New Orleans Real Estate by Eric

The New Orleans Condo Market does have a segment that overlooks Lake Pontchartrain which is a big salt and freshwater lake that is 26x50 miles and leads to the Gulf of Mexico through Chef Pass. The Light House Harbor Condos are a great example of casual living next to the New Orleans Yacht Harbor. They must have been well built as they withstood the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina. You are in the Lakeview Neighborhood of New Orleans and can walk to various eating, drinking and shopping areas. Its great if you like to sail or boat but also great if you like to do outdoor activities such as running, walking, cycling and enjoying the outdoors. Most of the people living here do make it there home but there are complexes that appeal to the second homers in all price ranges. Its very hard to build anything new on the New Orleans lakefront so your location is secure from future buildings that would keep your units from appreciating. The lakefront segment is often forgotten but its well worth looking into if you like this life style. There will never be ice fishing or ice skating in New Orleans but you can catch trout in your own backyard.  

I was interested in starting a group as a niche. All you ever wanted to know about Condos. it can include life-styles, condo fees, pre-sales, the variety of types and any number of things assocaited with buying a condo or enjoying one. I have not seen such a goup formed so was wondering if someone would like to start one. I could not find one for such a large segement of the market. We can be Charter Members, let me know if anyone else is interested and would want to get it started? I have a website devoted to New Orleans Condos which may give you some ideas as the Condo market is just as different as the residential market in the USA or beyond.

Condos, What you need to know? This is the new group so join and write your first article that you can post to your localism and this new group.

The Avante Garde Condos in Kenner are one of your better choices of Condos in the New Orleans Metro area where you can get a tow bedroom in the 140-160 range depending upon the updates. Its a gated community that is well established with an easy commute to Metairie and to New Olreans. The condo fees are very resaonable and the taxes are fairly low. If you live in your unit that you pay 150k for your property taxes are less than $800 for a year. Your condo fees are about $180 per month, much less then home owners insurance alone. Most people I sell are not going to be living here forever but its much better than paying rent to someone else. This year I sold a unit to a young nurse, a young engineer and a couple of pharmacy students. Check out the tax bennefits of owning a condo and some of the Louisiana Bond Issues that will make the move even better. These are one of the better choices in this price range in Jefferson Parish.

Audubon Trace which was one of Jefferson's Parish first condo developments about 20 years ago is more popular than ever. Its close to New Orleans and in a corridor that is easy to travel in. Near Oschner Medical Center aand Elmwood Business Park. The condo fees and amenties are very reasonable. After Katrina some of the units sold for some very good prices "high". people were desparate for housing and paid some high prices. The high prices stayed high unitl a couple of months ago. The prices have become much more reasonable and there happens to be some very fair prices within the complex. There are several for under 200k and some nice units in the low 200k range. The demand will still be here as its a hard location to beat and not much to compete against. The area has little crime and the taxes are low in Jefferson Parish. The Old Jefferson area is still in demand as prices for homes in the area have remained very steady and affordable. You can always get a better buy in the late Fall and Winter since less people are looking and people still need to sell.

 Happy Thanksgiving from New Orleans. Do you remeber when everyone watched the same shows every nite on a balck and white TV set. You only had one TV per house and parents, brothers and sisters would all watch at once. The networks had the three or four shows per nite and you had each nite memorized. You had to do your homework so on weeknites you may not watch anything but weekends were big. I can remember the Friday nite shows Sea Hunt, then Rawhide with Gil Faber and Rowdy Yates, and whatever was next. You had a western per nite. Those were interesting times. Only one game of baseball per week and it was the Yankees playing someone with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee calling the games. I do not even think pro football was on TV in those days very often. For us old timers this was 45-50 years ago. Remember Annette in her sweater a couple of years later. At least all the guys did. Marbles was also big at school. Happy Thanks Giving                              

Les Miles has been a great coach for the Bayou Bengals going 33-5 over the last 3 years. His teams play hard and are very exciting win or lose. He fits in and has a calming effect with the rabid Louisiana fan base. Its been exciting. Louisiana has as much talent footall wise as a state like California which is 10 times its size. High school football is still a big deal in the rural south. If he keeps the local kids at home he will always be a winner and every now and the jump to the top ten. Very hard to win week after week in the SEC or any league these days. We will have to wait and hopefully we can win a couple of more games. Tebow should win the Heisman as a one man scoring machine for the Florida Gators. Notre Dame is not going to a Bowl game?  

