Archives for March 2015

March 31, 2015
Click here to view video outlining proposed rules.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued its long-awaited proposed rules on using drones for a commercial purpose. Watch this month’s Window to the Law video (above) to see how the new rules will impact real estate professionals.
February 27, 2015
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a rule that would permit the commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Many real estate agents have expressed an interest in using this technology to take pictures and videos of their listings to show to clients. There are several applications for drone use in building management, property inspection, land surveying, building energy modeling and other aspects of real estate.
The proposed rule is the first step toward a regulatory environment where commercial drone use is legal and has prescribed guidelines from the FAA. Please click here for an overview of the rule.
“Technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace and this milestone allows federal regulations and the use of our national airspace to evolve to safely accommodate innovation,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. The FAA has recently been under scrutiny from lawmakers and industry as it had missed the original deadline for proposing a rule.
Overview from NAR
While NAR still recommends that members not use UVA (drone) technology for any purpose related to selling property, it is working with the FAA as they develop a regulatory framework that allows for the safe commercial use of this technology, as it may provide new opportunities for agents to add value to the real estate transaction.
Stay on top of updates at the Drones topic page on Realtor.org.
By: Stephanie A. Spear, Erin Stackley, and Ken Wingert (National Association of REALTORS®)

When the federal government sneezes, New Mexico catches cold.
A new ranking of states based on their economic dependence on federal spending identifies New Mexico as the number one most dependent state, which is not altogether surprising given the presence of two national laboratories, four military bases and federal ownership of just over a quarter of the land in the state.
Other factors in the state’s dependency on federal spending are likely the high rate of poverty, a growing elderly population, agricultural subsidies and the success of the congressional delegation in lobbying for federal dollars over the years.
New Mexico ranks ahead of Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama as the most dependent, while the least dependent states were New Jersey, Delaware and Illinois, according to Washington, D.C.-based WalletHub.com.
Federal spending often fills the role of smoothing differences between states with strong economies and states going through tough times by transferring resources from one to the other, said James Feigenbaum, an associate professor at Utah State University.
The fact that some states perennially get more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes, New Mexico chief among them, is arguably “problematic,” he noted.
Feigenbaum is one of seven academicians who provided WalletHub.com with statements providing insight into how and why federal spending works differently among states.
“(Federal) spending is concentrated on areas with high poverty and elderly, and areas that are centers of federal employment,” said Vanderbilt University professor David C. Parsley. “This last creates incentives for our congressional legislators to try and direct federal spending to their states.”
New Mexico looks like a sweet spot for federal spending on social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
At 21.9 percent, New Mexico had the second-highest poverty rate in the country in 2013, according to the Census Bureau. Another census report projects the state’s percentage of senior population could grow to fourth highest in the country by 2030.
The labs and military bases, plus agencies with a big presence, like the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs, require a steady flow of funding that seems as though it could go on forever. The truth is that the flow could drop with a base closing, budget cuts to research programs or the downsizing or relocation of an agency office.
“Some states receive federal funds, expecting that the flow of funds will continue indefinitely,” said Thomas B. Cooke, a professor at Georgetown University. “They establish or expand programs without reasonable consideration of what can happen if the federal funds decrease or cease. This is a very risky way to conduct business and there can be dire consequences.”
The federal government’s oversized presence in New Mexico was long considered a kind of economic ballast, holding the state steady when the rest of the country was buffeted by economic storms. The stabilizing effect stemmed from a high level of federal spending relative to the state’s low gross domestic product, data indicate.
While that largesse has propped up New Mexico’s economy in the past, cuts in federal spending over the past several years have slowed the state’s recovery from the Great Recession.
The rallying cry to move New Mexico forward has become economic diversification.
“The overall economic impact of the federal facilities and jobs has been a very good thing for the state. They’re high point makers for what it takes to build an economy,” said Steve Vierck of New Mexico Partnership. “Clearly, now we need to build up and grow the private sector side of things.”
WalletHub’s ranking uses four metrics:
• The ratio of incoming federal funding to outgoing federal income taxes, which placed New Mexico at fifth highest, at $2.19 in funding for every $1 in taxes. In addition to direct payments, incoming money includes federal contracts, grants and insurance payments (hurricane damage in Florida, for example).
• Federal funding as a percentage of state revenue, which placed New Mexico at ninth highest, at 38 percent. The range among states is a low of 19.5 percent in North Dakota to a high of 44 percent in Mississippi.
• Ratio of federal employees to the total population, which placed New Mexico at sixth highest with a ratio of 0.01850 federal employees per capita. The range among states was a low of 0.00296 per capita in Wisconsin to a high of 0.05437 per capita in Hawaii.
• Ratio of federal civilian employees not working for a military branch or the Defense Department to total population, which placed New Mexico at third highest, with a ratio of 0.00903 per capita. The range among states was a low of 0.00175 per capita in Connecticut to a high of 0.01519 per capita in Maryland.
WalletHub is a financial website oriented to consumers and small-business owners.
By: Richard Metcalf (Albuquerque Journal)
Click here to view source.

