Looking for a million-dollar second home? You've come to the right place.
Welcome to the Santa Fe real estate market. Pick up a glossy copy of Santa Fe Showcase, Santa Fe Real Estate Guide or The Santa Fe Real Estate Shopper, flip through the pretty pictures and prepare to be impressed and assaulted by sticker shock.
The rising median cost for housing in Santa Fe over the last decade has made the need for affordable housing a hot topic for advocates and politicians alike. But the other end of the spectrum-houses that cost $1 million or more-is an important factor in explaining the high cost of owning a home here.
The high end of real estate "puts a lot of pressure on the middle-range market," Daniel Werwath, project manager for the nonprofit Santa Fe Community Housing Trust, says. "They totally scoot under the radar. When you have these people coming in from out of town with a lot of money, it has a huge effect on the market."
Right now, on that end of Santa Fe's residential housing market, there are nearly 330 homes listed at $1 million or more. Approximately 10 percent of those properties cost $3 million and up. And while total home sales are slowing both locally and nationally, sales of vacation and investment homes aren't. Second (or third or fourth) residences accounted for 36 percent of all residential real estate transactions in 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors. That works out to 1.07 million sales nationwide-a new record.
Selling such houses requires an approach and philosophy vastly different from the usual nuts and bolts of real estate transactions.
"I see a multimillion-dollar listing as a piece of art," 45-year-old Kevin Bobolsky, a fixture of Santa Fe's luxury real estate scene, says via telephone from his second home in the
Hollywood foothills. "I'm blessed to work with celebrities and big-money people. That's my gift."
Bobolsky inhabits a world where perky, friendly, ever-smiling real estate agents hold the keys to the kingdom's condos, custom-made homes and celebrity castles. They market Santa Fe's solitude, sunshine and style. They don't do it for cheap. The standard 6 percent commission on seven- and eight-figure properties, not to mention repeat business from wealthy clients, adds up fast.
But the high cost of high-end real estate goes beyond dollars and cents. Santa Fe City Councilor Matthew Ortiz grew up on and now represents the city's south side-where the bulk of affordable housing exists. Santa Fe's million-dollar real estate market has nothing to do with his constituency, he says, and yet it impacts everyone.
"We live in a beautiful place and we have a lot of artistic and cultural opportunities here," Ortiz says. "These people come to take advantage of these opportunities, not necessarily to contribute to them. And that does set up a kind of dichotomy in the community."
Bobolsky and his younger brother Gary-also an agent-see things differently. They say the people buying million-dollar second homes in the city contribute in numerous ways. Besides, Gary Bobolsky says, it's inevitable that people with money and discretion would want to live in Santa Fe. "It's very nice here," he says.
Particularly if one has a view.
"I just want people to be comfortable," Gary Bobolsky says. The
former bodybuilder is explaining his philosophy for selling real estate, while giving a tour of Las Campanas, the sprawling luxury development just west of Santa Fe. He drives his modest Nissan
Maxima from the members-only Spa and Tennis Center to the Hacienda Clubhouse.
"You have to make them believe you know what they want," he continues. "When you're a salesperson, whatever you believe in, it's fun. I love it!"
Walking into the clubhouse's grand entrance, an enormous room dominated by vigas the size of redwoods, a threesome of white-haired men have their legs crossed on leather furniture and talk comfortably. Snaking in and out of the restaurant, several fancy bars and meeting rooms, Bobolsky stops on the patio overlooking one of two award-winning golf courses at Las Campanas designed by Jack Nicklaus.
"Notice there are no cell phones here at the clubhouse. That's the policy," he says. "I think it's nice."
Later, Bobolsky mentions the price range for Las Campanas homes: from "the sevens," or $700,000, up to around $9 million. He adds that celebrities often rent out properties here temporarily, complete with a full staff, at rents ranging from $40,000 to $120,000 per month.
At the upper end, that works out to $4,000 a day, $167 an hour, $2.78 a minute. Bobolsky says that 10 to 20 "big-time stars" do this regularly.
One such star who was recently a Las Campanas renter, he mentions, was actor John Travolta.
While he won't go into any juicy details of the lives of the rich and famous, he does casually mention that his line of work has landed him at the same dinner table as Janet Jackson and Tina Turner.
About Jackson, he dishes: "You know, she was the quietest, mousiest thing you ever met."
Next stop: a midrange three-bedroom suite Las Campanas home beautifully set into one of the many hills that overlook the manicured fairways. Bobolsky discloses that this is a
model home within the Park Estates section of Las Campanas, a 50-lot development of which he happens to be investor.
