Find out about the latest news in Madisonville, Louisiana as well as St. Tammany Parish. We will keep you “tuned in” to all of the information about Southeast Louisiana as well as the real estate industry in general. Many new home buyers are concerned about the market, mortgage information, and builder trends. We plan on keeping you as up to date as possible on these and many more topics. There is a lot going on in the Greater New Orleans area, so you will have plenty to read!

Eighth Straight Week of a Rise in Home Purchasing

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The housing market is up and running even through the pandemic. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Application Survey, there was an increase by 9.3% in the Market Composite Index for the week ending on June 5 from the week before on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was the highest level of purchasing activity since January.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey has been the leading indicator of the housing and mortgage finance activity since 1990. The survey’s purpose is to obtain and provide related information to mortgage originators, servicers, investors, other participants in the housing market and economists and others interested in the current pace of economic activity.

The Market Composite Index is a measure of the volume of mortgage loan applications. The index covers all mortgage applications that have occurred during the week. The data includes conventional and government applications, all fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and all adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), whether for a purchase or to refinance.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate went up one basis point from last week’s record low. Last week reported a historic low of 3.3% which was 8 basis points from the previous week. This has not slowed purchase applications which are still increasing after nine consecutive weeks. In fact, this marks the highest level of purchase applications in over eleven years.

Refinancing has been slower but has taken a sharp turn this week. The report detailed an 11.4% increase from last week’s activity.  According to eyeonhousing.org, “With the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement of an accommodative monetary stance in order to aid recovery efforts, a low-interest-rate environment is bound to continue for the short-term, effectively benefiting housing demand.”

People are seeing the benefit in homeownership as home purchasing continues to rise for the eighth straight week increasing 5.3% from the week before.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Strong Home Sales In May Lead To Strongest In Over A Decade

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Nice outdoor area overlooking the pond. The backyard is a nice space for entertaining. The porch overlooks the nice view.Worries are warranted with the dramatic slowdown in March because of the pandemic. The U.S. economy was basically shut down late winter and all spring of this year. Builders, realtors, lenders and homeowners alike were surprised that newly built homes jumped to almost 13% annually according to the U.S. Census. This is the strongest May pace since 2007 before the economy crashed in 2008.

“As housing demand has picked up in recent weeks, builders have shifted sales to homes not yet under construction – a 20% year-over-year gain for such sales,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

In May homebuilders added 226,000 workers alone to meet the demand for new housing. The housing industry is making a quick recovery after the stay-at-home orders were lifted from Covid-19. Covid-19 has opened many potential homebuyers’ eyes to purchasing a new home that is not yet lived in and purchasing in the suburbs away from the inner city turmoil the pandemic caused and could potentially cause again in the future.

“The rapid improvement in sales of new homes may also reflect a change in consumer preferences, with buyers showing a newfound penchant for cleaner, never-lived-in homes — although the long-term durability of that trend remains to be seen,” said Matthew Speakman, an economist at Zillow.

CEO of Lennar, Stuart Miller believes that the shelter-supply-constrain that Covid-19 has produced will inturn allow all forms of shelter to thrive in the housing market and will be sustainable for the next couple of years to come.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

This secondary bedroom is all white. The hardwood floors are rich in color. It is open and bright with custom lighting.

Two New Riverfront Restaurants For the North Shore

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Guest bathroom with a shower tub combo. The bathroom has a large vanity and nice custom tile floors.Although the two restaurants are new to the area, the building and location are not. These two different style restaurants are located in a well-known riverfront spot in Madisonville that used to house the casual restaurant Friends.

Well known in the area, Friends was a causal restaurant that sat along the Tchefuncte River. In 2012 it was severely damaged by storm surge from Hurrican Isaac and a year after it was completely destroyed by a fire. The building was rebuilt in 2015 but by 2017 it was closed down and taken over by creditors. In 2018, Greg Lala and Stephen Guidry, owners of Dixie RV SuperStores, purchased the property and got approval for the two new restaurants, Tchefunte’s and The Anchor.

Both restaurants plan to open summer 2020, Tchefuncte’s July 18th and The Anchor June 26th. Techefuncte’s, located on the top level, is an upscale restaurant with a bar and several private dining rooms. The Anchor, located downstairs is an open-air dockside restaurant and bar.

The three-story building has been redesigned for the two different style restaurants. Tchefuncte’s will have its own separate entrance that will lead upstairs to the restaurant. The upscale dining is an approach to “regional American with a blend of global influences and Louisiana flavor.” The Anchor is a family-friendly riverfront tavern serving sandwiches and barbecue-style dishes.

“The goal is to be approachable to everyone, whether they’re hanging with the kids downstairs, coming up for a weeknight meal at the bar or coming back on Friday for date night to really do it up,” said Michael Gottlieb, executive chef and operations director for the two restaurants.

The top floor where Tchefuncte’s is located was rebuilt with smaller rooms for a more intimate feel. The main dining room has a bistro feel with 55 seats. There are counter-top seats that look directly into the kitchen. The private dining rooms look out over the river and a few of them open up to elevated decks. The food will have a lot of local influence that can be found in dishes such as Louisiana sweet potato ravioli gratin; crispy oysters with red rice and andouille sabayon; herb- and Dijon-crusted chicken with shaved country ham and raclette cheese; and roasted scallops with black garlic; alongside an array of steaks and a changing roasted meat special, from lamb to porchetta.

