When you buy a New Orleans home we will push, prod, cajole, plead and beg to be sure that you perform a home inspection. It’s in your best interests and we don’t want you to find out down the road that there were issues with a house that would have caused you to either (a)…
Category Archives: Real Estate FAQ
Finding Your Flood Zone When Buying a New Orleans West Bank Home
One of the most common questions we get about a property is “what’s the flood zone?” That can actually be a tricky question, because many long time residents are grandfathered in to old zones that have changed over the years and the old zone is what they disclose when selling their home. It’s not that…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | How Do I File for a Homestead Exemption?
New home owners in Louisiana can save several hundred dollars a year on property taxes by taking advantage of the Homestead Exemption. What is the Homestead Exemption? The Louisiana Homestead Exemption is an exemption on parish and state property taxes for the first $75,000 in value of your home. There are some taxes that are…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | Who Orders the Appraisal?
Buyers and sellers alike often have questions about the appraisal process. Sometimes, we’ll have a home seller who offers up an existing appraisal on their home in the hopes of speeding up the process or ensuring that the value contained in it is used. They are usually disappointed when we tell them that it can’t…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | What is a Back-up Offer?
With so many homes to choose from in the New Orleans real estate market, we aren’t seeing multiple people lining up for the same house or as many back up offers as we used to. However, from time to time, it does still happen. What is a back-up offer? When a seller has already accepted…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | How Do I Find Foreclosed Properties?
Skimming through the most recent West Bank real estate market reports, it becomes obvious that a large percentage of today’s home buyers are on the hunt for bargain priced foreclosed and bank owned homes. After all, who doesn’t want a deal, right? But, in their quest to find that hidden gem, many buyers are spending…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | How Do I Prepare for an Open House?
Holding an open house, whether for the public or for other REALTORs, can be a quick and easy way to expose your home to a large number of people in a short period of time. While we’ve found that public open houses no longer attract many visitors in the New Orleans area, agent open houses…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | What Is a Buyer’s Agent?
A true buyer’s agent works only with home buyers. They are well versed in the local real estate market (as every agent should be) and have a slew of behind the scenes professionals just waiting to help you with the purchase of your home. Lenders, home inspectors, termite inspectors, roofers, plumbers, HVAC technicians…you name it and they usually have someone at their fingertips that can assist you with any issues that arise during your home purchase.
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ | Who Pays the REALTOR Commission?
I’ve found that one of the biggest hesitations that first time home buyers have about working with an agent is the cost. Who pays the REALTOR commission? In a nutshell, the seller usually pays the commission of both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent. When a home owner decides to sell, they have a…
New Orleans Real Estate FAQ: When and Where Do We Close?
Once you have found the perfect house, or received an offer on the home you are selling, one of the most important dates that gets added to your calendar is the Act of Sale. The Act of Sale is the actual closing, where all of the documents are signed, money is exchanged and the keys…