New Orleans French Quarter Condos are unique in many ways. One of those ways is that you never know what is behind the gate that opens on the street. This is a good example of a condo that I sold last year. It was totally rodone in detail to look like it would have 200 years ago. The Historic Commission is very strict in what you can do with properties in this area. Parking is very tough since many of these buildings pre-date cars by 100-150 years. This unit has a great courtyard, you can open your French doors as the unit was a townhouse style with two exits to balconies with plenty of light. Its just another example of what you might find if you could see how people really live in this area of town.

The St. Elizabeth Condos located in Uptown New Orleans at 1314 Napoleon several blocks from St. Charles Ave. are one of my favorites because they combine the Old World charm in a residential neighborhood filled with history. The Oak trees and wide neutral ground are a perfect setting for these luxury condos. You have the exposed masonery, high ceilings, large windows, shutters, iron work, columns, unique porches, fireplaces, 8 foot doors, iron gates, beveled glass door, and detailed work inside and out. The interior finish work is a great blend of old and new. This is one of my favorite projects and has some great units especailly in the front portion. Someone  even redid the church which is part of the complex into a condo. I have never sold one but did get close to selling one several years ago. If you are ever in New Orleans it worth taking some photos and walking down the block as I did this past week to get an updated shot. November in New Orleans features Spring like weather without the showers and high humidity.                               

The St. Elizabeth Condos located at 1314 Napoleon Ave. was converted into condos in 2005. You can walk to St. Charles Ave from this brand new Luxury Conversion of 28 units in a residential neighborhood in the Gardner District of New Orleans. There are one and 2 level units with a price range of 375k to over 900k with most of the units being in the 400-500k range. All the units will have at least 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. Pool, parking in rear lot, elevators and Courtyard. A little history of the Condos "St. Elizabeth's Orphanage, 1314 Napoleon. This 47,000-square-foot building, which once slept 300, consumes an entire block of real estate. Rice visited here as a child and has the witch Deidre Mayfair flee here from the First Street house at age 9. The Rices bought the immense building in 1993, and Anne peopled its stained-glass chapel with some of her 2,000 dolls.The orphanage is still famous as the site of one of Rice's vampire Lestat Halloween parties for 4,000. Since Rice's sale of the orphanage, the building has been transformed into condos."   These units were all were all sold very quickly and were top of the line units with many owners doing some major upgrades. All the units were very well finished. Town homes were built in the rear. Parking is inside gated common area. Since the initial sales there have bee a few units that have turned over. The units that have come up for sale and that were priced right have sold rather quickly. Its a unique combination of an historic combined with some of the finer touches to make many of the units Luxury Units.

Entrance to the condos is on Napoleon Ave., parking is from the rear of the units.

I have enjoyed my real estate car, the Avalon. Its got a lot of room inside and plenty of room in my back seat for my floders and books. It gets OK milage. The A/C works great which is very important in New Orleans hot humid weather. Today was like a Spring day in New Orleans so took a couple of shots while out looking at homes. This is my third Avalon so I must like them so it works for me. I drive about 15k miles a year with 95% being real estate miles. My car is my office many times so you need the room. What kind of car do you drive?

The condos at 3201 St. Charles Ave. are a perfect example of an apartment conversion of the 1960's turned into condos. There are very few historic features to the condo complex. It however has a great address, gated parking and seem to be well maintained. The units all open onto a courtyard that has a pool, fountain, and plenty of room to roam. Many of the units are still very dated but some have been updated. The units are owned by longer term owners. It is a long walk to the downtown area. I had one listed in the complex in 2006 and the owners would walk to the downtown area every morning as a way to get exercise. There are more photos on my website New Orleans Condos where you can get some additional ideas. These units will end up being one of the less expenisve types in the uptown market.