It's a brand-new faux-adobe, ranch-style home, with pine wood floors, long wood beams and vigas in the ceiling, and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. The house sits on 1.25 acres. There's an elegant portal complete with a built-in outdoor kiva fireplace. All around the spacious house, the native landscaping is just starting to fill in nicely. Asking price: $1.55 million.
Nonetheless, Kevin Bobolsky might be tempted to call it a "McMansion." That's the somewhat loaded term used to describe the subdivisions of homes built on relatively small lots with plenty of space but lacking the individuality of a custom-built luxury home.
"When people say that there's a glut of luxury homes on the market, I believe they're primarily talking about these McMansion subdivisions in the city or the county," Bobolsky says. For that reason, he says he tends to take industry stats with a grain of salt. But what he derisively labels the "McMansion syndrome" in one breath is "many agents' bread and butter, and we're appreciative for it" in the next.
Gary Bobolsky, on the other hand, practically evokes visions of Horatio Alger's triumphant American dream while discussing the rise of the McMansion. "Having a McMansion is a way of saying, 'I made it and I'm a good, hard-working American
capitalist,'" he says. "And it's a good thing." In fact, he proudly admits to living in one in Las Campanas.
Still, Kevin Bobolsky points to larger societal forces at play, even reminiscing about his own childhood. "It's funny," he begins, "when I was a kid, we had one and a half bathrooms, and Gary and I shared a bedroom. But capitalism doesn't want you to be content with what you have. You always want bigger and more, and I think the McMansions follow the national curve of bigger and more. That's just something that's sold to us as part of our culture." He even offers a lament: Due to "this capitalist thing, more families are getting more square footage, but less time to enjoy it."
Kevin Bobolsky will continue to sell, but what he chooses to buy for himself might surprise. "Less is more for me," he says, adding that he has a "small place off the grid" in Santa Fe in addition to his "treehouse" just off Mulholland Drive in Hollywood.
While Mulholland Drive follows the ridgeline of the Hollywood
Hills and offers views of Burbank, Universal City and downtown Los Angeles, Santa Fe's Canyon Road offers a similar profile-if only on a smaller and browner scale.
That's where Gary Bobolsky is headed in the passenger seat of his Sotheby's colleague Jan Sekas' Mercedes SUV. The pair have agreed to show off a Canyon Road compound co-listed
by Sekas and Kevin Bobolsky. Making conversation, Gary Bobolsky spontaneously says, "Jan sold Carol Burnett's house."
"It was my first listing in real estate," Sekas confirms. "It was amazing!" The comedienne's house sold for a cool $4 million in 1998, she adds casually.
Pulling into the property's recessed driveway, Sekas proceeds to tick off the basics: "This was built, I believe, in 1816. It's totally traditional Santa Fe." Sporting a funky blond hairdo, white shirt, fashion jeans and a Treo Smartphone clipped to her belt, Sekas explains that the property features a main house, a guesthouse and even a wellhouse.
"It's different. There's a quaintness to it, and there's only one Canyon Road," she says with a knowing smile. "This is historic. It's like beachfront property. There's only so much of it."
Bobolsky picks up on the same point. "This property will retain its value," he says. "Canyon Road is just a great address." He goes on to note that real estate along this strip of Santa Fe's historic east side routinely sells for anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per square foot.
Both the main house and the guesthouse feature vigas, brick and hardwood floors and thick adobe walls, but nothing spectacular. The compound does include two gorgeous outside spaces: a small
garden next to the guesthouse and a large patio off the main house.
Sekas notes that the most recent, local owner lived in the compound with his family for more than 50 years. "I know the daughter lives right back here," she says. "So this is very special. She grew up here."
Walking past two large cardboard boxes in the main house's spacious living room, Sekas utters a rare complaint. "This is part of the problem with these out-of-state buyers," she says with a sigh. "Guess who gets to receive these?"
Not until the tour draws to a close does Sekas confirm that two weeks earlier, the property sold for just over $2 million to a woman named DuPont. "This will not be her full-time residence," she clarifies. "Her main residence is back in Virginia." But as second homes go, it's perfect. "She wants to walk with her kids on Canyon Road, meet and greet people. She doesn't want the Las Campanas style; she wants to stay true to the historic style."
Just before everyone loads back into the SUV, Bobolsky spots a baby mouse just inside the wellhouse door. With a piece of plastic, he gently picks up the tiny, scared rodent and sets it down in the small garden next to the guesthouse.
