The Spider Web Maker

Look closely; you will see one of the Orb Spiders that make beautiful and huge orb-shaped spider webs at the corners of my portal.  This guy is about as big as a nickel. It will run away the moment it senses your presence. These webs are a site to behold when the early morning dew is sparkling on them.

Gail McGough-Maduena, Associate Broker

The Yucca - New Mexico's State Flower

This Yucca is now blooming in our front yard; the birds love to nest in this yucca. The yucca was adopted as the State Flower of New Mexico on March 14, 1927. The yucca is a member of the lily family and a symbol of sturdiness as well as beauty. In the early summer, pale ivory flowers bloom at the tips of its long, fibrous stalks. At the base of the plant are broad, sharp-edged leaves that look like stilettos. The yucca sometimes grows to the height of a small tree.

Randall Phillips, Associate Broker

Good News About Placitas Home Sales

We have some Good News! Home sales in Placitas in February were up 300% from the previous year. Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist, said we’re seeing the continuation of an uneven but higher sales pattern. “The spring home buying season looks bright because of an elevated level of contract offers so far this year,” he said. “If activity is sustained near present levels, existing-home sales will see their best performance in five years. Based on all of the factors in the current market, that’s what we’re expecting with sales rising 7 to 10 percent in 2012.” Good News Indeed!

Sandy Poling, Associate Broker

Placitas Real Estate Statistics/Placitas in the Spring

Wow, it’s the end of February already. Time is flying and we’re really busy here at La Puerta. Today there are 21 homes and 3 pieces of land that are under contract in Placitas and there are 6 homes and 3 pieces of land that have closed since January 1st. As usual, La Puerta is involved in almost all of the transactions. Our brokers were responsible for 4 sides (either representing the buyer or seller) in the 6 homes sold, 5 sides in the 3 pieces of land sold, 10 sides of the 21 homes in pending and 1 side in the 3 pieces of land in pending. That is significant considering we have only 12 agents in our office! Not bad for a slow market! Spring has sprung. The Junipers are giving us sneezing fits, but Life is Good in Placitas.

Sandy Poling

Associate Broker

My First Home in New Mexico

In April of 1971, as a college sophomore on spring break from Indiana University, I visited New Mexico. It was love at first sight, even though I was raised in southern Indiana on the Ohio River where it is very humid and lush. I found the dry climate, unending views and daily sunshine very liberating. Upon returning, I immediately applied to the University of New Mexico. I was accepted and the rest, as they say, is history.

By that August, I had started school, stumbled across Placitas and the cooperative community called Tawapa. It was such a unique place then with five families who had built their own houses, while trying to live self-sufficiently off the land. After going to the community dinners a few times and hanging out by the stream, swimming in the pond and enjoying the shade of the cottonwoods, I knew that little valley was for me.

I was invited to join the group and build my own place. Since I was totally inexperienced in construction, I took some friendly advice to build a dug-out house. This sounded good, not because it entailed a lot of back-breaking digging, but it required very little carpentry or masonry knowledge. With two buddies who volunteered their labor and my wonder dog, Herbie helping with the digging, we picked and shoveled a big hole in the side of a hill next to the stream.

Porter, left, one of two brothers, Bruce or

Barry Haas from Indiana, "Herbie", center front

Once the hole was dug, we made trip after trip in my VW bus to pick up free ten-foot-long `end cuts’ from the Bernalillo sawmill. These were the left-over pieces from the cut trees that had three square sides and a jagged outer edge. The plan was to construct a big wooden box outside of the hole using some donated four-by-four-inch beams, upright, with the `end cuts’ nailed on the outside and inside. This created four inches of space to back fill with the dirt from the hole. The result was a type of rammed-earth house that was energy efficient for the desert climate.

I then bought four vigas, a window, a door and some hardware and got help installing those. Then we hauled the rest of the dirt from the hole onto the roof, and `presto’ I had a completed shell. We salvaged a fifty-five gallon oil drum to make a wood stove, threw some straw on the floor and hung some lanterns. Water was from the spring, the bathroom was behind the third bush from the left and before I knew it, I had a house for under 300 bucks. Soon, friends were dropping by to play the drums and I had my first home in New Mexico!

My Dug-Out Home, Carolyn from Wisconsin (I think!)

Porter Dees, Associate Broker