What Taos Real Estate Buyers Want

As a buyer in an unfamiliar market, there are things that you want and expect to happen. And, there are things that you need to happen, however you may not be aware of some of those. I wanted to write this post to help buyers in the Taos real estate market to crystallize their desires and needs in order to make an informed decision about a real estate professional to work with in Taos. Let's look at some of the things buyers tell me they want from a real estate professional when buying in the Taos real estate market.

• Someone working ONLY in their best interests
• Someone who knows the market, and has a statistical knowledge of what's happening
• Someone who will help them to dig out the best opportunities
• Someone who will keep them out of trouble with title and other issues peculiar to this market

What Taos Real Estate Buyers Need

Perhaps a little overlap here, but there are also things that Taos real estate buyers need during their search and purchase process.  Sometimes they haven't thought about these needs, or they had no idea that they're important.

• If there's surface water on or adjacent to the property, buyers need a buyer broker who will look out for their water rights and make sure they understand them
• For subterranean water rights, or well permits, buyers need a broker who will make sure that all state regulations are followed and permits obtained
• Buyers need a broker who actually READS their title insurance binder documents and brings important matters to their attention and to the attention of the title company and an attorney if necessary
• Buyers may need a buyer broker willing to show them FSBO, For Sale by Owner, properties
• Buyers need a buyer broker who cannot end up in a conflict of interest because the brokerage lists a property in which the buyer is interested.

It's that last need that should be of particular interest.  The larger a brokerage, and the more listings, the greater the chance that a buyer will want to purchase a property listed by the brokerage they're working with.  In fact, there's a definite tendency of brokerages to show their listings first.  Whether it's a desire to help their seller, a goal of doubling their commission, or a combination, it's a situation that happens all too often in the Taos real estate market.

For the absolute best situation, and no chance of any conflicts of interest, buyers should work with a brokerage with no listings.  As a dedicated Buyer Brokerage, Gallery Realty of Taos, meets all of the desires and needs of Taos real estate buyer clients.  There's never a chance of "serving two masters."  When you survey the Taos real estate market, you'll find that there are few choices for exclusive buyer brokerage.  Most brokerages want to list as well, as there is a lot more business to do.  It's not a dishonest position at all, just the way the business works.

However, if you want the business to work SOLELY in your best interests, work with a Taos real estate buyer only brokerage, and Gallery Realty of Taos would like your business.

Taos Buyer Agent or Agency

Taos Buyer Agent vs Transaction Broker

Read this article about true "buyer brokerage," and the fact that it's only a pure buyer representation company if the brokerage doesn't take listings. A discussion of "agency" versus "transaction brokerage" in New Mexico is for another article. Just know that very few transactions in Taos are done with the brokerage as an "agent" of the seller or the buyer. Most are done as "transaction brokerage."

While the ad isn't untruthful, it can confuse as to when buyer agency/brokerage is available and when it isn't.  As far as being a buyer's broker or buyer's agent in any specific transaction, a brokerage can be a buyer's broker or agent, but they cannot take that single client representation approach with all of the diligence that should be invested if they are representing the buyer for one of their own listings.  So sometimes they can be the buyer's "agent", and sometimes they can't.

A Pure Taos Buyer Agent Doesn't Take Listings

When I decided to become a "buyer brokerage," "buyer's agent," or "buyer broker," (take your pick) I immediately divested my brokerage of listings. I do not take listings, and will not. This allows me to state absolutely that Gallery Realty of Taos is a true Buyer Brokerage. My buyers will never be placed in a position to experience possible conflicts of interest in a transaction because of dual representation when their Taos buyer agent is also listing properties. By only representing buyers, I can bring a diligence to their representation that can never be in danger of any conflicts of interest in transactions related to "in-house" listings.  This is the job of a true Taos buyer agent.

BLM Road Access When the BLM Wanted No Part of It

While this situation didn't really have a negative impact on my buyer at the time, documenting the details could help her to avoid a problem in the future.  In Taos Canyon, there are small stretches along the highway where BLM land extends down from the ridges to touch the main highway.  In this case, my client was buying land that had road access across about 100 feet of BLM land, a narrow strip right at the road.

As soon as I noticed this in the survey, I asked if the seller had a permit to cross this land, and was told that they didn't even know that it was BLM land.  Even more interesting, a trip to the BLM office turned up the same answer:  "we don't have a road in that area."  I pressed the issue and one of their people took a trip out there to investigate.  We traded emails, and he did state that indeed they did own this strip of land, but had not constructed the road, wanted no part of maintaining it, and didn't have an interest in monitoring or regulating use of this small piece of road.  He called me to tell me this, but I requested follow-up in writing.  He did so, and I have all of this documented in the file and in the records given to my client.  If the issue comes up later, she'll be the only person out of dozens of owners up that road with this record of BLM statements.  This may never come up, but if it does, see the next story.

Changes In County Government - Taos Real Estate Permit Problem

While I believe that years of problems at county level related to Taos real estate property development in the Deer Mesa area of Valdez are finally resolved, that wasn't the case three years ago when my client purchased land there.  Because of the way it was originally subdivided many years ago, there have been ongoing issues and disputes related to lots in this beautiful area.  Lawsuits have been involved, and purchases there required careful research.

Though the seller of this parcel had a letter from the County Attorney, it was two years old.  While the same person was still holding that position, we required as a contingency of the purchase that the seller get a new letter reflecting the ability of the buyer to get a building permit in the current situation.  The attorney provided an updated letter.

Eight months later, when my Taos real estate client applied for a building permit, a new person held the County Attorney position, and he immediately declared the entire area as an illegal subdivision, stating that no building permits would be issued until compliance with current subdivision regulations.   I showed our letter to the current attorney, but we were told that the new rules would apply, and no building permit would be issued.

