesday and eagerly waited for the Welcome Home Heroes Parade to begin. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world. These young brave men and women have made this a better, safer place."

Workers on their lunch break, veterans displaying their pride and children bused in from school districts across the county were among area residents who lined the streets Wednesday afternoon for the parade. It welcomed soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, who returned from Iraq several months ago.

The parade also honored air defenders of the 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 11th ADA Brigade, who returned recently from the Middle East.

More than 4,000 soldiers marched in the city-sponsored parade, which spanned about 1.25 miles.

The event Wednesday was only the third time in El Paso that soldiers who returned from war were honored in a special citywide parade. City officials said soldiers marched in a parade after World War II and also after Operation Desert Storm.

Col. Stephen Twitty, the 4-1 Cavalry commander, who led the soldiers, said he was astonished at the number of people who attended the midday parade. Twitty, who praised the city of El Paso and Mayor John Cook, said he and many of his soldiers teared up during the march.

"Regardless of what people think, here in El Paso, about this war, they still support the soldiers, and that makes a huge difference to the soldiers out there," Twitty said. "We definitely feel welcome here in El Paso. I just had a meeting with one of my captains, and he just told me a few minutes ago that he was on assignment to go somewhere else and he doesn't want to go now. So he wants me to assist him in staying in El Paso. I mean, that's the type of impact that this parade has had on soldiers."

Jessica Del Palacio, an employee of Monterrey Properties, was one of several workers from the company given time to attend the parade.

At one point, Del Palacio ran up to a soldier, who was marching in the parade, shook his hand and thanked him.

"They are doing great out their helping our country and fighting for us," said Del Palacio, who was excited about her encounter with the soldier.

The loud applause, which was consistent throughout the parade, abruptly stopped while 31 riderless horses passed by, bearing the names of soldiers who died during the 4-1 Cavalry's deployment to Iraq.

Veterans saluted and others wiped tears as the name of each soldier was announced and each horse -- adorned with a saddle blanket bearing the soldier's name and carrying boots reversed in the stirrups as a tribute -- moved past the crowd.

"That was the most moving thing and it somewhat provided a sense of closure for me as well," Twitty said. "To see all of them, including (my fallen soldiers) -- I felt their presence in the parade with us -- I felt comfortable to have all my soldiers with me. It may just be a soldier thing, but I felt that I had all my guys there, to include my soldiers that were killed."

Sgt. Dagoberto Hinojosa, whose 5-year-old son, Angelo, was dressed as a soldier and marched in place, said that while he appreciated all the support he and his family received during the event, he was hoping to pay tribute to his friends and fellow soldiers who died in combat.

"I'll never forget any of them," Hinojosa said. "It means a lot when people stop you to thank you for your service and everything you've done, but they gave more than any of us. With the war going on, I can't imagine how their wives and children must be feeling. My children got their dad back."

Since Spc. Nate Fulton returned from Iraq, he and his wife, Maygen Fulton, have already seen quite a bit of support from the community.

"The day I got back, we went to get food because I hadn't eaten in a long time," Fulton said. "It was a long flight. We went to Denny's, and when the time came to pay for the meal, the waiter came over and told us it had already been paid for."

Both Fulton, who was on his first deployment, and Spc. Brandon Powell, whose 5å-year Army career has already meant three deployments to Iraq, said separately that they hoped their participation in the parade would pay tribute to the war veterans who fought before them.

"It's nice to see all the previous war veterans, and it is our way of honoring those who didn't get the same support we have," Fulton said. "They come out here to say thank you to us, but they were out here before us, and we wouldn't be doing what we're doing if it wasn't for them."

Twitty said the support shown by people at the parade reinforced his opinions about El Paso.

"I've been in the Army going on 23 years and moved 14 times and never been to a location where I have been so embraced by the people like here in El Paso," Twitty said. "Nowhere else have I been. I have to be honest -- this feels like home."

February 27, 2008
-Several soldiers and family members expressed gratitude to El Paso Mayor John Cook for getting the city to put on the parade. They said they saw how much Cook cared when the mayor recounted in the Times his own less-than-hospitable homecoming from Vietnam in which he was pelted with an egg.

-Soldiers took the time to eat and drink plenty of water before the parade started. One guy wasn't just handing out the bottled water to the soldiers, he tossed them 30 feet to them. It didn't look like any one was hit by the flying water bottles.

