A Glorious Sunday in Spring – New Orleans Style

While our Northern friends are still dealing with cold weather, today was one of those gorgeous spring days in New Orleans that make you forget that before long we will be living with the heat of the summer.

It was entirely too pretty to stay inside, so we hopped over the river and spent the morning walking through the French Market and Jackson Square. Soaking up the sights and the sounds of the city on a Sunday is a wonderful, inexpensive (FREE) way to spend a morning or afternoon and I was reminded how much I love this city that I was born and raised in.

We wandered through the French Market, ate alligator sausage on a stick and checked out the wares of the local vendors. The mouth watering aroma of roasted corn and sweet potatoes was drifting through the market…

On our way back upriver, we strolled along the Moon Walk which has a fabulous view of the West Bank of New Orleans and of the downtown area that hugs the banks of the river.

We wound our way around Jackson Square, stopping to watch a magician perform tricks, pausing to admire the work of local artists, ducking inside the cool interior of St. Louis Cathedral and admiring the beautiful architecture of the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans.

With a live band playing in the square right outside the Cabildo, we had to stop and listen to the talented street performers that were entertaining a huge crowd. It was easy to tell who the tourists were, because they don’t know the local songs…it was also easy to spot the residents wandering through, because they are the first ones to dance and sing along.

My out of town friends always swear that we have more fun than anyone else….what did you do with your Sunday?

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For information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

Marrero LA Investment Opportunities – 6 Doubles For Sale at a New Price!

One of the results of tightened lending restrictions is that many more people are waiting to buy a home as they clean up their credit or save additional money for a down payment.

In the meantime, they are renting and many of them prefer to live in a property that is more like a home and less like an apartment.  Here is your opportunity to own several rental properties on the West Bank of New Orleans.

Located right off of Ames Blvd. in Marrero LA, there are six doubles for sale that have recently been reduced to only $124,000 each.

Available properties and rents are:

5545-47 Jordan Drive -  5545 is currently rented for $800/month, 5547 is rented for $700/month

5549-51 Jordan Drive – both sides currently rented for $700/month each

5553-55 Jordan Drive – both sides currently rented for $700/month each

5557-59 Jordan Drive – both sides currently rented for $700/month each

5561-63 Jordan Drive – 5561 is currently rented for $800/month, 5563 is rented for $700/month

5565-67 Jordan Drive – 5565 is currently rented for $900/month (section 8), 5567 is rented for $700/month

Each of these all brick, 1800 square feet units are laid out the same and are next door to each other.  The owner has installed ceramic tile flooring in 11 of the units for easy clean up, making the occasional transition from one tenant to the next quick, easy and inexpensive.

Individual units have 2 bedrooms and 1 bath per side, with laundry rooms on the exterior.  Tenants pay all of their own utilities and supply their own appliances except for the range/ovens.  With central air and heat and newer roofs (replaced in 2006) they are available to purchase individually or as a package.

To schedule your private showing, please contact Terri Babineaux at (504) 258-5178 or terri@westbankliving.com.

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

Spring into Spring

I love spring. It’s my favorite season of all, even if it doesn’t last very long in New Orleans.  The long term forecast says that we are expected to have a cooler, wetter than normal spring in 2010.  I could do without the wet, but the idea of it not being sweltering hot anytime soon is wonderful.

One of my favorite signs of spring is the blooms on the Japanese Magnolia trees. They don’t last very long, so I had to grab the camera when I saw this one in Algiers this past weekend.  My neighbor tells me that the sure sign that winter has passed is when the pecan trees begin to leaf, but that hasn’t happened yet, so I’ll just be content with gorgeous pink blossoms.

Next weekend, we’ll spring forward into daylight savings time. I’m really looking forward to that extra hour of sunshine and the change to take more pictures all around the city.

HAPPY SPRING!

There’s a Difference Between a House and A Home – What Are You Buying?

You don’t have to look far to find opposing views on whether or not this is the “best” time to buy a house. Some folks say that with rates as low as they are and inventory high, it’s a great time to buy.  Others say that even if rates rise, prices will drop to offset them so that will have little impact.  Still others say that we haven’t seen the bottom of the market yet and that a large number of foreclosures are still to come, which could have the effect of depressing prices even further if they hit the market en masse.