My buyer hired a local Taos real estate attorney, and he immediately asked me if I had anything in writing that stated that my buyer based their final purchase decision on the ability to get a building permit and the letter we received.  I'm paranoid, and my clients usually like that fact.  In receipt of the new letter, I had forwarded it to my client with the statement that we could now go forward with the purchase, as our main criteria of getting a building permit had been satisfied.  The county never came to court, as my client's attorney adequately proved that the buyer had a right to expect government documents to be binding, and that the decision to purchase was based on this expectation.

This Taos real estate buyer got their building permit.

However, if your access into Taos real estate property is across BLM or other government land, pay attention to whether there is a valid permit to use that access, and if there are any costs associated with it.  This story is about an out-of-state buyer who worked with me in trying to purchase a stunning parcel of land, only to walk away from a deal after the price was agreed upon.  It was all about access across about 300 feet of BLM land on an un-maintained dirt road.

This Taos real estate acreage met all of my buyer's requirements, with trees and magnificent rock formations.  We also had expectations of cutting a pretty good deal, as it had been on the market for more than 400 days when we made the offer.  A price was agreed upon quickly and the purchase agreement accepted by both parties with the normal contingencies.

What became apparent rather quickly was that new environmental rules were going to be a problem.  Normally, the BLM will grant a permit to cross land to allow a property owner access.  If the road is one that's maintained, there may be terms in the permit that allow the BLM to bill the land owner if the road is damaged by their access, but that's usually not a problem either for Taos real estate residential use.

The problem in this case involved the fact that the seller had not asked for this permit before the property was listed.  In that 400+ day interim while on the market, the rules changed.  Now, that two day no-cost process had become one of many months and several thousand dollars.  New environmental studies were required to make sure that using that dirt track road would not damage the environment or animals and vegetation.

It was unfortunate, as this Taos real estate buyer did not want to wait, and moved on to buy another property.  If you're considering a property bordered by government land, that value plus can become a negative if access across that land is required.  Use a thorough Taos real estate buyer broker for your transaction.

In fact, I guess the question is how different (or not) the Taos real estate market might be?  Or, are we losing buyers to other ski areas where prices are more attractive?

We have a small MLS and there isn't a huge amount of competition here, so maybe those are a couple of reasons why listing brokers can continue to provide mediocre services for high dollar commission. In putting up a price change alert today, I noticed a home over $500k that had been reduced three times in price, and it only had three exterior photos. I was really feeling sorry for the seller for paying a high commission for such poor property presentation until I saw that it was owned by the broker...so they're getting what they deserve.

But, this prompted me to take another look at all of the residential listings currently active (873 of them) to see how they fared for images and virtual tours.  Here are some bullet points:

• 303, or 35% had less than the maximum 9 allowed photos of the listed home.
• 90, or 10.3% had 4 or fewer photos.
• 24, or 2.7% had either no photo at all or just one.
• A whopping 749, or 86%,  had no virtual tour link in the listing.

Sorry sellers, but why do you put up with this?  This is especially true in today's technology world when virtual tours are either free or a few bucks each.  And, with digital cameras, why would there not be enough about your home worth taking 9 easy, fast and free pictures?  In that group with zero or only 1 image, almost half were over $300k, with at least one listed at more than $1.2 million.

In the article "Housing Market: Buyer Really Beware," Time.com states that today's market causes desperate sellers to omit material facts, or even lie, to get their home sold in a buyers' market.  Items mentioned include:

• mold
• incorrect taxes
• lot size mis-stated
• home size mis-stated
• no or under-stated utility bills
• not disclosing pest problems, noise issues, past damage, etc.

The article suggests that the buyer ask to see utility and tax bills, get inspections, etc.  It's interesting to me, as there's no way one of my clients will get close to closing with mis-stated square footage or lot size, or any major problems in the areas discussed in the article.  It's my job as a buyer broker to get this information and all disclosures to them as quickly as possible.  And, by the way, in our long days on market, a disclosure a year old isn't going to cut it.  I'll want a new one.

I recently switched to buyer brokerage, meaning that I no longer take listings.  But, I wanted to clarify that I'm also still doing real estate consulting.  This has allowed me to help FSBO (For Sale By Owner) sellers in the past to get the deal from contract through closing when they do find their own buyer.   Please call me if you're about to sell your property to a family member or a buyer you've located yourself.  I'll do the transaction work on a consulting basis.

I recently announced that Gallery Realty of Taos is now a buyer only brokerage in the Taos real estate market.  I'm no longer taking listings, just representing buyers exclusively.  I gave my reasons, mostly related to my perception of offering greater value to buyers, as well as the ethical component of not ending up representing both sides of a transaction.

I want to announce one more thing.  Because I'm not taking listings, if you're about to list a property, or even have one listed now, I offer a free and unbiased opinion as to your property's saleability in the current market.  I say unbiased, though I will be representing buyers who may consider it for purchase.  But, I won't be telling you anything that could lose me the listing either.

My opinion will come from the buyers' side, with straight talk and information as to how I would comment on it to a prospective buyer client.  You don't have to agree, but it could give you a different perspective to help you to evaluate the listing price and other information being provided by potential listing brokers.

My goal is not to criticize other brokers, nor to convince you to proceed in a different approach or pricing model than they are recommending.  If you had a surgeon recommending radical surgery, you might very well get a second opinion.  And, you would try to get it from an unbiased third party.  That's the service I'd like to provide.

I want to help sellers to predict the attitude of buyers who will be considering their home or land for purchase.  I won't pull punches, nor will I varnish over the plain truth as I see it.  I may not always be on the mark, but I'll certainly not be coming from a competitive approach to list your property.

Call me at 866-289-8267.