Here we are at the beginning of another New Year. Happy 2023 to all of my friends and neighbors here in Los Alamos. I’m wishing all of you the best of everything for 2023. But as I am trying to remember to put a 23 instead of a 22 in all of my paperwork, I’ve also been doing some thinking about resolutions for the coming year.
Now, I’m not a new year’s resolution person strictly speaking. I believe that statistically, most new year’s resolutions fail by mid to late February. If you look up these statistics, there are all kinds of suggested reasons for this. But the most reasonable one I’ve heard is that a lot of new year’s resolutions are either too grandiose, too non specific, too big of a change all at once, or the person setting the goal simply doesn’t understand the process of making a change.
That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t benefit from taking a look at what we’re doing and striving to make it better in any and every way possible. If you were to Google “real estate market predictions for 2023”, you’d see multiple sources suggesting a slow down in home sales. Most national real estate sources are telling folks that they expect a more than two percent drop in home sales for 2023, which would make this year’s numbers the lowest in 9 years. But it’s important to remember that Los Alamos has so many other unique variables that we don’t necessarily follow national trends.
In fact, the home market here in Los Alamos is rather encouraging. We have continued construction going on in White Rock’s Mirador subdivision. Some of the latest homes they’re building not far from State Road 4 are both spacious and beautiful in their classic Southwestern designs.
The development at Arkansas Place has creaked back into motion with building supplies on site and workers moving full speed ahead. And if you haven’t checked out the new apartment complex going up just below the hospital, you should! It’s going up quickly and will offer spacious modern apartments to help ease the housing crunch.
Towards the end of 2022, I talked about several other potential developments going up around town. None of this suggests that the market here in Los Alamos will be anything other than steady, which is encouraging to all of us. If you already own a home, your house will be likely to retain its value and maybe even show an increase. LANL is still hiring and has plans to continue doing so. We have an incredible amount of community projects happening around town, events to enjoy, and so many outdoor activities to look forward to. 2023 is going to be a great year!
If you’ve already got your dream home, or even if you’re not planning to stay in your current home forever, 2023 might be the year for you to experiment with a few of the other trends sweeping our culture and our country.
The No Spend Challenge
More than a few folks have talked with me about this idea, which can be as complicated or simple as you might like. The idea being to challenge yourself to spend only what you need to pay your bills and cover necessary costs of living. That’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? From a home standpoint, perhaps it would be smart to identify renovation projects or things you would like to change about your current home, and then look for ways to decrease surplus spending on life’s little luxuries.
Challenge yourself to go without Starbucks, or your Friday night wine tasting, or whatever you think you could “give up” for a defined amount of time in order to decrease spending and increase saving. Then, come 2024, hit that remodel with your savings and really bask in the satisfaction of knowing you worked hard to make something happen for you and for your family!
The Great DeClutter Event
Has anyone else noticed the enormous rise in storage facilities? It seems like enormous controlled climate storage facilities are going up everywhere! Homes in other regions are getting bigger, with more storage for the serious increase in the amount of stuff Americans are collecting.
Here in Los Alamos, we don’t typically have a ton of storage in our homes. Maybe 2023 could be the year to not just declutter the unnecessary stuff you already have, but to stop buying more stuff you don’t need. Try looking around your home and identifying boxes that might be taking up space in your storage area. Look for items you don’t use.
If you haven’t looked in a box for more than six months, experts suggest you honestly don’t need what’s in the box. Gather those boxes and unused items in a space like your garage or your driveway. Open each one and take a quick look to make sure there’s no personal information, papers, documents, etc. Then just put the box or item in the car and donate it. The idea is to put yourself in a position where you don’t have the time, the energy, or the space to go through those boxes and activate any emotional attachments to the items. Sentimentality has its place, but you need room for new memories and experiences. That can’t be done if you’re keeping everything!
When it comes to Internet shopping and Amazon in particular, challenge yourself to leave items in your shopping cart for at least 24-48 hrs before you purchase. Don’t impulse buy. Take the money you would’ve spent on things you don’t need and either pay down an existing bill or put it in a savings account. By the end of each month, each quarter, or all of 2023, you might be shocked at the amount of savings you have to apply to something you really, really want and need.
No matter how you decide to challenge yourself for the upcoming year, I hope you find enjoyment and satisfaction in life. And if 2023 is the year you decide to buy or sell real estate in Los Alamos, then give me a call! I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’d love to talk housing in Los Alamos with you.
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