Here’s the thing…are you looking for a house or a home?

If all you need is a roof over your head, there are plenty (and I mean plenty) of rental options out there. Lots of home sellers that grew frustrated with the slow market have decided to rent their homes instead of waiting for a buyer.

But a home…well that’s a different story.

A home is where you mark the kids’ growth on the door jambs.  A home is where you reminisce about that terrible paint color the living room used to be.  A home is where you put your personal stamp on each and every room and then stand back and allow yourself that moment of pride in what is truly yours.

When my husband and I were first married, we lived in an apartment.  White walls, white tile, white baseboards, cheap cabinets, beige carpet.  No matter what we did, how we tried to decorate it on our limited budget, it looked like an apartment.  Not to mention that we had to park in the lot and schlep our groceries up the stairs.  Or that we could hear the neighbors through the walls if they raised their voices just a little or turned the stereo up past 2 on the volume control.  It was just an apartment.

Later in our married life, we had the chance to rent a house.  It had a yard, but we weren’t allowed to add a gate for easier access.  It had pink carpet that we couldn’t change.  It had hideous floral wallpaper that I just had to live with.  It was a house, but it still wasn’t our home.

When we were first able to buy a home of our own, it was in the 1980s. Rates were outrageously high, but we either didn’t know or didn’t care.  All we knew was that we wanted a home of our own to raise our daughter in.  A place where we could choose to paint a wall at whim – or even just knock the darn thing down if we wanted to.  It had nothing to do with a return on our investment, it had nothing to do with resale value, it had nothing to do with a long term plan.  It was nothing more than the desire to give our family the same thing we had grown up with.  A real home.

Over the years, we’ve owned a couple more places. Each time we moved, we left a piece of ourselves behind.  Whether in a garden that we toiled in or in a basketball goal cemented next to a driveway, there were traces of the fact that we lived and loved and laughed and played within the walls of those properties.  Our current home (dubbed the money pit when we started renovations years ago) has a collection of memories that bond the family together, even the older children who have since moved out and onto their own.  Each year, the Christmas tree gets placed in the same spot, the Easter eggs get hidden in the same irises in the garden, the grill gets pulled out to the same spot for summer BBQs and the orange tree in the back corner of the yard provides sweet fruit.  We look back and laugh and remember all of the good times we’ve had here and look forward to the memories yet to be made.

So, are you looking for a house or a home?

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

The Countdown is On

With less than 60 days left before the tax credit expires, first time home buyers who want to take advantage of the credit are quickly running out of time to find a home and get it under contract before the April 30th deadline.

Yeah, I know…we’ve said this before. But the difference is that this time we haven’t heard even a peep about the possibility of an extension.  It looks like this is really the end of Uncle Sam handing out rewards for home purchases and those buyers who are sitting back and taking their time in finding a home may end up leaving $8,000 on the table that could have been in their pockets.

Take into account low rates, a large selection of West Bank homes for sale and the tax credit and I can’t remember a time that it’s been more advantageous to be a home buyer.

Of course, you should still decide whether you are really ready to be a home owner before making a such a large purchase. If you are, and you want to take advantage of the tax credit, then you truly don’t have any time to waste.

Need a little help getting started with that home search? Tell us what you are looking for and we’ll get a free list of homes that match your wants, needs and budget to you right away.

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

Good Photos Aren’t Optional When Selling Your Home

The speed with which consumers have embraced online shopping amazes me.  In just a few short years, the buying habits of most people have changed from window shopping at the mall to browsing across the internet, comparing quality and prices from the comfort of home.  This same change applies to the real estate industry as well.

With almost any information about homes for sale available online, buyers are able to narrow down their list of most interesting homes without spending an entire day driving from house to house…and most of them are doing this based on the photos of those properties.

The New Orleans MLS (Multiple Listing Service) allows an agent to upload up to 12 photos of each listing.  Is every home a candidate for 12 photos? Probably not.  Tenant occupied properties are notoriously hard to get good photos of – no matter how hard we try.  Homes that have been flooded and gutted usually don’t warrant more than a couple of exterior pictures and maybe one or two interior photos.