-Spc. Colin Christopher,23, said he was a bit surprised to hear there would be a parade to honor the troops. "At first, I was kind of stunned that a city this large would do something like this," Christopher said. He said it was something he expected from the small, 15,000-person town in Ohio he is from. Christopher said it was nice to see a person on a bus waving the American flag toward the troops as it passed by this morning. Christopher said life has been a whirlwind since he got back from Iraq in mid-December. He got back Dec. 14 and his daughter, Caelin was born the next day. His wife Megan, 1-year-old Ciearra and newborn Caelin moved into a new home on Dec. 16.

-Spc. Anthony Scheffel, 23, practiced marching with his 19-month old son Brenden before the start of the parade. Scheffel joked that his son wasn't imitating him, but mocking him.

-Merardo "Mano" Bonilla and a few other members of the Texas Veterans Commission have been on Stanton since 10 a.m. He said they're out here to show they are 100 percent behind the troops. -About 40 Boy Scouts took the time to walk the parade route to hand out small American flags to members of the crowd.

-Some people tried to get a better view by standing on building rooftops or on the second and third floors of parking garages. -The 4-1 Cav units each seemed to have a different chant they would sing as they marched. One unit shouted "We are the demons. The mighty, mighty demons." Another had a bit more flair. "We got a lot of soul and a little bit of rock n roll." -Lisa Knowles and her children Breanna, 6, and Brandon Rivera, 8, watched the parade on Stanton Street. Knowles said she had arrived Downtown about 9:30 a.m., but didn't find one for quite a while. She finally found a spot to watch the parade and her husband Sgt. Roger Knowles about 11:45 a.m. Lisa Knowles said she kept her children home from school to go to the parade.

-The parade concluded with the playing of the Army song by the 62nd Army Band. Many in the crowd sang along loudly and proudly. World War II veteran Luis Mario Ortiz, 82, was front and center at Mesa and Mills to cheer on the soldiers. Ortiz said he had volunteered to be in the Army as WWII was in its later years.
"I like to see the other guys," Ortiz said of why he came down to the parade.
The admiration for the current soldiers is not a one-way street. An active-duty soldier noticed Ortiz's World War II veteran's baseball cap and thanked him for his service. Pictures from the parade will be posted here shortly.

Posted by Leonard Martinez at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A few technical notes

Feds May cut rates AGAIN

Fed Ready to Cut Interest Rates Again
Wednesday February 27, 3:28 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
Bernanke Says Fed's Priority Is Shoring Up the Economy, Pledges to Cut Interest Rates


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve is ready to lower interest rates again to brace the wobbly economy even as zooming oil prices spread inflation, Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled to Congress on Wednesday.

He is fighting to keep the economy afloat after mighty blows from the housing and credit crises, while trying to contain inflation.

For now, the priority is shoring up the economy, Bernanke suggested in an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee. He pledged anew to slice a key interest rate and help the economy, which many fear is on the verge of a recession, if not already in one.

"The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" since the summer, the Fed chief told lawmakers.

Since that time, the housing slump has worsened, credit problems have intensified and the job market has deteriorated. Bernanke said that combination of bad news has made people and businesses more cautious about spending and investing -- further weakening the economy.

The country should prepare for "sluggish economic activity in the near term," Bernanke said. Concern is growing about the possible return of stagflation, when stagnant growth is combined with rising inflation, for the first time since the 1970's.

Were energy prices to continue to rise at a sharp clip -- something the Fed does not anticipate -- it would "create a very difficult problem" for the economy, Bernanke said. Inflation would spread and growth would be further restrained, he said. If that happened, it would be a "very tough situation," he added.

The Fed is prepared to lower rates again to bolster economic growth, Bernanke said. The Fed "will act in a timely manner as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks," he said, sticking closely to assurances he offered earlier this month.

The central bank started lowering a key interest rate in September. Over just eight days in January, the Fed shaved 1.25 percentage points, the biggest one-month reduction in a quarter-century. Economists and Wall Street investors predict the Fed will cut rates again at its next meeting, March 18. Some analysts believe rates will drop again in April.

Brian Bethune, economist at Global Insight, said Bernanke's remarks "keeps the door wide open for further rate cuts."

