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!

Deer Park Opens in Bedico Creek as New Home Sales Rise

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New home builder Alvarez Construction Company has joined the group of builders at Bedico Creek Preserve in St. Tammany Parish.  As a new home community builder, Alvarez Construction is proud to introduce new homes for sale in Deer Park, Bedico Creek’s newest new home Neighborhood.  Deer Park is located just down AudubonGardenia Parkway from our almost sold out neighborhood of Longview and just down the street from Cypress Crossing.  Similar to Deer Park, Cypress Crossing is a new home neighborhood located within the master planned community of Bedico Creek which features 3 exclusive builders.  Since its opening to the public in the spring of 2014, many homes for sale have been built, and 4 of these new homes are currently under contract.

Bedico Creek’s new home sales have reflected national trends in both our new homes for sale and resale homes available.  The National Association of Home Builder reported that new homes sales rose 7.8% in February, 2015 which is the highest reported sales pace increase in 7 years (February, 2008).

“Today’s numbers are a great start to the spring buying season,” said Tom Woods, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo. “Hopefully, this is an indicator of how the rest of the year will fare.”

Deer Park opens in Bedico Creek as new home sales rise nationally, and move-up home buyers in St. Tammany Parish will have an affordable option to purchase a new home for sale.  Deer Park has one exclusive builder – Alvarez Construction – and features new homes ranging in price from the $230’s – $250’s.  The open floorplans available will range in size from 1,600 – 1,949 square feet and will feature 3 and 4 bedroom layouts.  3 new homes in Deer Park are available for sale now.  To buy a new home or build on a new lot for sale in Deer Creek, Contact Jose Amaya at 985-237-9189 or visit our community and the Deer Park on-site sales office which is open daily from 1pm – 5pm and by appointment for other hours.

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Town of Madisonville – Home to Many St. Tammany Parish Activities

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Location, location, location; that is the buzzword when making the decision to enter into a new home sales investment.  Bedico Creek Preserve is located just over 7 miles from the town of Madisonville – home to many St. Tammany Parish activities right on the Tchefuncte River and Lake Pontchartrain.  For its size of just over 780 documented residents according to information from the 2010 Census, Madisonville, Louisiana offers a suprising number of annual festivals, art shows, and other entertainment events to its residents.  For the “town proper” of Madisonville inhabiting such a small physical area in St. Tammany Parish, the amount of planned and advertised activities is actually a pretty substantial list.  Homeowners and home buyers of Bedico Creek Preserve can experience the rich Louisiana culture of the Greater New Orleans area just a short drive from our master planned, conservation community outside the town limits of Madisonville.

Madisonville is packed with many different restaurants and bars, some right on the Tchefuncte River, that serve fresh Gulf and Lake Pontchartrain seafood.  On many weekends, our residents can listen to live music, enjoy Cajun madisonville-home-to-st-tammany-parishcuisine, and find something to do either on the lake or the river during the warm spring and summer months.  On March 7th, the Madisonville Garden Club will celebrate spring with its annual Garden Show which will be set up on the riverfront and town hall lawn from 9am – 3pm.  Food vendors and landscape / plant vendors will be selling their wares and displaying a variety of stunning plant and flower arrangements.  In addition to shrubs, flowers, fruit trees, bushes, and house plants for sale, there will be outdoor specialty items for sale such as cypress furniture, pine straw, and bird houses.   The Garden Show will raffle off several goodie baskets to the tune of $1 / raffle ticket and $6 for 5 tickets.

If homeowners at Bedico Creek are interested in being part of the largest jam session in St. Tammany Parish, the town of Madisovnille will be holding its annual Acoustic Riverfront Jam which is free and open to the public to sit on the riverfront and enjoy live music.  Registration for the jam will begin on Saturday, April 25th at 10am.  This “open mic” environment features bluegrass, country, gospel, and oldies music with musicians of every age, location, and genre participating.  The musicians will receive a ticket for a potluck lunch during the event.

Living so close to the town of Madisonville is just one of the perks of buying a home or lot in our master planned community.  You can also enjoy our amenities such as 500 acres of pristine wilderness which has designated hiking and biking trails, several small lakes and ponds for fishing and boating, a swimming pool, a disc golf course, and a pavilion perfect for entertaining.  For More Information about Bedico Creek, Contact Us at 985-845-4200 or e-mail [email protected].