However, too many agents are still just using a couple of shots of the front of what might be some great homes and calling it advertisement or marketing.

The result? Houses that are passed over by buyers that assume there is something wrong with them.

I did a quick search of the active listings on the West Bank and of the 1,268 single family homes for sale here is what I found:

• 17% had only 1 photo
• 13% had between 2-5 photos
• 45% had between 6-10 photos
• 25% had the maximum number of photos allowed

These numbers don’t even get into the quality of photos being used.  Here’s what the buyers will see in that 17% that have only 1 picture to draw them in with:

• Photos taken from across the street that give a great view of the trees, but not much of the house
• People peeking out of the front doors (are they included in the sale?)
• Blurry and out of focus pictures (should I check my glasses?)
• Thumbnail photos that are so tiny there is no way a person could decide if it’s a house they might be interested in…combined with a description like “Must see to appreciate”
• Driveways and front yards so full of cars that it looks more like an auto lot than a home
• Pictures filled with garbage cans, overgrown grass and the shadows of the agent taking the photo
• Photos that are so crooked buyers are waiting for the house to slide right off of the screen

So what is my point? Sellers should be reviewing the marketing efforts of their agents.  Ask to see the photos they are using – if you don’t like them, demand additional or replacement photos.  Ask to see the MLS printout that buyers will get.  Don’t be afraid to ask that the descriptions be detailed and accurate…good spelling and grammar are bonuses as well, but that’s a topic for another day.

Marketing and showcasing your home in it’s best light is what your agent is being paid for. Be sure you are getting your money’s worth, because that shouldn’t be optional either.

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For information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

New Orleans West Bank Weekend Events – March 6-7, 2010

There is so much happening on the West Bank this weekend that my calendar is overflowing.   I don’t know how all of these great events ended up on the same days, but if you can’t have fun this Saturday and Sunday, well….there’s not much we can do to help you.  Rest up on Friday night, because the rest of the weekend is jam packed with West Bank Living!

Celebrating the 50 year history of Terrytown, the Spring festival is Saturday from 11am – 11pm at 641 Heritage Avenue. A 9:30 am parade through Terrytown will kick off the event, which is filled with food, fun and live music, a kids area, car show and more. The music schedule is:

12-3pm Amanda Shaw
4-7pm the TopCats
7:30-10:30pm Rockin Dopsie, Jr

Bring your lawn chairs to spend the day, but no outside food or drink is allowed.

Mo’s Pizza Fest

This year’s annual Mo’s Pizza Fest starts at 11:00am. A great local fundraiser, proceeds from the Festival benefit both the Westwego Fire Department and Westwego Police Department.

Don’t miss out on all the great food, fun, raffles and live music. Again, bring your lawn chairs, but leave the food and drink at home. Band schedule is:

Foret Tradition – 11:00am -12:30pm
Mojeaux- 1:00pm -3:00pm
Weathered – 3:30pm -4:30pm
Bag of Donuts – 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Five Finger Discount – 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Mo’s Pizza, 1112 Avenue H, Westwego, LA. 70094. Call 341-9650 or mosfest@gmail.com for more information.

Gretna Jubilee

The JPPSS Advanced Studies Academies on the Westbank are hosting the fourth annual Gretna Jubilee – a gala event, featuring restaurant tasting, open premium bar, charity auction and outdoor concert at the historic Gretna Farmer’s Market. This year’s event will take place on Saturday March 6, 2010 from 7p.m. – 11 p.m., in the open-air Gretna Market at the corner of 4th St and Huey P. Long Avenue in the City of Gretna.

The Jubilee is a benefit for charter schools, with food samplings from an expected 35 restaurants and this year featuring two bands – rock-a-billy sensation Gal Holiday and legendary New Orleans rockers Dash Rip Rock. Tickets to the event are $50 and include food, an open premium bar, concert and participation in the auction.

Visit www.gretnajubilee.com for more information on the event.

Louisiana Saturday Night

A family friendly fund raiser being held by the Krewe of Choctaw, Louisiana Saturday Night kicks off at 6 pm at the VFW Post 3121, 475 Monroe Street in Gretna.

