The Resurrection of Madrid’s Old Coal Town Museum!

April 5, 2012
The Old Coal Town Museum is undergoing big changes and will reopen in April 2012 with many new exhibits that tell stories of the past in Madrid. New exhibits will include the Madrid Christmas Exhibit- which inspired Walt Disney! The Madrid Miners Baseball Team with interesting connections to the Chicago White Sox, A Ghost Town exhibit, The Madrid ballpark, the first lighted ballpark in New Mexico and possibly North America!

And, of course what it was like to live in a “company owned mining town”. We’re fortunate to be working with local historian Bill Baxter, who is in the process of publishing a book on Madrid history!
We are seeking volunteers and organizations to help with the exhibits and restructering of the museum – if interested please contact us via email http://www.themineshafttavern.com or call 505-438-3780

Saturdays at the Johnsons

Saturdays
Check all events for Saturday performances: music, poetry, dance, talks, etc. in the galleries performance space, 1-3 pm. Our First Saturday Gallery Receptions for new exhibitions are 3-5pm.
Johnsons of Madrid Gallery
2843 Hwy 14 N
Madrid, NM 87010
(505) 471-1054

Live Music & Events at the Mine Shaft Tavern

See the website for more information http://www.themineshafttavern.com/MusicandEventCalender.html
Friday Night is Open Mic 7-11pm
Saturday Night is live music with a band – sometimes local and always great!
Sunday afternoon 3-7pm – The Ruebarbs with thier soulful blues or Gene Corbins American!

Friday Nights -Live Music at the Hollar

Every Friday 6pm-10pm The Obermans
Local Cerrillos band the Obermans

Earth Day event at the ballpark

April 22, 2012
Earth Day event is in the works sponsored by the MCP!

CrawDaddy Blues Fest

May 19-20
The event is still in the works….

The Mine Shaft Tavern will be hosting the 5th Annual – CrawDaddy Blues Fest. The event will be for 2 days in May, Sat 19 and Sun 20 noon – 7pm next to Madrid’s Old Coal Town Museum in Madrid (adjacent to The Mine Shaft Tavern) under the Big Tent. The event will feature local and national acts, featuring headliner Junior Brown.

Santa Fe Home inventory down as families stay put

Bruce Krasnow | The New Mexican
Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – 1/19/12

Lower interest rates have boosted home ownership in Santa Fe, but has also reduced sales inventory as more families are refinancing and staying put.

“A lot of times if it’s being refinanced it comes off the market,” said Victoria Murphy a broker with Santa Fe Properties and president-elect of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors. “Sometimes it goes back on, other times they decide to wait (to sell).”

And refinance activity is not yet over, predicts Jeff Payne a branch manager at Wells Fargo. He said the federal government will roll out a new program in February that should help those who owe banks more than a home is worth get in on home loans as low as 4 percent.

“We keep pinching ourselves to figure out if it’s real,” said Payne who spoke to Santa Fe Realtors Wednesday. “It’s real.”

Sharon Yermal, a Wells Fargo mortgage specialist, has seen many people who may want to sell, but instead refinance to take advantage of lower rates. They do so with 5-year adjustable rate mortgages with the idea of lowering monthly payments now but intent on selling when the market recovers.

“Five years seems to be the timeline they’re looking at,” she said. “They’re not looking for it to happen in the next year or two.”

Sales figures released by the Association Wednesday indicate that the inventory of properties for sale is down 30 percent from two years ago, while new listings are down 18 percent over the past 12 months.

At the same time, residential sales rose 10 percent in the 4th quarter and 2.4 percent in all of 2011 compared with 2010.

The median sales price in the city fell to $289,000 in 2011 from $300,000, a decline of 3.3 percent. In the city and county combined, the median price dropped to $349,000 from $354,000.

Median prices in Santa Fe are now at a seven-year low.

“I am absolutely surprised how many homes I’m seeing on the market for under $200,000,” said Murphy.

Contact Bruce Krasnow at brucek@sfnewmexican.com

Home Sales in U.S. Beat Forecasts

Bloomberg News

By Timothy R. Homan – Dec 29, 2011 8:00 AM MT

Purchases of new single-family properties (NHSLTOT) advanced 1.6 percent to a 315,000 annual pace, a seven-month high, figures from the Commerce Department showed Dec. 23. Photographer: Martin Adolfsson

The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes rose more than forecast in November as falling prices and low borrowing costs boosted demand.

The index of pending home sales (USPHTMOM) increased 7.3 percent to the highest level since April 2010 after climbing 10.4 percent the prior month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Economists forecast a 1.5 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

The industry that triggered the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009 is showing signs of stabilizing as construction (CNSTTMOM) picks up, builder confidence improves and the number of houses on the market declines. Nonetheless, another wave of foreclosures may weigh on real-estate values next year.

“It looks like buyers are becoming more confident and are attracted to record-low mortgage rates,” Aaron Smith, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. At the same time, he said, “activity still looks depressed by historical standards.”

Estimates for pending home sales ranged from a drop of 3 percent to an increase of 11 percent, according to the median of 30 forecasts in the Bloomberg survey.

Pending home sales were up 6.9 percent from November 2010.

All four regions showed an increase in contract signings from a month earlier, led by a 14.9 percent surge in the West and an 8.1 percent jump in the Northeast. Pending sales climbed 4.3 percent in the South and 3.3 percent in the Midwest.

Housing Affordability

“Housing affordability conditions are at a record high and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines, but contract failures have been running unusually high,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement accompanying the release. “Some of the increase in pending sales appears to be from buyers recommitting after an initial contract ran into problems, often with the mortgage.”

Today’s report showed an index level for pending home sales of 100.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis. A reading of 100 is consistent with the average level of contract activity in 2001 and coincides with “historically healthy” home-buying traffic, according to the NAR.

Because they track contract signings, pending home sales are considered a leading indicator. Existing-home sales are tabulated when a contract closes, typically a month or two later.

Home Sales

Reports last week showed a pickup in demand for houses. Sales (ETSLMOM) of previously owned homes, which make up about 94 percent of the market, rose 4 percent to a 4.42 million annual pace, the most since January, the National Association of Realtors said Dec. 21.

Purchases of new single-family properties (NHSLTOT) advanced 1.6 percent to a 315,000 annual pace, a seven-month high, figures from the Commerce Department showed Dec. 23. The increase pushed the number of new homes on the market to a record low.

“As the stabilization process moves forward, we are seeing inventory levels continuing to ease in many of our markets, which is a prerequisite for a housing recovery,” Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based KB Home (KBH), said in a Dec. 21 conference call with analysts.

Even with the increase in sales, residential real estate prices continue to fall, showing a broad-based decline that indicates the market continues to be weighed down by foreclosures.

Home Values

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities dropped 3.4 percent from October 2010 after decreasing 3.5 percent in the year ended September, the New York-based group said this week. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a 3.2 percent decrease.

The threat of continued declines could keep potential buyers waiting until they believe the market has bottomed, even as cheaper properties may make purchasing a home more affordable.

U.S. policy makers have initiated programs designed to revive the housing market. The Obama administration this month started a new version of the federal Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, after the original plan helped less than a quarter of the people targeted to lock in lower mortgage rates.

At the Federal Reserve, officials this month reiterated that they will keep their benchmark interest rate near zero until at least mid-2013. The central bank in September decided to reinvest maturing housing debt into new mortgage-backed securities instead of Treasuries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net