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4th Quarter Housing Stats Indicate Steady Real Estate Market Recovery

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It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon, and it has  pushed the United States out of the Recession with its influence on the employment market and loosening credit requirements.  Even though, technically the real estate market was partially responsible for the crash that set in the largest Recession the world has seen since the Great Depression, the1-1049-cypress-crossing-drive-exterior-front recovery of the real estate market was a big part of fixing what was broken with the economy.  However, the upward climb has been, as cautiously predicted by economists, a sometimes painfully slow one as housing has been gaining traction over the course of 1.5 years.  Once the bottom was hit, and the market “turned” back upwards, the growth has been unstoppable which is why 4th quarter, 2014 housing stats indicate steady real estate market recovery numbers instead of “record-breaking” substantial growth.  The only sharp increases that the recovering home market has seen were the unprecedented jumps in home values for many months during 2013 and 2014.  Rising house prices were good news for existing homeowners looking to sell or existing homeowners trying to get out from “underwater” in their existing home loans, but they were a cautionary tale for Wall Street which feared a “double-dip” Recession.

As home prices have leveled off, and mortgage interest rates have continued to remain low, and existing and new 156-st-calais-place-exterior-1home sales have seen record-breaking months; all signs point to the real estate market returning to normal levels in a couple to a few years from now.  Even though this may not seem fast enough for some people, it is still really good news for the struggling economy and job market.  Housing affordability wnet up to 62.8% of new and existing homes for a “typical” family in the US earning approximately $63,900 in household income in the 4th quarter.  The Leading Markets Index (LMI) which measures a comparison of current market conditions to “normal” market conditions – Pre-Recession – showed that 69% of the 350 tested markets showed improvement of real estate conditions from 4th quarter, 2013 to 4th quarter 2014.  11 markets have met or exceeded normal conditions in 2014.  Finally, new home sales in January, 2015, went down only .2% from the previous month which is definitely a good sign as the harsh winter conditions should have vastly affected these numbers.  The supply of new homes on the market to sell was only a 5.4 month supply which is considered normal and sustainable.

Overall, the real estate market continues to move steadily forward with gains and increases occurring either every month or every quarter according to what is being predicted by economists.  The only way to turn this marathon back into a sprint would if there were tremendous recovery signs in the United States employment market which include substantial wage increases, people flooding back into the job market, the availability of full time employment, and a jump in the creation of new jobs.  This, more than anything, would create a stronger and faster recovering real estate market nationwide.

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Garden Homes Available for 55+ Home Buyers

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The term baby boomer gets tossed around a lot in the United States with the insinuation that their generation has the largest amount of “members,” so everything that happens in the next 30 years as they start to retire will need to be tailor-fit to their needs and lifestyle choices.  The social security system will need to be upgraded, and marketing 1-133-st-calais-place-exterior-front-1efforts will need to be targeted to meet the needs of this large population.  This is also seen in the housing market where housing options for baby boomers will need to be included in any builder’s sales and marketing efforts.  One of the styles of homes that is popular for empty nesters is the garden home.  Garden homes are the luxurious upgrade to the pool house of larger estates.  They sit on less land, have slightly larger square footage than a pool house, and they are typically surrounded by other homes of the same style.  Low-maintenance is the buzz word that is applicable to garden homes because there is little to no yard to maintain or the community provides a landscape or yard service contract which is paid for in the homeowner association dues.

Garden homes are a “move-down” option for baby boomers who are retiring and looking for a smaller footprint because they have no children.  Some garden home communities are built in the style of duplex condos with each 156-st-calais-place-family-room-1garden home sharing a wall but having separate courtyard or yard areas and sometimes their own garage.  In St. Tammany Parish, there are several new home communities which feature garden homes – one of which is Bedico Creek Preserve.  In our Garden / Courtyard Neighborhood, you can find homes for sale as well as lots for sale for you to buy or build a custom garden home that specifically meets your lifestyle requirements.  Many of the builders at Bedico Creek Preserve offer ornate and unique private courtyard customizations with brick pillars and columns and gorgeous peaceful fountains.  Even with less square footage, floorplan arrangements give the illusion of space with open airy rooms, tons of windows and light, and space used efficiently to create architectural designs and spaces to enhance the custom home design beauty.