It’s a Louisiana Saturday Night party with the Jimmy Thibodeaux Band playing all of your favorite Louisiana music from 6-10pm. The event is free and open to the public. The Kids are welcome… Choctaw will be selling fried catfish dinners and drinks and you can dance all night long! Come dressed as you are from the festivals as they roll back the rug and just have some fun.

Algiers Friendship Day

As if Saturday wasn’t enough to wear anyone out, Sunday is Friendship Day in Algiers Point.  One of the most anticipated block parties of the year, with food, drinks and live music from Outlaw Jim and the Whiskey Benders and Algiers’ own Chicken on the Bone.

The weather is supposed to be delightful, so stake out a spot for your blanket on the levee or bring your lawn chairs to the corner of Olivier and Patterson.  The music starts at noon, with an official end time of 4 pm, but this party usually lasts into the night.  Kid friendly, it’s a wonderful way to welcome spring to the West Bank.

That’s my calendar.  What are you doing this weekend?

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For information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

What Are You Giving Up for Lent?

In a city with such strong Catholic traditions, it’s impossible to not hear that question today (Ash Wednesday). I have friends that are giving up chocolate, sugar, carbs, cussing…and one jokester who decided to give up cooking and cleaning

In keeping with the spirit of the season between Mardi Gras and Easter, here are a few suggestions for what home buyers and sellers on the West Bank of New Orleans might want to give up this year:

Home Seller Suggestions

Give up making your home hard to show.  We’ve talked about this before, but when you are selling your home  it is critical to make it easy for agents to get their buyers in.  Have a plan for what to do with your pets during showings, for keeping the house neat and tidy for those last minute appointments and allow a lockbox to be installed for ease of access.

Give up overpricing. Take a fresh look at the comparable sales in your neighborhood and make adjustments as needed.  I know you love your house…..but buyers are looking at the numbers and if you don’t fit within them, their response will be “Next!”

Give up thinking that you shouldn’t help with buyer closing costs.  A large percentage of the homes sold on the West Bank last year included seller contributions towards closing costs.  It is no longer an anomaly to receive a request for assistance in an offer, and if you are not willing to keep your eye on the bottom line, you may be spending a much longer time on the market.

Home Buyer Suggestions

Give up working with several different real estate agents.  Choose one professional to assist you in finding the right home.  It’s no secret that we all have access to the MLS and the listings that meet your needs.  Truthfully, if most agents find out that you are working with others, you may find yourself without an agent at all.

Give up making extremely low offers.  While the market has changed in the last few years, most home sellers are not desperate and some of them are insulted by offers that are pennies on the dollar.  The exception to this rule is dealing with bank owned properties, because banks don’t get insulted….but they do compare multiple offers and accept or counter the highest and best.  If you are just fishing for a bargain, you might be losing out on some terrific deals because you felt you had to offer far below what might be a realistic asking price.  Ask your agent for comparable sale information before you decide on an offer price.

Give up asking for the sun, the moon and the stars after a home inspection.  No house is perfect.  Louisiana purchase agreements even state that offers are made based on the apparent condition of a property.  A home inspection is to allow you to uncover hidden problems with a home, not to provide a basis for beating up a seller who may just tell you to take a hike.

More home buying tips

More home selling tips

    

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

What West Bank Home Buyers and Sellers Need to Know About the New FHA Guidelines

This week, David Stevens, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner, announced policy changes to how FHA loans will be handled later this year.  We don’t have specific dates or all of the fine print yet, but here is the gist of the changes:

The upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) will be increased from 1.75% to 2.25% of the loan

This cost is typically rolled into a home buyer’s loan, increasing the monthly payment.  The additional half percent MIP charge will result in negligible changes in payment amounts for most borrowers.  This change is expected to go into effect in the spring.

New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum 580 FICO (credit) score in order to take advantage of the 3.5% down payment program

This is change is unlikely to impact very many buyers simply because the majority of lenders have been requiring a minimum 620 FICO for some time now.  If, however, a lender is making loans to borrowers with credit scores of less than 580, the down payment requirement will be increased to 10%.  These changes are expected to be put into place this summer.

