New Orleans Real Estate by Eric

I was wondering how long each of us have been in our present location. We see a lot of homes,the good and bad. In New Orleans people tend to stay put. Being in Business for yourself and the sole bread winner not haveing a house note is great. I moved in my home in 1975 and am still here. Half my neighbors still live here. Many of their kids and grand kids tend to also be close by. Its just how many of us in Louisiana are. I even bought my house as a FSBO and assumed a loan. The closing cost were a $100 as the seller was an attorney.

Where else do you go East to get to the West Bank.

                            

Its been a quick 30 years for the Crescent City Classic. On Saturday 18,500 people chose to walk or run in the annual event. I did a pictoral blog of the thing I walk for me. I got plenty of good shots if you want to take a look. New Orleans Condo trends. We are luckly to have a local event almost every week through June as we start the year. This year its been the National Championship Game, the NBA all star game, the Sugar Bowl, Mardi Gras, Louisiana Derby, and the local events and festivals. Next week is the PGA event, then the Jazz Fest, Strawberry Fest, Crawfish Boils, LSU Spring game, the Hornets winning again, LSU womens basketball could be here for the final 16. You can blog about each so people will know what is happening in your area.

Happy Easter, great Spring so far. This is where all the melted snow ends up in the Mississippi River Valley. Most people in New Orleans take the afternoon off on Good Fridays. Its been almost 40 days since Mardi Gras. I wanted to get the azaleas before they were gone and I almost missed.

The New Orleans Warehouse District is a great place for young and old to live. I have sold a lot of residents who are at the various area hospitals as its a cool place to live with a lot of young professionals. The Medical schools of Tulane and LSU are a short drive or a long walk from the area.  This is the time of the year students are finding out where they will be doing their residency. This is a great choice for many of them.

The are is safe and full of things to do. You can take a look at the photos I have shot in the area over the past couple of years. Warehouse District Lifestyles to give you some ideas. You can get a feel for the area by also visiting my local blog which will give you an insight into purchasing a condo and up to date topics that interest my readers. New Orleans Condo Trends will add info to your search.

If you are going to live in New Orleans and want to be close to everything and want to experience a truly unique area then this area of town may be for you. Most of my clients are young professionals and people looking for second homes. Check out New Orleans Condos for a more in depth view of the condos in particular and in general. There are of course many other places to live athat are also going to be unique. Its steamy in the Summer but its great now.

     This almost client called me several weeks ago to talk about his wife's possible transfer to New Orleans. He grew up in South Louisiana but had been away for a while. We talked and I sent him some housing ideas. it did not take me long. I do this several times per week. Its always great however to be thanked for something. Real Estate 101 says you should do this with your clients and people who work with you. They will surely remember you as I will remember Charles. Each time you help someone you also learn about waht people want to know.

Dear Mr. Bouler,

I regret to inform you that my wife will not be the
one getting the position in New Orleans.  I thank you
for your time and efforts on our behalf and have
placed your email address into my address book in case
something opens in the future.  I appreciate the time
you took to show us the properties that we might have
considered and appreciate you helping my wife make the
decision to try for the job.

I wish you great success in you career and lots of
good weather, good news, and a great time of
rebuilding and rebirth in New Orleans, one of the
greatest cities in the world.

sincerely,
xxxxxx x xxxxx

Most were not doing real estate in 1984 when Louisiana's economy crashed when the price of oil dropped below $10 a barrel. At the time South Louisiana economy was tied to the Oil Business. Layoffs were extreme with the entire chain of the oil business being devastated. House were a dime a dozen and could not be sold. Boats filled the lots of banks, people bought boats with loans so the boats made it back to the bank. Retailers, motels, malls, shipyards, fabrication yards, grocery store all suffered. Entire towns were shells.

How time has changed and how few remember those days. it tends to make people much more conservative. However somehow we adapted and survived. History does repeat it self but no one seems to know or learn the lessons of bubbles and what happens. In the end every one points at the other. Now oil is over $100 per barrel but its much less man power needed. 

Then we had Katrina about 20 years later. The town was flooded because the money was not there to keep the levees updated. Costing about 50 times as much money and 1500 lives over what it would have cost to do the job correctly in the beginning.  

                          

I get a lot of calls for rentals in my condo market. I do not do rentals but tend to help people with ideas and the better units. I had a call today from a fella moving here from Atlanta. I gave hime some rental ideas and e-mailed him some choices. He may buy after getting his feet wet in the area. He was very glad I could shed light on his move to a strange city. I will find a way to keep up with him.

 We talked a while about what he did and is going to interview my son for a job in Insurance. He has been in Houston since Katrina and would like to come home. Its just good will and tends to pay off since most agents would no help him. I do not mind sharing if I can help someone. You just never know

                    

I do not know anything about this but looks like they want your content to build their business and then charge for the top spot. I just wonder how many agents will do this? I expect to see all kinds of companies pick up on this business model. I am not sure it is going to work due to the nature of blogging and the time it entails to do a good job. We will see what the future brings. The search engines cannot tell if content is good or helpful but the reader sure can. Any Ideas?

Agents from around the country are jumping into the CityBlogUSA resident blogging network and positioning themselves as local community real estate experts.

Looks like Localism to me with a different twist.

We tend to live in our own little real estate worlds but are connected by the internet to other locations. I am still amazed how different other areas of the country are. The FHA limits are great going up. I have not done but a couple of FHA loans in the last couple of years but expect to do more in the future. New Orleans has a huge chunk of it housing market flooded by Katrina and lost 40% of its population 2.5 years later. You can still get a house here for under 200k in the suburbs. How can people make a living in the expensive markets and afford housing. You can make $9 per hour working at the Golden Arches so New Orleans is not a cheap place to live.

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I just finsihed reading that the sales tax has been raised to 10% in Chicago. I find that amazing. Who would not buy something off Amazon when making a decent purchase and save on taxes, gas, time and hassle. More then likely many will begin to think the same way resulting for less taxes in the long run. Taxes do affect real estate values. These may be high state income tax rates, high property taxes, local sales taxes, and various fees that government loves to put on people. Then gambling is pushed as a way to help schools through lottery tickets, casinos, horse racing, and video poker. Many of these things hurt the poorest of our populations. Where has common sense gone. People do move leaving only the rich and the poor over time. Then people wonder why?

Finally Louisiana is waking up and cutting taxes on the state level for business. New Orleans has cut taxes on property this year by 30%. What do you think?