Bernanke said at some point this year, the Fed will need to "assess whether the stance of monetary policy is properly calibrated" to foster the Fed's objectives of price stability "in an environment of downside risks to growth."

He was hopeful that previous rate reductions and the $168 billion economic aid plan of tax rebates for people and tax breaks for business would energize the economy in the second half of 2008.

As the Fed chief began his first day of back-to-back appearances on Capitol Hill to discuss the economy, there was more bad news on the housing and manufacturing fronts. Sales of new homes fell in January for a third straight month. Orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods dropped in January by the largest amount in five months.

Bernanke has come under some criticism for not acting sooner in cutting rates. But Alabama Rep. Spencer Bachus, the committee's top Republican, expressed sympathy. "There is perhaps no other public figure in American who has been subjected to as much Monday morning quarterbacking as you have over the past six months," Bachus said.

The committee chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., suggested the economy is not suffering through a garden-variety slowdown.

"I don't want to appeal to you to use the word recession because I'm not going to be responsible for the nervous people at the stock market who overreact when you twitch your nose," Frank told Bernanke. "But the problems we now have are different."

Many of those woes are linked to the housing meltdown. Bernake was asked when he thought the housing market might stabilize. It possible, he said, that by "later this year it will stop being such a big drag directly" on the economy. But home prices probably will decline into next year, he added.

"It is very difficult to know, and we've been wrong before," Bernanke said.

Even as the Fed tries to shore up the economy, it must remain mindful of inflationary pressures, Bernanke said.

Oil prices, which have set records, briefly shot past $102 a barrel on Wednesday; prices eased, but still remain above $100 a barrel.

"Should high rates of overall inflation persist," Bernanke said, "the possibility also exists that inflation expectations could become less well-anchored." If people think inflation is escalating, they will act in ways that could make things even worse, a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Bernanke said that could complicate the Fed's job of trying to nurture growth while also keeping inflation under control.

If oil prices continue to skyrocket this year, it would be "hard to maintain low inflation," Bernanke acknowledged.

Welcome Home Heroes Parade in El Paso 2/27/2008

Parade marks return of Fort Bliss units from Iraq
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/25/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


When Mayor John Cook returned from the Vietnam War in early 1970, one of the protesters who greeted his bus pelted him with an egg.

"I just wanted to do a better job," Cook said, explaining why he decided to welcome Fort Bliss soldiers home from overseas with a parade. "The entire El Paso community has really stepped up to the plate and people have said that the (4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division) is symbolic of all the soldiers that have served."

On Wednesday, when thousands of 4-1 Cavalry soldiers march through El Paso's streets during the Welcome Home Heroes Parade, they will be accompanied by 31 riderless horses -- empty boots backward in the stirrups -- representing cavalry soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq. The horses are being provided by the El Paso County Sheriff's Posse, Cook said.

Also being honored are the air defenders of the 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 11th ADA Brigade, who also returned recently from the Middle East.

Most of the cavalry brigade was operating in Iraq's northwestern Nineveh Province. However, some of the soldiers also served in Baghdad. They left in late 2006 and, after 14 months, the last soldiers returned the day before Christmas. Some 150 wounded soldiers in the Fort Bliss Warrior Transition Unit also will participate in the parade.

The 3-43 ADA soldiers recently completed the longest tour of duty for a Patriot missile unit in the Army's history. Some of the air defenders spent 17 months in the Middle East, including the countries of Kuwait and Qatar. The 3-43 ADA soldiers suffered no loss of life or serious injuries.
Details of the 3-43 ADA's mission have not been available due to the sensitivity of that information, but Patriot batteries generally protect ground assets that include troop concentrations, headquarters, motor pools and ammunition depots. Their deployment was moved up to coincide with President Bush's surge of troops into Baghdad.

About 4,000 soldiers will participate in the parade.

Col. Stephen M. Twitty, 4-1 Cavalry commander and Command Sgt. Maj. Stephan Frennier will lead the cavalry soldiers. The unit's individual battalions will be represented. They are:


1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Lt Col. Keitron A. Todd with Command Sgt. Maj. Alex Santos. The unit was responsible for training Iraqi army and police officers in Mosul and Tal'Afar.

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Eric Welsh with Command Sgt. Maj. James D. Pippin. The unit conducted combat missions in Mosul and was the only battalion in the area of nearly 2 million residents maintaining security and stability.

