Remember the boom? How could one forget? At times I feel my head still spinning! Well the boom is definitely over. But that's fine, because Las Cruces certainly benefited a great deal. To some extent, the boom reshaped what we look like as a small city today. The commercial growth that soon followed the rooftops has improved the quality of our lives in terms of shopping, dining, health care, added and improved roadways and infrastructure.
Now that the boom is gone what's next for home builders and real estate professionals in Las Cruces? Well, it depends. We should not forget we were experiencing steady growth for several years prior to the boom. As a result, today's Las Cruces has much more to offer now than it did before the boom. Consider very closely the many "before and after" factors of our city. A few examples: Lowe's, Kohl's, MountainView Regional Medical Center, U.S. 70 improvements, Ruby Tuesday, Texas Roadhouse, Wal-Mart, StarBuck's, Staples, Best Buy, Allen Theatres, Men's Warehouse, Furniture Row, city, county and federal facilities and the list goes on and on! We have adapted well to the demand for growth and improved the quality of our lives in Las Cruces.
One simple fact comes to mind, people were coming to Las Cruces then (before the boom). Imagine how attractive a community we are now and will continue to be! There are those who probably wouldn't have considered Las Cruces as a place to live or retire six years ago. But now, look around. We did well. Sure we tripped and fell here and there because it comes with the territory. But at least we can all say, "Been there, done that!" It's what we do with it now. Las Cruces will always be a morphing swan.
In the meantime, there may not be as much physical growth, but I assure you as professionals, our understanding of how to approach our industry in the future will be of great gains for all involved. Though we are a beautiful city, we must understand our growth is intertwined with the rest of our nation. We have the potential to experience "boom-like" characteristics during a national correction. However, we must maintain our position as the greatest place live based on location, quality and overall price. Areas like Phoenix and Southern California actually added to our growth, because of general housing costs and overall cost of living. We were an attractive option. We must remain observant of these very important factors and maintain our consistencies in housing and service quality along with great pricing. Pricing that will make sense to those living here now and wishing to live here in the future.
