If you have always wanted a vacation home in Taos SKi Valley, now is the time to consider looking at properties. The first big snow has fallen, yet the SKi Valley will not open until Thanksgiving at the earliest.

Sellers seem to be really negotiable right now. There are several properties available which show a return on investment as well as being a great place to stay when you want to come up to ski or snowboard. You can find a complete list of Taos SKi Valley properties on my website by clicking on Taos MLS.

Sellers will take as big a hit on ther credit by going through foreclosure , giving the lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure or doing a short sale.

Both short sale and foreclosure affect your FICO score up to 200 to 300 points.

One difference will be that if a seller wants to buy another home after foreclosure, the lender will wait up to 36 months before any kind of interest rate that makes sense will be available. In a short sale, the time frame is cut to 24 months.

10/23/08: The first real feel of winter is in the air. As usual the sky is blue and the sun is beaming. The Aspens are changing colors rapidly and there was frost on windshields this morning. Time to get in shape for ski/snowboard season.

The current market is ripe for investors and buyers. There are so many properties for sale here and many sellers are negotiable. This is the best buyers market I have seen in Taos. There are approximately 1000 residential listing, 1100 land listing and 100 plus commercial properties for sale. The property values have not dropped too much, but motivated sellers are ready to make a deal.

Taos Fall Arts Festival ends today. It has been in existance for 34 years. There are three venues: Taos Invites Taos, Taos Open, and Living Masters Exhibition.

Visitors from all over the world come to enjoy the artistic inspiration of Taos County Artists. Last year there were over 8000 persons attending the event. If you have never had a chance to come to see the show, I would really suggest that you schedule the trip for 2009. The temperature is perfect; the art is world class; and fall colors in the mountains are at their peak

Taos County has always been a place for innovative building and creative homes. The “earthships” which were designed by Mike Reynolds were some of the first passive solar homes built to take advantage of the 300 plus days of sunshine in Taos County. The houses were built to face south to southeast. The north side of each home was burmed with dirt and windowless. The houses had glass across the entire southside and the building itself was the mass that would store the heat admitted by the glass walls. The earthship was designed to deal with water and waste issues. The first houses were constructed using beer cans and bottles which were filled with dirt and then used as the exterior walls. The newer model of earthship uses used tires packed with dirt to provide the exterior structure. Water was collected off of the roof and stored in cisterns attached to the homes. The earthships have evolved over the years and some of the original problems have been addressed. If you get an opportunity to visit the Taos area, make time to go out a see the “Greater World Community” which is a subdivision of earthships.

Taos Ski Valley is scheduled to open for skiing and snowboarding on November 27, 2008. There are all kinds of changes going on in the Ski Valley. A new beginners area is being created and plans for an expanded terrain park are in the works. A new trail named North America is going in on the ridge near Al’s Run and is described as comparable to Jean’s Glade with trees. Hmm- definitely an advanced run.

62% of land in Taos County New Mexico is public land. That means that 62% of the land is either National Forest or Bureau of land Management. That’s a lot of open space and there are some wonderful spots to mountain bike. The South Boundary Trail includes miles and miles of single track riding and some stupendous views. The trail at the Gorge Bridge is a less challenging trail which skirts the Rio Grande Gorge. There are many bike trails in the Taos Ski Valley area that provide great off road options. If you want a paved climb, try the 9 mile road up to the base at TSV. It is a big climb and will get your heart pumping. The ride down is a blast.