Community Building

In its heyday, all 465 miles of New Mexico's Route 66 bustled with life and played home to some of the most iconic experiences of American West: herds of antelope on the high prairie, dramatic mountain vistas, and the tribal cultures of New Mexico's native Puebloan people. Today, travelers can still take in the nostalgia of the Mother Road, neon signs and all.

Source:  "ROUTE 66: THE MOTHER ROAD"

Location is everything when you’re searching for a home. Finding your dream neighborhood may seem like the easiest part, but once you factor in budget, non-negotiable home features, and proximity to the things you can’t live without, it may be less obvious where you should live.

When it comes to searching for a new neighborhood, here’s what you need to know.

Property Taxes

Property taxes can play a huge role in your overall cost of living. To get a sense of what your property taxes might look like in a particular county, check out this simple property tax map. Also, property taxes for specific homes are typically included in online property listings. 

What to consider: How much will my property taxes be?

Safety and Crime

Before you sign

The New Mexico state cookie is an anise- and cinnamon-scented delight, known as the Bizcocho or Bizcochito. Usually served around the holidays and weddings these cookies bring back a flood of childhood memories. Looking to relive the feeling? Bake your own bizcochos with this great instructional video!

See the full recipe here: https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/bizcochito-recipe-83756/

Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important to choose representation that meets your needs in the transaction.

You have choices when selecting representation in a real estate transaction. Here are five tips for understanding which type of legal relationship with a real estate professional, called an agency relationship, will best protect you when you buy or sell a home.

1. Buyer’s Agency

When you’re buying a home, you can hire an agent who represents only you, called an exclusive buyer’s representative or agent. A buyer’s agent works in your best interest and owes you a fiduciary duty. You can pay your buyer’s agent yourself, or ask the seller, or the seller’s agent, to pay your agent a share of their sales commission.

If you’re selling

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a world-renowned attraction and destination for kids of all ages. For more than four decades, the first week in October brings the smell of roasting chiles and the beautiful, magical moving picture show of hot air balloons sailing silently through the crisp fall air.

Guests from all over the world come to Albuquerque to celebrate ballooning. Literally, hundreds of balloons will be taking flight from the Balloon Fiesta Park this year October 7-15, 2017.

From its modest beginnings in 1972 with 13 balloons launching from a shopping mall parking lot, the Balloon Fiesta has grown to multiple events launching year-round at the custom-designed, 365-acre Balloon Fiesta Park. Our signature event remains Balloon

Guilty of buying cheap stuff? Pack-ratting? Here’s how to change your ways.

A date with a glass of wine and your favorite curry dish while watching the latest season of “Orange Is the New Black” may seem like the perfect way to spend your evening — until you hear something alive in that leaning tower of plates you’ve been ignoring all week.

Why, oh why, do you keep procrastinating dish cleanup night after night?!

Don’t beat yourself up too much. Bad habits are just way easier to maintain than good ones. They’re “the opposite of what makes you happy. They’re what make you miserable,” says M.J. Ryan, author of “Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals.” Especially when they cost you money.

Here are 7 bad habits to

Successful burglars have lots in common — home owners who unwittingly give invitations to robbery. Here’s how thieves thank you for your generosity.

You come home to an open front door, a ransacked house, and missing valuables. How did a burglar know you’d be gone? How did they get in?

In these 10 thank-you notes, your friendly neighborhood burglars share advice on how to stop lending them a helping hand.

1. Thanks for the Ladder!

Call me a social climber if you will, but I did discover a ladder in your back yard. Thank you for leaving it where I could lean it against your home and easily reach a second-story window. I really love it when upper story openings aren’t wired to a home security system! 

So, if you want to keep me out, store your

Join Michael and the New Mexico True Television crew as they head to "Cowboy Country" in northeast New Mexico. Your trip begins with the loveable alpacas at Victory Ranch and continues with classic cars and western wear in Raton. Get up close to the wildlife at Vermejo Park Ranch, have a cold one at the Colfax Tavern, and take a dip in the Montezuma Hot Springs. Wrap up your road trip at the St. James Hotel in Cimarron, where history isn't the only thing haunting the halls.

Adopting an APS Title 1 Angel is a heart-warming holiday tradition for the Greater Albuquerque Real Estate Community.  

Through it, we bring a little joy to the lives of APS Title 1 Angels this holiday season. Angels are APS Title 1 Homeless Students that attend school even through great hardship.

This year, GAAR REALTORS® and Affiliates are adopting angels from Eugene Field Elementary School, Freedom High School and Washington Middle School. Combined the real estate community – including real estate firms, mortgage lenders, title companies and more – adopt over 500 students each holiday season from 18 Albuquerque Public Schools. 

The GAAR REALTORS® are adopting about 35 Angels from Freedom High School.

The GAAR Affiliate Committee is adopting