2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. James D. Nicholas with Command Sgt. Maj. Charlie L. Payne. The unit was in Baghdad the entire 14 months conducting missions that ranged from combat to humanitarian.

5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Robert F. McLaughlin with Command Sgt. Maj. Antonio A. Murguia. The unit was responsible for clearing the upper Za'ab Triangle of insurgents who had moved out of Baghdad and Al Anbar looking for safe haven and establishing Iraqi security forces in the area.

27th Brigade Support Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. David O. Whitaker with Command Sgt. Maj. David L. Null. The unit provided equipment, supplies and even engineering expertise to the rest of the deployed 4-1 Cavalry soldiers. Although it was stationed in Mosul, the unit's soldiers went wherever they were needed.

4th Special Troops Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Jay A. Hedstrom with Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald Cook. The unit collected and disseminated intelligence using ground and aerial technology. It also conducted convoy escort missions and was in charge of the brigade's military police.
Officials with the El Paso Independent School District said Friday that buses have been set aside to send students to the parade. The Ysleta and Socorro school districts also have plans to allow students to attend the parade.

Cook said he hopes the soldiers understand that El Paso residents recognize the sacrifices they have made for their country.

4-1 Cavalry's fallen
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division soldiers who lost their lives serving in Iraq.

Capt. Timothy I. McGovern, 2-7 Cavalry.

2nd Lt. Mark J. Daily, 2-7 Cavalry.

Sgt. 1st Class Russell P. Borea, 2-7 Cavalry.

Staff Sgt. John E. Cooper, 2-7 Cavalry.

Staff Sgt. Eric D. Cottrell, 5-82 Field Artillery.

Sgt. John Allen, 2-12 Cavalry.

Sgt. Ian C. Anderson, 2-7 Cavalry.

Sgt. William Bushnell, 2-12 Cavalry.

Sgt. Brent W. Dunkleberger, 2-7 Cavalry.

Sgt. Ed Santini, 2-12 Cavalry.

Sgt. Robert Thrasher, 2-12 Cavalry.

Sgt. Lee C. Wilson, 1-9 Cavalry.

Cpl. Benjamin Bartlett Jr., 2-7 Cavalry.

Cpl. Nicholas P. Brown, 2-7 Cavalry.

Cpl. Jeremiah D. Costello, 5-82 Field Artillery.

Cpl. Matthew J. Emerson, 2-7 Cavalry.

Cpl. Matthew T. Grimm, 2-7 Cavalry.

Cpl. Jason J. Hernandez, 1-9 Cavalry.

Cpl. Thomas L. Hilbert, 1-9 Cavalry.

Cpl. Juan Lopez, 5-82 Field Artillery.

Cpl. Keith V. Nepsa, 5-82 Field Artillery.

Cpl. Paulo Pacificador, 5-82 Field Artillery.

Cpl. Jonathan Rossi, 2-12 Cavalry.

Cpl. Brandon W. Smitherman, 2-7 Cavalry.

Cpl. Raymond Spencer, 2-12 Cavalry.

Cpl. Jeremy Stacey, 2-12 Cavalry.

Spc. Joseph P. Kenny, 27th Brigade Support Battalion.

Spc. Jason B. Koutroubas, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion.

Spc. Brandon Thorson, 2-12 Cavalry.

Pfc. William N. Davis, 2-12 Cavalry.

Pfc. John F. Landry Jr., 2-12 Cavalry.


Street closures
Welcome Home Heroes Parade street closures

Interstate 10 westbound Mesa Street exit, 11 a.m. to noon.

Yandell, right-lane closed between Newman and Lee Street, 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Montana, between Lee Street and Stanton, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Stanton, between Montana and Mills, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mills and El Paso, between Mesa and San Antonio, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

San Antonio, between El Paso and Durango, including the access road behind Convention Center and San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

El Paso, between Paisano and San Antonio, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Santa Fe, between Overland and Wyoming, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.



In school

EPISD: Will give school buses to every high school and middle school to send up to 45 students to the parade. Students will be selected based on grades and behavior records. Some elementary schools will be allowed, but mostly will stay in school to prepare for the TAKS.

YISD: Will give students a half-day to attend the parade.

SISD: Will allow children of active-duty military personnel to attend the parade. Parents must inform their child's school by today that they want their child to leave school early for the parade.

