ABQ Letters: Real Estate Angst in the Land of Enchantment

Day 54 in the Desert

John N.
1234 Furnished Rental Way NW
Albuquerque, NM 87000-0000

Dear Person Reading This,

Yes, you noticed correctly. My address is no longer Chez Xanadu in Colorado. We’re now here in Albuquerque, NM (henceforth known as ABQ). Julian and I are living in a furnished rental home while we search for a house to buy here in ABQ.

Chez Xanadu has been on the market for 51 days and counting. So far, the only offers have been lowballs from investors hoping to flip the house. Our realtor even got a call from another realtor with a listing in the same neighborhood—turns out it’s the same story there: only investor offers.

I suppose the only good news is that not every house around us is being snatched up within days of going on sale. They’re all just sitting there. It’s tough not to worry, though.

Meanwhile, we’re here in ABQ, house-hunting. Not an easy task. We traipse through houses, assessing what’s being offered while telling ourselves that in spite of the pink shag carpet, the owners are probably very nice people. Maybe?

So far, the only thing we’ve collected from all the traipsing is sore feet and more Zillow tabs.

We know the house we buy won’t look exactly like the perfect image in our heads. But we also know that someday soon we’ll walk into a place and know absolutely: This is the one.

That’s the latest update from here.

Reporting live from our temporary desert hideout, haunted by Zillow listings we can’t afford,
John