Back on Canyon Road, Sekas immediately pulls out her cell phone and punches in a number. She tells the person on the other end that she spotted a couple of bugs in the house. "We even found a baby mouse near the wellhouse," she adds. "Maybe the house needs to be sprayed again. I don't know. I just know the buyer would freak."
There's one more house to see. On the phone, there's excitement
in Gary Bobolsky's voice. "It's the nicest house in Santa Fe. I'm not joking," he says. Maybe sensing a little
skepticism, he promises, "You'll see."
The journey begins on Bishop's Lodge Road, heading north toward Tesuque. It extends past the rolling hills and junipers of Gov. Bill Richardson's mansion, and then beyond not one gate but two. Finally, crossing a stone bridge, a Tuscan palace emerges.
A stone driveway gives way to an imposing complex of beige structures with what appear to be a zillion imported Italian shingles covering several roofs. A massive stone arch leads to the front door and a small adjoining garden, one of many on the 40-acre property. One of the first signs of life: a dark-skinned, mustached man carrying a shovel.
Once inside the foyer, two hallways jut out in separate directions and a finely cut stone staircase goes someplace else. Bobolsky breaks the silence: "I haven't seen anything nicer than this
place. What can I say? It's classic."
Usually clad in jeans, today Bobolsky is dressed up in a striped dress shirt, brown wool pants and shiny black shoes. Brown pants and black shoes would ordinarily be a fashion faux pas, but somehow he gets away with it.
Strolling from one bedroom to the next, stopping to appreciate wooden doors that could probably pass for doors a Medici once passed through, Bobolsky actually gets lost. "I don't know where
this hallway goes," he says to himself.
The black granite bathtub worth an estimated $30,000, the tapestries built into the ceiling of the library, the circular room adjacent to the second formal dining room where every sound echoes-it's all too much, right?
No, Bobolsky says. "Most people are going to be blown away by a place like this. But for the quality of person who's going to buy this, they need it all," he says. "Part of it is they're
trying to create something great. They're going to entertain. You know, it's like having your own Ritz Carlton."
Climbing up a stone path, terraced landscaping off to the side, Bobolsky shows off a studio guesthouse complete with a room equipped with a professional massage table. Walking back to the main house, he leads the way to the kitchen. It spills out into an even larger living area bordered by enormous windows with mountain views in several directions and stone arches leading to other rooms. Bobolsky walks past two professional stoves, a built-in espresso machine, several sinks and then stops at what might seem like a trivial detail.
He examines a sleek black faucet that swivels out from the wall directly above one of the stove's gas burners. The idea is to be able to fill up a pot with water for, say, cooking pasta without
having to fill up the pot at the nearest sink, just a few feet away. "Look at this," he says, extending the faucet. "I didn't know they were telescoping them. That's new to me."
Leaning up against a countertop, Bobolsky scans the kitchen. "I mean, look how comfortable this is. Just to sit here and cook and drink wine with your girlfriend," he says with a smile. "Or, hell, maybe just watch her cook."
This house is new, finished just about a year ago, Bobolsky says. "This place is not on the market," he emphasizes, but is probably worth $15 million to $20 million. "It gives you an idea of what's out there." As for the owner, Bobolsky will only say he's "a successful Texas businessman."
The Bobolsky brothers confer their clients with elevated status. They are "high-caliber people" or "people of this quality." The same type of appreciation comes out when they discuss how
certain people of means apparently value the land more than those who only want to maximize their investment.
Kevin Bobolsky counts fashion designer Tom Ford, a longtime client, as a model. "He's a preservationist," he says simply. "There was a lot of talk when he was building his 10-acre site here in Santa Fe. It could have been subdivided into 10 1-acre lots. But he's
as sensitive to the earth and the beauty of Santa Fe as anyone I've ever met. He puts land together," he says, "he doesn't chop it up."
Rob Thompson, creator of the TV show
Northern Exposure
, is another example. He and his wife recently purchased 8,000 acres in northern New Mexico, but instead of subdividing the property into 1,000 smaller lots, they've kept it whole.
"The reason they didn't [subdivide] is that the sum of the whole is greater than its parts," Bobolsky says. "It's almost as if they never own it, but are simply stewards of the land."
The Bobolskys are currently marketing a 1,000-acre property that hugs the Rio Chama just outside Abiquiu. This, too, they suggest, should be seen in conservationist terms. Split up into two 500-acre ranches, $1.75 million per ranch, future owners can feel good about themselves and have their own (enormous) piece of pristine northern New Mexico beauty to boot.