President of Greater El Paso Assoc of Realtors

Dan Olivas Greater El Paso Association of Realtors
Story by Ryan Poulos

No, it’s not Danny Olivas the local astronaut, but this guy’s job might be just as stressful.

Dan Olivas is the newly installed president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors, and as most people know, the housing market hasn’t exactly been easy money lately.

According to the Multiple Listings Service, which the association uses to track sales, existing home sales in El Paso dropped by more than 16 percent last year.

Olivas says, however, that with the growth El Paso is seeing related to the military and the medical school, now might be the best time to buy a home in El Paso before prices go up.

He also pointed out that there are approximately 4,500 homes on the market in El Paso right now, which is only slightly higher than last year.

“I am telling everybody that it’s a great time to buy,” he said. “All of these great things that are happening right now are going to eventually make the prices go up from here.”

Olivas got into the real estate business when he came from Albuquerque to Santa Teresa, N.M., to landscape a property owned by golfer Lee Trevino.

“I liked the area a lot and when I was done with the project I was ready for a change,” he said. “Consequently I took some courses in real estate and figured I would dabble in it here in El Paso. One thing led to another and now I’m really loving it.”

Olivas is also the owner of RE/MAX Elite in El Paso and has been in real estate for close to 30 years.

Last year, he was awarded the Distinguished Community Service Award for the State of Texas at the state convention, and he was named El Paso Realtor of the Year in 2004. He said he’s excited about recently taking over as president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors.

The Greater El Paso Association of Realtors serves more than 2,700 members and has more than doubled its membership since 2002.

Realtors are members of the National Association of Realtors, and do business according to its strict code of ethics and standards of practice, including continuing education in the field. Not all real estate agents are Realtors, so the total number of agents in the market is even higher.

The association had managed to grow at a steady rate over the last five years. But outgoing President Sonja Van Nortwick said the association fell about 20 percent short of the growth it had anticipated by the end of 2007.

Olivas talked to El Paso Inc. about the El Paso housing market and why we shouldn’t pay attention to what the media is saying about the market.

Q: How many homes are on the market in El Paso?
There are approximately 4,500 homes for sale in the El Paso market right now. That’s a little higher than where we were at this time last year, but it’s not the dramatic change that you might expect to see after listening to the national media.

If you listen to the national media you will walk away thinking that the entire country’s market is in a freefall, but that certainly isn’t the case in El Paso.

Q: Why are we bucking the trend?
Because there are some great things taking place in El Paso that aren’t happening across the country. We have the federal government investing billions into Fort Bliss. That’s a huge investment in this community and when you’re seeing that kind of investment in preparation for tens of thousands of troops and families moving into the area, it definitely affects our economy.

We also have the four-year medical school that is just coming into being. This is the first four-year medical school built in many years and it’s the only one on the border.

That is what really causes a lot of excitement. That means more business, which means more people moving into El Paso.

Q: What’s the average price of a home on the market in El Paso?
Two years ago you could have come into El Paso and bought homes under $100,000 all day long. Now the average-priced home is around $135,000.

Two years from now, with everything that is happening, I don’t think you’ll be able to buy a home in El Paso for less than $130,000. That’s why I am telling everybody that it’s a great time to buy. All of these great things that are happening right now are going to eventually make the prices go up.

El Paso has never really experienced a housing bubble. While the rest of the country was seeing all kinds of acceleration El Paso just trudged along and never followed the same trend. It changed about two years ago, though, when BRAC was announced and we found out that El Paso would benefit significantly.

Q: Did that attract outside investors?
You immediately saw a group of investors from places like California trying to position themselves to take advantage of the troop influx. It didn’t happen as quickly as they anticipated, but what they were waiting for is now about to happen.

Q: How long does it take the average home to sell in El Paso?
Right now our average marketing time is around 80 to 85 days. Let me give you an example. Prior to the frenzy we experienced in 2005, there was nothing unusual about a home taking six months or longer to sell.

So in comparison, 80-85 days is a relatively quick marketing time. While it’s significantly longer than a few years ago, it’s still shorter than it was before it.

Q: What types of homes are the hardest to sell right now?
When you’re trying to sell anything above $350,000, you have a smaller pool to draw from and therefore it’s taking longer to sell that price range of homes.
Q: So the easiest then is homes under $150,000?
Anytime you can get into homes that are $150,000 and below, they will sell a lot faster. The pool is so much larger to draw from.