The downstairs will be The Anchor which consists of a playground for kids, a bar for adults, seating around counters, a cluster of deck chairs with a deck that leads to a dock for boaters to pull up and partake. Patrons can enjoy dishes such as shrimp po-boys with brown butter, deviled crab with jambalaya, broiled or fried seafood platters and smoked beef short ribs.

The property has had many issues in the past and has been a thorn to many residents’ side. For this reason, The Anchor will close around sunset and 88 new parking spots have been added to be part of a “good neighbor” effort.

“We want the people around us to appreciate us as much as we approach being here,” Gottlieb said.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Hansom stand-alone tub featuring custom plumbing fixtures that sit at the center of the tub. The tub is surrounded by custom tile backsplash.

Federal Funds To Hold Close To Zero Through 2022

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In a press release sent out on June 10, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced it would keep the federal funds rate close to 0% through 2022. The benchmark rate is currently 0% to .25% and the central bank plans to “deploy policy tools to underwrite an emerging recovery for the U.S. economy from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As the U.S. economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, home building and housing, in general, will be the leading factor in the economic recovery. So far this is foreshadowed by the reports of gains for mortgage applications over the past two months and rising newly-built home sales.

The Fed also discussed the course of actions it will keep doing to support low mortgage interest rates and housing demand. For the time being, they will continue their quantitative easing policy. This means the Fed will purchase $80 billion in Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities every month.

The housing industry looks strong and has a promising future for the next several years. In fact, the Fed forecast a strong bounce back with annual growth at a 5% rate for the year 2021. With the rates near zero, the home building and housing markets have a great two years ahead of them. The Federal Reserve is ensuring there is credit available for households and businesses during these uncertain times. The Fed states they will, “do whatever it takes to return labor markets and the economy to where they were prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.”

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Homeownership in the U.S. Highest in 8 Years

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According to the current findings of the (HVS) which is comprised of data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans are deeply valuing homeownership in these current times. Since most have been following the stay-at-home orders, many have spent a lot of time at home. The home we live in has become our families’ safe place.

The country has seen continued growth in homeownership, in fact, homeownership is up 65.3% for the first quarter of 2020. This number has been increasing since 2016 and is the highest the country has witnessed in eight years.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported 2.7 million homeowners were added in the first quarter of 2020 bumping up the homeownership rate. The highest rise was in the households under 35 at 1.9 points from a year ago, households ages 35 – 44 had a 1.2 percentage points raise, households in the age group of 55 – 64 had a 0.9% gain while households 65 and up only had a 0.2 percentage point gain.

During these unprecedented times, homeownership has become a very important part of many American’s lives. Families feel that they have a shelter in place when it comes to their homes. Not only is there a monetary value place on your home but an emotional value as well.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Local Community First Responders Get Support From Local Home Building Industry

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This home features a side entry garage and a covered front porch. The house exterior features white brick and wood siding.Reports show that the home building industry will be one of the biggest support systems to rebuild the U.S. economy after the economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is the industry helping the economy but members of the home building industry are responding to the needs of their communities.

There have been many who have supported essential workers during the pandemic with food. Birch & Beam Custom Homes based out of Mifflinburg, Pa. provided lunches to emergency medical personnel at Geisinger Medical Center and Evangelical Community Hospital. Birch & Beam had help from a local restaurant and Wels Market for the food and Kopper Konnection, a local electrical contractor, delivered lunches and groceries. Another builder out of St. Louis, Fischer & Frichtel Homes along with the March of Dimes, provided meals to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“Our company values relationships and connections with the community. During this crazy time of fear and anxiety, we felt that we were able to step forward and offer hope to the people that we serve here in Central Pennsylvania,” said Birch & Beam owner Delmar Bender.

The Home Builders Association of Dayton (Ohio) and the Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton sold raffle tickets to support the local Ronald McDonald House. Nine hundred tickets in a community-wide 50/50 raffle were sold and the proceeds help supply lodging, food, transportation and support to families with sick and injured children. The Ronald Mcdonald House also provided lodging for frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic.

“The House has been a symbol of hope and peace to Daytonians for more than 40 years, and, during these times they’ve seen their own homes as a source of safety and comfort. With those two sentiments, it is important that we support the House and homeownership for all throughout the region,” said HBA of Dayton CEO Eric Farrell.

The Greater Orlando Builders Association (GOBA) and its GOBA Foundation provided assistance to Embrace Families, a local organization that serves vulnerable children and families in Central Florida, by holding a week-long donation drive. The drive raised over $9,000 which was used to fill care packages for 115 older youth in Orlando’s foster care system and allowed Embrace Families Youth Services and Foundations to deliver 100 care packages that included a gift card to Publix Super Markets, snacks, toilet paper, masks and information to help keep them safe and healthy.

 

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Dallas Builders Association organized compliance efforts for new social distancing guidelines and took part in drives that gave out hand sanitizer and mask. Phil Crone, the Dallas Builders Association who also had the virus, donated plasma that contains antibodies that will help with the treatment of the disease or prevention of COVID-19 in others.

“I’m keenly aware of the terrible toll the virus is taking, especially on older people. That’s why I’ve started convalescent plasma donations. I’m grateful I can help someone having a harder time with it than I did,” Crone said.

The National Home Builders Association is highlighting these continued efforts across the country throughout local communities. Stories can be shared via email to [email protected].

Click Here For the Source of the Information.