Kevin Lily—Broker,
Showcase Properties:

“We had a good market before the hurricanes, but now we have a tremendous market. Obviously, prices are going up. Appraisers are telling us that the most we can expect them to generally accept is a 10 percent rise in value. In some instances, however, property values have gone up as much as 20-30 percent in four or five weeks. It’s hard to tell where the market is heading.

“The first days after the hurricanes were chaotic; no communication made it extremely difficult to help families find housing. There’s been a massive population shift. Seventy percent of our buying clientele are from St. Bernard, 20 percent from Metairie and 10 percent from across the country. In the four years we’ve been generating Internet buyer leads, I could count on both hands the number of people who’ve contacted us from St. Bernard Parish to move here.

“The storms have brought out the best and the worst in people. We resolve issues between agents and parties. But now issues have gotten bigger and more expensive, and we’ve noted more lawyers involved in transactions, because everybody’s worried—and often the expectations of buyers and sellers don’t jibe.

“Our quality of life, our outstanding school system and the quality of our government make us primed to become the new New Orleans. It’s going in that direction as folks decide not to rebuild homes and businesses in flood-prone areas. We have the ability and the resources for housing, business and industry to relocate here.”

Terry Moore—Broker,
Latter & Blum:

“Katrina put a tremendous demand on rentals and homes in our area. The increase in activity has had an effect on pricing, with a lack of housing bumping some of the prices up. Obviously, properties that are undamaged, or sustained little damage, are in stronger demand, and buyers are willing to pay more—5-10 percent more than before the storm. Frankly, as far as the huge increases go, we try not to be a part of that. Appraisers, lenders, and insurance companies aren’t going to go along with those practices, either. The market adjusts those properties that are unreasonably overvalued.

“Properties priced fairly are consumed quickly. Many buyers have lost everything they owned—their homes, their jobs and even loved ones. Sellers shouldn’t take advantage of those peoples’ misfortune by overpricing. With such a limited supply of livable homes, of course, some buyers will pay a premium for a home they’re set on buying.”

Mark Bennett—Broker,
Keller-Williams:

“The storms brought a surge of activity in residential and commercial sales and rentals as families and companies were displaced. Demand was high before the hurricanes, but now we’re in a hot market situation that keeps spiraling upward. There have always been overpriced properties in the marketplace, and the market adjusts for that. With higher demand, however, come properties with higher asking prices that might sell or just sit there. Some sellers think they won the lottery because they weren’t damaged, and overprice their homes. Lenders won’t play that game, so these sellers just have to hope for a cash sale. I expect a three-to-six month shakeout before the market settles.
“All economic indicators predict even more of a boom, as developers from around the country are buying huge tracts in Baton Rouge, Hammond and our area for future growth.

“Keller-Williams agents around the country raised money that was deposited in the bank accounts of all the company’s agents whose homes were devastated by the hurricanes. Each agent affected was given up to $5,000 by those inter-company donations,” Mark adds, proudly.