The dynamics of our market are changing, though, with all of the new industries coming in. The discretionary spending income is going to change for buyers. Having said that, the price range of the homes that are going to be selling is obviously going to go up. I don’t think that anybody can disagree that as better paying jobs come into the area you’ll have people buying higher priced homes. That’s not to say that there won’t still be a need for lower income properties.

Q: Did the tightening of mortgage money have a big impact?
Anytime there is a change in mortgage underwriting, an impact will be felt. In El Paso it has been less than in other parts of the country and that shows in our foreclosure rates as they have dropped from last year.

Q: Is El Paso insulated from a potential recession because we haven’t had a huge housing bubble or depression?
I wouldn’t say we are totally safe from recession, but as the country supposedly goes into a recession or close to it, the federal government is lowering interest rates.

As they lower those rates and the El Paso economy continues on an upward swing, it can do nothing but help.

I know the employment rate has dropped and that is an indicator that new jobs are being created in the region, which is very positive for our economy as a whole.

You can’t have the government investing billions in the economy and not have an upward swing. You can’t have a medical school bringing in doctors and nurses and not have an upward swing. There are so many positive things happening in El Paso and we are being stimulated in a positive way.

If the country goes into recession – I’m not an economist – but I think El Paso would be okay. I honestly don’t think there has been a better time than today to be a real estate agent in El Paso.

Q: But aren’t agents leaving the market?
I think there will be a drop off in the number of agents, but I don’t think it will be significant. I think the number will drop between 10 to 15 percent, but by the end of the year I think you’ll see agents coming back into the industry.

Q: What does it take to be a good agent?
What happens when there’s a perception of a good market, a lot of people get into the business looking to make some easy money. What they fail to understand is that it is still a service business. They have to build relationships and find out why El Paso is El Paso and know all the city’s qualities. Those are the agents who are in demand.

You can’t get into the business to make a quick buck.

Those that think everything will be handed to them will probably fail no matter what kind of market we are experiencing.

Q: Are real estate agents cutting fees because of the slow market?
Fees are something that everybody handles on their own. We have no way of tracking the fee structures of each agency. There will always be different business models out there.

Q: What’s your advice for somebody considering becoming an agent?
It’s really simple. First of all, do not pay attention to the national media. This is a great time to be in real estate in El Paso.

You need to understand, though, that you are in business for yourself. You must have written goals as well as a mentor in this business that truly understands how to do business in this city.

The biggest asset in this business is yourself. Get as educated as you possibly can, make sure that you get good mentorship in learning how to do this business. Then go out and make sure you know how to promote yourself so you can build relationships to make sure that you’re successful.












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Defense Contract Awarded to El Paso

Lockheed Martin area facility secures missile contract
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/12/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


Lockheed Martin's $194 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to build the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, will keep its Horizon City assembly operation busy at least until 2010. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin)Lockheed Martin was awarded a $194 million contract to continue producing ATACMS missiles, which bodes well for the future of the Horizon City facility where the high-tech weapons are assembled.
Since production started on the ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, in the early 1990s, more than 2,000 missiles came out of the plant which employs 20 workers. The new contract is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2010, but more contracts are expected to overlap, said company spokesman Craig Vanbebber.

"The continued production of ATACMS is evidence that the missile is working and working well," Vanbebber said.

The new order, awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, won't add jobs and there are no local contractors to benefit from the windfall, Lockheed Martin officials said.

But keeping Lockheed Martin's El Paso-area operations going is crucial to attract more high-tech military contractors, business leaders said.

Bob Cook, president of the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp., said he received an inquiry from an aerospace company last week.

"We tell them about Lockheed Martin," he said. "It's very important for companies in the aerospace industry that are considering El Paso to see that similar production is already taking place here."

Lockheed Martin chose Horizon City because it was a remote location to handle explosives and because it was close to the testing site at White Sands Missile Range.

"It's one of the only places they can fire that missile, because of the size of the range. It adds a lot of value to be able to test and assess the missile nearby," said Chuck Harre, vice president of combat training and installation support for CAS Inc., a weapons system analysis contractor in El Paso, and the armed forces chair for the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce.
The ATACMS were first launched April 26, 1988, at White Sands.