Amtrak will stay on track with the existing New Mexico route for the Los Angeles-to-Chicago Southwest Chief, according to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
As early spring softens into the tourist season, one of New Mexico’s prized connections to the Midwest and Pacific Coast appears safe at last.
Amtrak will stay on track with the existing New Mexico route for the Los Angeles-to-Chicago Southwest Chief. Pictured here is an Amtrak train in Chicago, which is the final eastern destination of the Southwest Chief route.
Amtrak will continue to make stops in the New Mexico towns of Raton, Las Vegas, Lamy and Albuquerque, the company announced, ending more than two years of uncertainty in Northern New Mexico’s smaller communities about whether Amtrak would alter the route.
Amtrak has pressured New Mexico to invest in track improvements so the train can travel through the state at maximum speeds. Gov. Susana Martinez in 2014 authorized $150,000 for a study of the Southwest Chief’s costs and benefits.
Despite the lack of upgraded tracks in New Mexico, a Jan. 1, 2016, deadline for funding track improvements has been lifted, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
“We are making progress. There is no imminent cutoff date. … We do not want to move this train to another route,” he said.
By: Mike English (Albuquerque Business First)
Click here to view source article.

New Mexico’s job picture in February had its best showing in nearly a decade, with employment growing at 2 percent or 15,900 jobs compared to the same month a year earlier, according to the state Department of Workforce Solutions.
February’s increase marks the first time that over-the-year job growth in New Mexico has reached the 2 percent threshold since December 2006, when it was 2.4 percent, said department spokeswoman Joy Forehand.
The “New Mexico Ready to Work” job fair at the Albuquerque Convention Center on August 22, 2014. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)
“This is New Mexico’s 30th consecutive month of over-the-year employment growth and the most substantial growth the state has seen since December 2006,” according to a release from the agency. “This is also the first month since May 2006 that no industry (employment sector) has posted an over-the-year loss in employment.”
“We’re not terribly surprised,” said Jeffrey Mitchell of the Bureau of Business & Economic Research at the University of New Mexico about the strength of February’s job growth rate. “The numbers have been trending like this since about July. I think the news has generally been positive.”
“The strategy of diversifying our economy is working,” said state Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela in response to the report. “There’s still work to be done. We need to stay the course.”
The unemployment rate in February dropped from 6.7 percent to 6 percent, year over year, although it ticked up from 5.9 percent in January. The national rate for February is 5.5 percent.
The February job growth rate follows a comparatively strong January, when the department reported jobs grew statewide at a rate of 1.3 percent. It usually takes three months to set a trend, Forehand said.
“We’ll wait to see what the March numbers turn out to be,” she said.
The first over-the-year job loss was registered in New Mexico in November 2008 and continued unchecked for the next two years, according to historical data provided by Forehand. Monthly job gains and losses took turns from early 2011 to September 2012, when the current streak of 30 months of consecutive job growth began.
For most of the current streak, New Mexico’s job growth rate has been less than 1.5 percent, often ranking among the lowest in the country.
New Mexico’s 2 percent over-the-year job growth rate in February holds true using both not seasonally adjusted data from the Department of Workforce Solutions and seasonally adjusted numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seasonally adjusting data basically smooths out seasonal fluctuations over the year.
Based on the BLS seasonally adjusted numbers, New Mexico’s job growth rate was 20th highest in the country in February.
New Mexico’s 2 percent rate, while comparatively strong, still trailed February job growth rates of 2.8 percent in Arizona, 3.3 percent in Colorado, 3.1 percent in Texas and 4.2 percent in Utah, according to the BLS numbers. Only adjacent Oklahoma had a lower rate in the region at 1.4 percent.
Friday’s news release did not contain a breakdown of employment and job growth numbers for the Albuquerque metro area, which has trailed the state as a whole in the modest job recovery. In January, for example, the metro saw over-the-year job growth of 0.9 percent compared to the average 1.3 percent increase statewide.
Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, said her impression, based on feedback from chamber members, was, “The economy is still challenging but it is better this year than the same time last year.”
In its monthly news release on employment, the state tracks 13 employment sectors, one for government and 12 private sectors.
The most dynamic employment sector for the past several years, education and health services, accounted for one out of every four new jobs created between February 2014 and February 2015. The state’s lagging manufacturing sector was the big surprise in the February numbers, posting an over-the-year gain of 300 jobs.
By: Richard Metcalf (Albuquerque Journal)
Click here to view source article.