A reduction in the allowable amount of seller assistance to FHA borrowers

Currently, the maximum seller contribution towards closing costs and pre-paids is capped by FHA at 6% of the purchase price.  The new guidelines will reduce this amount to 3% of the purchase price.  This change is also expected to be put into place this summer.

Of the three changes, the reduction in the amount of seller assistance is most likely to impact buyers in the New Orleans area.  FHA loans made up 43% of the single family home sales on the West Bank of New Orleans in 2009.  53% of the FHA borrowers received some type of seller assistance with their purchase.  Of buyers receiving seller contributions in 2009, a whopping 64% received in excess of 3%.

Now, this does not mean that none of the sales would have taken place under the new guidelines.  There were many that were just over the 3% threshold that I’m sure would have still closed if the new rules were in place.  However, there were a substantial number of buyers who appeared to get almost all of the money needed to close (except the down payment) in the form of seller assistance.  These are the buyers that may be pushed out of the market in 2010 as they will be forced to save longer and have more of their own cash invested in their home purchase.  Don’t get me wrong…I don’t think that having more of a financial stake in a home purchase is a bad thing, as it tends to result in buyers who are truly ready to be home owners.

What’s the possible impact on West Bank home sales?

For buyers, this means you will need more cash on hand for your FHA home purchase.  Not only do you need the 3.5% down payment, but the cap on seller contributions towards your closing costs and prepaids (taxes, hazard insurance, flood insurance, lender fees, etc) means that you must have a larger amount of money saved before attempting to purchase a home.  For some people, this will result in a longer waiting time until you can buy.

For sellers, this could possibly mean a decrease in the number of qualified buyers for your home. A smaller pool of buyers equates to a reduction in demand.  A reduction in demand usually equates to lower selling prices.

If you have been waiting to put your home on the market until later in 2010, my recommendation is to do it as soon as possible – before these changes go into effect, since we do not know what the fall out might be.  This advice only applies to those sellers that fall within the current FHA loan limits.

• For more details, read the entire HUD release here

As always, your lender is the best source of detailed mortgage advice for your particular situation.  If you need a referral to a local FHA lender, please contact the West Bank Living Team and we would be happy to help you.

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team.

It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

From The West Coast to the Gulf Coast | Your PCS to NAS JRB New Orleans

A little bird recently put a bug in my ear (yeah, I’m know I’m mixing metaphors or whatever you call them) and told me that there are going to be a good number of military relocations from San Diego to NAS JRB New Orleans in the next couple of months.  If you are amongst those that leaving behind sun, sand and an ocean view, let me welcome you to New Orleans and to the West Bank.

I was recently in San Diego and Newport Beach and I have to say that I was hard pressed to leave.  It’s a stunningly beautiful place and the weather is exceptional – it’s no wonder that real estate is so expensive there.

Moving anywhere new always brings at least a little bit of culture shock…from the different weather to the strange local customs and food.  Although, I have to say that I think you’ll enjoy our seafood a lot more than we enjoyed what they served in California.  No offense, but adding a little seasoning wouldn’t kill anyone there, would it?

Anyway, as you prepare for your move, it’s always a good idea to do a little research about your new city.  Since you’ve probably already heard the stories about Mardi Gras and the French Quarter, it’s up to me to let you know a few things you might not have been told.

• Despite our reputation for debauchery, New Orleans is a kid friendly community with plenty of fun to be had by families.  From the world class zoo and aquarium to the festivals that are held all around the city and in the adjoining parishes, there is always something to do to combat the dreaded “I’m bored….”
• Culture abounds in New Orleans, with an active arts community including the oldest opera association in the United States.
• Outdoor activities such as camping, hiking and canoeing are all available in the area when you know where to find them
• The weather in New Orleans is a far cry from what you are used to in San Diego.  While April and October offer some of the most beautiful days in the city, the rest of the months can be a little challenging.
• When compared to southern California, we have very affordable homes.  Before deciding on a housing budget, be sure to check your 2010 BAH Rates.

And, if all else fails, the beach is only a couple of hours away….

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For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team.

It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!

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