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Joel K. Schantz
Qualifying Broker, CRB
575-758-1924 x501
jschantz@newmex.com
www.SchantzCo.com
NM Lic #: 8233

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Spring 2025 Newsletter

It's Spring in Taos, so it is snowing in the mountains and darn chilly here in town.  But wait....tomorrow it will be 65 degrees.  Love it!

Connect with Joel and his team, who have the pulse of the market at their fingertips.  Through current market reports, the local data and the BHHS network, there is ample information on current market conditions.  What is important to you is that parts of the market have changed in the last few months.  

See us on Facebook, Twitter and always check your email for new and updated listing information.  Meanwhile, click on Joel's Website for charts and the connection to listings from the Taos MLS.  We are ready to show and sell!

Joels Website 

Joel K. Schantz, Qualifying Broker

Yvonne Lewis, Associate Broker

Kristine Wood, Associate Broker

Taos Real Estate Market is in Flux

Looking at the local MLS stats for the 1st quarter of 2025, most listings have been reduced to an agreeable sales price.  The  % of the original sales price is dropping.  Single-family residential sales are seeing an average of a 90% drop from list price to sales price.  For example, a home listed at $375,000 sold for $350,000, $775,000 sold for $695,000.  $1,895,700 sold for $1,450,000. 

The average sales price for a single-family home remains at a new high @ $648,531.  But 89% of the homes that have sold had already reduced their prices. Pushing the envelope may no longer be in your best interest if you want to sell.

Remember: Price trends are trackable, so if your part of the market is slowing, you should price your home slightly below the market trend. You want to avoid having to reduce your list price, as the longer your home is on the market, the more likely it is that other agents and their buyers may conclude your home has a problem.

The better condition your home is in, regardless of age, the more money you can ask. While it seems counterintuitive to spend money to make money, such as paying for remodeling or other professional services, your job is to make your home competitive to other similar homes with upgrades that buyers prefer.

Click Here for more on this 9BD/9BA Home:  

The Old Cottonwood Inn on the "Y"

Managing Capital Gains Taxes

If you sold your home in 2024 or early 2025, you could claim the maximum capital gains exclusions set in 1997. However, since these exclusions aren’t adjusted for inflation, many long-time homeowners still face capital gains taxes, notes Evan Liddiard, CPA and director of federal tax policy for the National Association of REALTORS®.

The maximum exclusion on homestead capital gains is $250,000 for single filers, and $500,000 for married couples. Sellers must have lived in and owned the home for at least two out of the past five years.

Subtracting the purchase price of the home from the sales price gives you the cost basis but you can minimize capital gains using an adjusted basis, like including the cost of any capital improvements you made. Capital improvements are permanent structural changes and restorations that enhance the property's overall value, its useful life, or adaptation to new uses.

Charitable donations and putting cash into tax-deferred IRAs can also reduce your tax exposure. Ask your CPA for more tips.

Click Here for the green grass of a multi-unit property:  

Taos Compound on Kit Carson Road

What is Absorption Rate in Real Estate?

"The absorption rate is used in the real estate market to evaluate the rate at which available homes are sold in a specific market during a given period. It is calculated by dividing the number of homes sold in the allotted period by the total number of available homes. This equation can also be reversed to identify the time it would take for the supply to be sold.

Realtors, appraisers, and lending institutions use absorption rates to understand market conditions and adjust terms accordingly."

Q1 2025 Taos Absorption Rates Comparing 3/31/25 to 12/31/24:

There has been an increase in inventory and a decrease in sales, making the absorption rate now averaging 10 months compared to 8 months at the end of the year.

Each price range tells its own story.

Mid-range homes $300,000 - $700,000 see the most activity.  There are 73 active listings and 16 sales within 3 months giving you a 7.3 month supply.

Luxury homes over $1M is over inventoried with 40 active listings and only 4 sales in 3 months = 30 month (2.5 years) supply.  

Click Here: for Entry True Old Adobe Hacienda: Traditional Hacienda on 5.3 acres in Taos

What About Deed Restrictions.

What are Deed Restrictions and CC&R's?

Before you buy a home, ask Joel to look into any potential deed restrictions that limit how you can build upon or use your property.

Deed restrictions are regulations imposed either by the local community or a homeowners association. These regulations can be found in the county clerk’s property records, the builder or planned community developer’s plans, and through homeowner associations’ Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs).

Restrictions are required for cities to effectively operate services and to protect the rights and property values for all owners. This explains why adding a second story or operating a business out of your home requires a permit.

Homeowner association CC&Rs are designed to protect property values, foster public safety, and prevent disputes. HOAs typically want owner occupants only, and may not allow rentals. Homes are built to conform to specific sizes, materials, colors and housing styles to make the community more attractive. Exterior maintenance, and common area maintenance keep home values higher and make the community more desirable.

Click Here for photo land listing: 3.83 acres in Mission Hills Subdivision on Hwy 150

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Joel's Green Thumb

Today's Topic:  Manure!

Your garden can't live without it.

Joel has horse manure and a compose bin.  Both end up in the garden.  Fresh manure is too fresh....it will burn your plants.  Wait at least 6 months before using.  FYI: Beware that having a pile of manure also brings skunks and other critters.  

When spring teases you in Taos, you want to work in the dirt.  Don't plant.  Pull weeds and pile manure.  Joel has "hilled" his asparagus beds.  First to keep those tender little shoots from raising their heads too soon, and to give them more boost to what a bit of old manure can do.  Also, water.  It has been a dry winter, plus, you don't want to have the manure blow away when the spring winds blow.

Can't wait until asparagus season!!!

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Taos Real Estate
314A Paseo Del Pueblo Norte Taos, NM 87571

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