NEW MEXICO (KRQE) –  As New Mexicans continue to face high costs looking for a place to live, a state lawmaker says it's time to stop Wall Street and other companies from gobbling up the deeds to single-family homes. Democrat Senator Harold Pope has pre-filed a bill that would ban hedge funds and other firms from buying homes as investment properties.  "I understand folks want to look at the market and look at investments but we're at a place right now where we really got to have some protections for consumers," said (D) Senator Harold Pope.  The one-page bill quote "Prohibits a hedge fund, private equity firm, corporation or other business from purchasing a single-family residential property." Neighborhood group expresses concern after Albuquerque housing bill passes city council "I think this is maybe one tool that we can use to just get more access to consumers, especially New Mexicans, when it comes to purchasing a home because in these instances you have private equity or hedge funds that can really just make a cash offer and consumers really can't compete with that,” said Senator Pope.  Similar bills have popped up in other states like New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul is proposing a 75-day waiting period before large firms can place bids on homes fresh on the market.  "It's buying homes, sometimes these homes are not even occupied, when we have people who actually need homes. It's rising the speculation of the cost because of that and in some cases, it can actually increase the rent because there's just not enough houses and things not available," said Senator Pope. New Mexico House GOP leaders outline priorities for upcoming session However, the New Mexico Association of Realtors says there could be some potential unintended consequences with Senator Pope's proposal. "We don't want to see corporations taken out of putting seed money into developments or areas that are blighted or homes that need to be bought and so they can either be rehabbed or sold or whatever," said Rob Wigton, CEO of the New Mexico Association of Realtors.  If the bill passed, Pope says he's confident the bill wouldn't impact the big corporations often involved in home building these days. He also claims it wouldn't affect people looking to buy up rental properties. The 60-day legislative session is set to begin on January 21.