For 13 consecutive months, builder confidence in the 55+ market has been increasing since the index was established in 2008.  The 4th quarter of 2014 saw the highest increased in builder confidence in this market in 7 years.  Many330-st-calais-courtyard-r baby boomers reached retirement age with savings and retirement accounts intact, and they have been gradually returning to the real estate market because home values have stabilized, and it is now possible to sell an existing larger home to be able to purchase / downgrade to a more affordable and sustainable housing location.  In the Greater New Orleans area, the garden homes available for 55+ home buyers are plentiful as this is a popular and affordable house style that was adopted during and after the Recession. If you are interested in purchasing a garden or courtyard home in St. Tammany Parish or building a garden home on a lot in Madisonville, Louisiana, Contact Bedico Creek Preserve at 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

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FHA Reducing Loan Costs for Credit Challenged Buyers

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There is no question that the Recession affected both the mortgage industry as well as the home buying process when it comes to obtaining a loan to buy a new home.  Mortgage companies, lenders, and banks had their feet “held to the fire” and were required to jump through multiple hoops in all categories and steps to the loan procurement process. HUD-logo Even now, on average, it takes 6 weeks to 3 months just to refinance your existing home even if you have (and have had) a steady job, money in the bank, equity in your home, and excellent credit.  The strict requirements that lenders are applying to loan applicants are also being applied to their own corporations with stiff penalties and sanctions in store for any bank or mortgage company that even comes close to “bending the rules.”

With that being said, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who were able to restructure and survive the housing market falter have now found a way, along with the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) to finally bring some relief to first-time home buyers by offering loans with either a 3.5% or 3% down payment of the loan.  Now, the FHA has reduced the cost of its loan for first-time home buyers, dropping from 1.35% of the loan value to just .85% of the loan value.  The FHA provides an affordable loan to all home buyers and does not, for the most part, discriminate against home buyers who are “credit challenged,” those who may have a less than stellar credit score.  Therefore, as long as you are above the threshold of the credit score required by the FHA, your loan cost will be the same whether you are 5 points above the threshold or Freddie-Mac200 points above the threshold.

FHA loans are the most beneficial for custom home buyers who cannot afford a 10% down payment on their loan, who may have had struggles with credit in the past, and first-time home buyers.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were established just after the Great Depression as lenders backed by government bonds in order to allow low-income Americans to be able to buy a house.  They have since privatized and restructured, but they are still focused on helping low-income or struggling families afford and pay for their new house.  With the latest reductions in down payments and loan costs, it could now be affordable and plausible for younger professionals to graduate from college, start their careers, and form their own households by buying a new home for the first time.

If you are in the market for a new home to buy in St. Tammany Parish on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana, come Visit Bedico Creek Preserve in Madisonville, Louisiana to view 9 new Neighborhoods of Homes for Sale within our masterplanned community just outside of Covington, LA.  We have 18 builders building new and custom homes in our subdivision.  Many builders can and will build any size or type of home that meet our architectural standards.  Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected] today to find out more about our new home community!

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The Housing Market Strongly Affects Overall Economy in 2014

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As the National Association of Home Builders has strongly emphasized every time they are given a chance to speak before Congress, real estate and the housing market strong affects the overall economy, and the housing market is well on its way to proving that point during 2014.  3rd quarter numbers in 2014 showed that the housing market contributed 15.24% of the 5% growth of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during that period.  A 5% growth was an unexpected surprise for most economists because the expected growth was just over 3%.  However, with the housing market steadily recovering, and employment numbers on the rise, including the long-term unemployed once again entering the job market, the economy is experiencing better than expected growth numbers.

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The housing market affects the overall economy’s GDP in 2 different ways.  The “real” numbers are called RFI – Residential Fixed Investment.  These numbers is the actual monetary gross profit or national income that results from home building and remodeling.  The “boots on the ground” – builders, contractors, vendors, suppliers, and technicians such as electricians, plumbers, HVAC, carpenters, as well as remodelers and their contractors and vendors – produce actual income which in turn stimulates the economy in capitalistic spending.  Employment will always drive an economy to recovery, and the construction industry provides a more than significant amount of employment and money flow.  The total percentage of home building and remodeling that contributed to the 15.24% of the GDP was 3.08%.  In a normal economy, this number is normally around 5%.  Also, The RFI component reached a $500 billion annualized pace during the second quarter. This is the second highest quarterly total for RFI since the middle of 2008.

The second part of the housing market that makes up the rest of the percentage of the contribution to the GDP is called housing services.  This includes the actual rent paid by renters, owners’ imputed rent (an estimate of how much it would cost to rent owner-occupied units) , and utilities.  The percentage for housing services was 12.16% which is actually in the normal range for this percentage.  The housing market’s two components normally makes up 17% – 18% of the GDP when the economy is stable.  The 3rd quarter, 2014’s housing market numbers are strong indication of recovery with hopeful predictions from economists on the horizon for 2015.

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