By Ron Davis  –  Reporter, Albuquerque Business First, January 27, 2021

Belinda Franco will lead the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors into its centennial year as an organization.

A Realtor with Weichert Realtors in Albuquerque, Franco officially became the organization's 2021 president at its annual meeting last December. Franco, an Albuquerque native, has been a licensed Realtor since 2011 and got involved with GAAR shortly thereafter.

She succeeds Sherry Fowler of Signature Southwest Properties as president. Fowler serves as past president. GAAR also appointed Bridget Gilbert of ERA Sellers & Buyers as president-elect; Sarah Lopez of Keller Williams Realty as vice president; Jean Duran of Realty One of New Mexico as treasurer.

During her year as president, Franco aims to heighten the awareness of GAAR in the community through charitable, giving back events, partnering with organizations to distribute personal protective equipment and more.

Following a year where median sales prices of homes jumped over 17% to $265,000 and the inventory of homes for considerably shrank by nearly 57%, Franco spoke with Business First about some of the biggest opportunities and challenges in the residential real estate market in 2021.

What are you looking to accomplish in 2021?

My focus this year, in light of the pandemic, instead of finding it as a challenge, I'm trying to find it as an opportunity. The real estate market itself is still thriving. That's proof in our numbers..... You find like-minded people that have a passion for serving the community and if there's a need, these Realtors are going to jump up..... People know GAAR, but they don't always know what GAAR does. That's my big focus today. We're not just a bunch of Realtors that just open a door. We're your neighbors. We're your friends. We're here to help serve our community and that's where I think we'll make our difference.

What stood out to you about why the market reported strong year-over-year numbers, and where do you see the next wave of homes being built?

Albuquerque draws people for a few different reasons. One is our fantastic weather. Another one is our taxes are still fairly low. A lot of people moving from other cities can't believe that our property taxes are as low as they are. Somebody moving from California who is leaving a 1,000-square-foot condo can, for the same price or even less, have land and a three, four-bedroom house. ... [Moving forward] the increase in jobs and the availability of land [will have an impact]. Mesa del Sol, Rio Rancho and Los Lunas: those are all places that new construction can be built. We're seeing construction going up and the new homes going in. ... You're going to see more construction and more new homes because of the [availability of land]. We have to find places for all these people moving in.

While the housing market showed a strong year-over-year increase, in what areas does the housing market need to addressed throughout 2021?

We have low inventory. I think, for a lot of people, if they don't need to move right now, they're not. Living through the pandemic, if there wasn't an immediate need to move, I think it was the security to hold their own home [that led to a low number of listings]. ... Spring is typically the time that people want to list their home anyway to be able to move through the summer while kids are out of school. What we need is more listings. I think we'll see new construction because of the low inventory.

Source: "Albuquerque Business First"