I don’t exactly understand your second question Danny. I’ll try to answer anyway. People are coming back, but the problem is housing, most people are living in the suburbs in JP (Jefferson Parish, in Louisiana we have Parishes instead of Counties). Any way they are living in JP, and working in OP (Orleans). There are tons of people who live in Baton Rouge right now and make the daily hour long commute to work down here. If more housing was avaiable more people would be living here. I mean people are taking anything. I looked at a shotgun double (a duplex with the rooms going sraight back, meaning no hallways), and this place was the type that the roaches and rats could hold you hostage in, but yet and still the owner just rented it out for $1400.00 a month on each side. His note is $500, meaning he has a cash flow of $2300.00 from this one property. Can you imagine what people are paying for the good properties, as far as renting goes atleast. Anyway it is easier to find the owners than you think. Like most people down here, since most families lost touch with each other, a lot of houses have signs with their new contact info posted somewhere on the house, and there you go a direct number to the owner. Okay, now that I have read it again I do get your second question. I would say it depends on the area, and you really have to price it right because some people, are trying to really inflate selling prices. Good places to buy would be Uptown, Lake View, Lake Terrace, lets just say anything on the Lake, unless it is past the Industrial Canal, that is New Oeleans East (NOE), where I was born and raised, and my house had 12 feet of water, plus unless your property was in Academy Park ( where my home is), Spring Lake, Eastover, McKendall Estates, and a few other places, it wasn’t worth too much before the storm. Now in my personal opinion the east is too shakey to invest in right now. I haven’t even done anything but gut my house out, yet. A few people are back rebuilding, and some got no water at all (don’t ask how, that is just how New Orleans is, one street had 5 feet of water, and around the corner was bone dry). I am and would really concentrate on the top dollar places before the storm, that are not in NOE. And like I said that would be Uptown, on the Lake, a few areas in Gentilly, select areas of Mid City, and Metairie and Kenner. Metairie and Kenner are in JP, but some properties over there got a few inches of water, and they are suburbs of New Orleans, so renovated properties are moving really fast out there, plus you only have to gut them up to 4 feet, and most of the eletrical is still good. So to answer your question in short YES you can sell fast out here,you just have to pick the right location. I think it will be kind of hard for you though, since you are not from down here. I mean you may think you have the perfect location, and it is really not. Real Estate here is really complicated, older homes are better than new, we all love that old that New Orleans style, a front porch and a nice yard is a must (a Magnolia tree in the yard would be nice), REAL hardwood floors throughout, along with numerous other things, offstreet parking is not easy to find, most of the time you’ll wonder if an area is zoned for residential or commercial; it’s just confusing if you don’t know how things are. Let me know if you come across something, and I’ll let you know, if it is a money maker.
Ohh, and thanks for the advice.
And thanks to you too, aak. Because of all the reasons I just listed, I can say no nothing is perfect but this is as close as it gets. And you have to remember this is a total gut, there is a big difference from a regular foreclosure, that needs a few rapairs, and a property drowned by Hurricane Katrina. So this property is priced perfectly, that I can say without a doubt. I am a little green when it comes to rehabbing, but I am well seasoned at getting rehabs at the right price. That say due diligence will be done. I will have the propery inspected, just to make sure there are no structural issues. I shouldn’t have to worry about the title, and liens but those will be checked out also.
Now I am in a pickle, my private investor is going on a trip and won’t look at anything until he gets back, and my two other PI’s claim they are tapped right now which is believable, and I can’t find a HML that will move fast enough for me on this one.