The long-range missile artillery round can hit targets at ranges up to 300 kilometers (180 miles).

"We take great pride in testing the ATACMS," said White Sands spokesman Larry Furrow. "It helps us to hone our skills in the testing area to assist in developing and testing of ATACMS."

Parts for the missiles are made around the country, including in Dallas where the warhead skins are produced, and sent to Horizon City to be assembled and put in a launch canister, Vanbebber said. The ATACMS are used by the U.S. field artillery out of Fort Sill, Okla.

During the first Operation Desert Storm, ATACMS became the first tactical surface-to-surface missile ever fired in combat by the U.S. Army. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, 456 missiles were fired. The newest contract is not necessarily tied to the war in Iraq but the missiles are used "in theater," Vanbebber said.

The Horizon plant is producing only ATACMS, but that could change.

"We hope this facility will be able to attract more contracts, beyond ATACMS," RedCo's Bob Cook said.

Medical School a Reality

Med school can infuse El Paso with new doctors, research
By Stephanie Sanchez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/12/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


Dr. German Hernandez and fourth-year medical student Celina Beltran examined patient Blanca Valadez on Friday at Thomason Hospital. El Paso's new four-year medical school opens up research possibilities and a chance to lure more doctors to the city. (Photos by Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)
Fourth-year medical student Rianne Page, second from right, asked a question of Dr. Mateo Pores-Aguilar, left, Friday at Thomason Hospital's oncology department. Dr. Oscar Lopez, right, and third-year medical student Chris Nadorff looked on. As an 80-year-old Hispanic man, Aramis Ayala is suffering from several diseases commonly seen along the border -- diabetes, Parkinson's disease and diabetic neuropathy.

He is among an estimated 85,000 El Pasoans living with Type 2 diabetes. In his lifetime he has seen growth in El Paso and many medical advances.

Although he knows a cure may not come in time for him, research that will be conducted at El Paso's new medical school will help future generations.

"The more places there are, the better," he said. The medical school "will help a lot of people."

Beginning in the fall of 2009 -- when the first class of 40 four-year medical students enters the school -- the newly accredited Paul L. Foster School of Medicine has an opportunity to contribute to research and health care issues at a national and international level, health officials say.

Research conducted locally may be able to help people such as Ayala.

"Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, however, they remain understudied," said Dr. German Hernandez, an assistant professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. "If you look at large national studies, for the most part Hispanics tend to be under-represented -- even though they are the largest minority group."

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center officials last week learned they received accreditation as a four-year medical school from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a national accrediting agency.

Texas Tech first opened its El Paso medical school branch for third- and fourth-year medical students in 1973.

In 2003, lawmakers provided money to expand the school. In 2007, $48 million was given to school officials to complete the school's curriculum and a site review by the accrediting body.

Hernandez, who works for the division of nephrology and hypertension, said because of the school's proximity to the border and predominant Hispanic population, faculty, staff and students have an opportunity to contribute to the advancement of Hispanic health research.

Dr. Manuel de la Rosa, the school's founding dean, said because diabetes affects a quarter of the local population, research on the disease will be on the school's forefront.

Environmental research, such as air and water pollution, will also be an area of focus, he said. Environmental factors, he said, can impact people's health by contributing to asthma and other health-related issues.

Research focusing on the environment, prevalent diseases, and new and emerging diseases on the border will make the medical school a prime border school, de la Rosa said.

Targeting students from the area is also a goal, he said. "We're depending on it."

Celina Beltran, a fourth-year medical student at the school and an El Paso native, said the accredited four-year school would have been ideal for her four years ago.

Leaving El Paso to get an undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Beltran ended up returning to El Paso to get her master's degree at the University of Texas School of Public Health El Paso Regional Campus.

However, after she finished her master's degree, she said, becoming involved with border health issues and helping people in her hometown as a doctor was a priority.

She applied for medical school at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She completed her first two years in Lubbock and moved back -- for the second time -- to do her third and fourth year at the El Paso school.

"The treatment of the patients here is multifactorial. It is not only the diagnosing and treating the patient's ailments, but it is also dealing with a lot of socioeconomic issues that a lot of the patients here in El Paso have to deal with," she said. "I think primary care doctors are really needed here in the El Paso area.

Hernandez said the number of doctors in the area is not enough to serve the population effectively.