On top of the opportunity to preserve, the elder Bobolsky makes his pitch for either ranch: "One of things that I've sold for many years is solitude. A lot of celebrities love solitude, and it's harder and harder to find. On either ranch, you can walk naked for miles," he says, laughing.
Finding buyers for these types of properties involves a personal touch, he says. He doesn't use the Sotheby's listings or the real estate database known as the Multiple Listing Service to find buyers. He's more of a face-to-face person, he says, because it takes creativity, among other qualities, to sell luxury real estate.
"It's interesting that these people come into our lives and one thing leads to another," he says. "I call it luck or whatever."
Luck or whatever, for Kevin Bobolsky, began when he left the
East Coast.
"I had a place in South Hampton at the time with my partner, who was a chef, and we moved out West to get away from the AIDS epidemic," he says. "And I got lucky right away." Lady luck first came in the form of Nedra (and Richard) Matteucci, longtime fixtures
of Santa Fe's thriving art scene, who entrusted a 24-year-old Bobolsky with helping them purchase a multimillion-dollar Canyon Road home in 1986. Gary Bobolsky got swept up in his brother's lucky streak five years later when he helped the late fashion photographer Herb Ritts purchase the first of several Santa Fe properties.
The Bobolskys stumbled into a Santa Fe that was being "discovered" by people with deep pockets. While he's not a local boy, Kevin Bobolsky knows enough to have his own thoughtful interpretation of what made it happen.
"I can tell you historically, artists were attracted by Santa Fe's weather and its natural, rare beauty." What was true back then, he continues, is still true today. "Once the artists and, to
some degree, gay people move in, they come in and make everything nice. The money follows that," he explains. Another factor: "Santa Fe also became a haven for wealthy Texans who wanted to escape the heat," he says with a laugh.
Bobolsky understands intuitively how Santa Fe's unique cultural heritage creates a more desirable place for his mostly white clientele. He uses another exclusive mountain town to make the point: "Sometimes Aspen for the superwealthy can become too boring, too generic. The reality is the Hispanic culture has created the most beautiful town." And while many with deep roots in Santa Fe will probably disagree, both Kevin and Gary are convinced that the growth of Santa Fe's luxury
properties market, and the ranks of buyers responsible for it, is a good thing.
"The wealthy people have brought so much to Santa Fe: the opera, all the jobs they've created, the gardeners, the roofers, the plumbers," Kevin Bobolsky says. "Even the people that are working-class are benefiting from having this kind of money in their town."
The younger Bobolsky agrees: "Like the Genoveva Chavez [Community] Center," Gary Bobolsky says, "that was created recently with all these tax dollars."
On the other hand, it's not clear the working-class are benefiting quite as much from the impact high-end real estate has on property taxes.
The Santa Fe County assessor announced earlier this month that the county's total property value is $6.2 billion-an all-time high, a 15 percent increase over last year and a 100 percent increase over the total property value one decade ago.
County Assessor Domingo Martinez says that many longtime residents of Santa Fe's older neighborhoods feel the impact, but his analysis is dispassionate: "The problem is the land around them; their neighbors have sold their properties for high prices and that's what dictates to the real estate market, to the appraisal market, what the property is worth." He does cite a 2001 state law that caps property taxes in certain cases as one mitigating factor.
Overall, Martinez, a native Santa Fean, sees a bigger picture. "Yes, I miss the old Santa Fe and the old way we used to do things, but progress is progress. If sellers want to sell their homes for a high price, it's a free country," he says. In Martinez' view, attracting luxury homebuyers "is a good thing for Santa Fe as far as progress is concerned."
More and more of those buyers aren't from here. That's the conclusion of a recent City of Santa Fe's Housing Needs Assessment study prepared by the city's Office of Affordable Housing and outside consultants. In 2000, 10 percent of homes in Santa Fe were owned by out-of-towners; today, it's 16 percent. Additionally, the study documents a decent jump in median household income since 1999 (24 percent) but a much bigger jump in average home prices (80 percent).
It's this latter trend that's arguably most responsible for the class anxiety, and even ethnic and racial animosity, that bubbles just under the surface in Santa Fe. Gary Bobolsky thinks that tension is "just an economic issue."
Kevin Bobolsky, on the other hand, thinks "it's just part of human nature. There's jealousy in the world. If they want to hate someone of a different color or race, that's very human nature."
But there's a bright side, he adds: "It happens because our town is multicultural. It probably doesn't happen in Aspen!"
Santa Fe Reporter