"We don't have enough physicians," he said, adding that the recruitment of El Paso students could increase this ratio. "Those students are more likely to remain here."

Dr. Theresa Byrd, an associate professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health El Paso Regional Campus, said having El Paso students in the medical school's first class would be a great start, but the school is probably going to have to recruit students statewide to fill the class.

Under state statute, 90 percent of the medical school's class must be in-state students.

"I think Texas Tech would greatly benefit the community," Byrd said.

Byrd, who is the lead investigator on the AMIGAS project that focuses on cervical cancer among Hispanic women in El Paso, said the school's research will add a clinical aspect to research already done in the area.

Besides professional research done by schools locally, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and the Pan American Health Organization are two additional research centers that focus on border health issues.

Ida Ortegon, a Paso del Norte Health Foundation spokesperson, said the center is "excited" about collaborating with the school.

There have been discussions about developing a partnership between the foundation and the school, but nothing is set in stone, she said.

Fort Bliss Expansion

Bush likely to sign bill with billions for Fort Bliss
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/24/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


A bill with congressional guidelines for spending $696 billion on the nation's defense -- including projects at Fort Bliss -- hit President Bush's desk Wednesday, and he is expected to sign it.
"I was proud to back legislation that will make our armed forces stronger and our nation more secure," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

The president vetoed an earlier version of the bill that allowed U.S. citizens and some government employees to file lawsuits seeking damages for personal injury or death resulting from abuses committed during Saddam Hussein's presidency. Iraqi government representatives protested that plaintiffs, including former U.S. prisoners of war, might sue for part of a reported $25 billion held in U.S. banks for Iraq's reconstruction.

A new version of the bill, passed by the Senate on Tuesday and the House last week, gives the president "waiver authority." To invoke the waiver, the president must show it is in the interest of national security, notify Congress and encourage the Iraqi government to "compensate meritorious claims."

The authorized spending includes more than $14 million for projects at Fort Bliss; $3.4 billion for the Army's Future Combat Systems, which are being tested and evaluated at Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range; $2.2 billion for a 3.5 percent pay raise, retroactive to Jan. 1; money to upgrade Patriot missile technology and billions more for health care and other needs of the military.

"Our servicemen and women risk their lives for our nation, and they deserve the best equipment on the ground and the best medical care when they come home," Reyes said in a written statement.

The bill authorizes the purchase of more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, or MRAPs, up-armored Humvees and body armor. It calls for more money to be spent on efforts to counter the improvised explosive devices -- most commonly encountered as roadside bombs -- responsible for most U.S. troop deaths. Also in the bill is authorization to buy sorely needed equipment for Army National Guard and Army Reserve units.

Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.

8 Reasons for Optimism

This is from the Realtor Magazine newest issue:

Don't let the headlines about foreclosure rates, sub prime lending woes, and inventory gluts cloud your thinking about real estate. Instead consider these silver linings from sales associate Michael J. Maher, ABR, of Realty Executives in Kansas City, Kan. He points out that the changing market offers plenty of reasons for optimism. Here are a few:

1. Falling prices enable more first-time buyers to find affordable homes.
2. Fewer sales people mean less competition.
3. Builders and developers realize they need us again.
4. Sellers are willing to pay more, so there's less downward pressure on commissions.
5. Great opportunities exist for investors and for investing for yourself.
6. New niche opportunities present themselves in the areas of foreclosure and short sales.
7. FSBOs and expired listings present even more opportunities.
8. Consumers realize they need professionals who are committed and knowledgeable. They are less likely to list with someone just because he or she is a friend or relative.

Happy New Year

Well, we are ready to start 2008 as a banner year and hopefully to see home prices go up in the El Paso real estate market and marketing time to go down. At our last multiple listing board meeting the stats were that home prices were up in most areas about 7-9% but time on the market was up from 60 days to a little over 100 days.

List price to sales price ratio was still at 97% (if they are listed correctly in the first place).

Dan was installed as President of the Greater Association of Realtors in November and is up and running with that new position.

Dan also has a Speaker's Training Camp designed to help you to learn to speak without fear and to captivate your audiences. His next class will be Jan 29 and 30th here in El Paso. Click on this link to his website about where you can find out all about his class and even pay with Pay Pal.

I took this class last month and I feel that I have improved my speaking abilities 100% and learned many new techniguqes that will help me in my real esate career too.