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!

FHA-Backed Loans: Majority of Non-Conventional Financing In 2017

/in

There are several forms of non-conventional financing including FHA (loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration), VA (loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs), cash purchases, Rural Housing Service (loans and grants backed by the Single-Family Housing Program), Habitat for Humanity (nonprofit Christian organization funding affordable housing), loans from individuals, and state or local government mortgage-backed bonds.

The 2017 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) concluded that only 30.8% nationwide financing was non-conventional. The share of non-conventional financing varies across the United States. In the South Atlantic and West South-Central areas of the country non-conventional accounts for 35.4% and in the East North Central it only accounts for 15.5% of new single-family home starts.

FHA-backed loans make up 12.2% of non-conventional financing nationwide making the loans the majority of the non-conventional financing.  In the South Atlantic region FHA made up 19.6%, in the West South Central 13.6%, Pacific 12.8% and New England was the lowest at 0.6%.

Cash purchases made up 9.6% which was the second highest form of non-conventional loans. New England was the highest with 27.3%, Middle Atlantic 15%, East North Central 10.9%, West North Central 10.7%, East South Central 7.9% and South Atlantic only 5.7%. VA-backed loans only accounted for 1% nationwide with the Mountain region being the highest with 13%. Rural Housing Service, Habitat for Humanity, loans from individuals, state or local government mortgage-backed bonds were the highest in West South-Central area at 4.1% and the lowest in New England at 1%.

Click Here For Source Information.

Construction Job Openings Increase

/in

The Great Recession that began in 2007 hit the construction industry hard.  Many jobs were lost and countless construction workers had to change their line of work. Fortunately, since the end of the Great Recession, the amount of open construction jobs has increased.

Access to labor has been a challenge with the high demand for construction workers according to a survey done on the Construction Labor Market. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) predicts the sector net hiring to continue in 2018 as the single-family construction market booms.

The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and NAHB report that the number of open jobs in the construction sector went from 202,000 in June of 2017 to 263,000 in July of this year. The open position rate which is defined as job openings as a percentage of total employment plus current job openings rose to 3.5% in June from post-recession of 3.1%.

Labor access will continue to be a challenge for 2018 however more jobs equals more opportunities.

Click Here For Source Of The Information.

New Construction Homes Are High in Demand

/in

The National Home Builders Association reported that the number of owner households has been rising since the third quarter of 2016. New construction homes are rising in demand.

This demand comes from the slow gain of new residential construction over the past decade. This can be seen in the change of the median age of owner-occupied homes.  The latest data released in the 2016 American Community Survey reports the median age is 37 years compared to a median age of 31 years in 2005.

The decrease in new construction stemmed from many factors.  The remodeling market was encouraged over the purchase of new homes in the past.  One of the reasons was rising home prices that encouraged homeowners to remodel their current home. More than half of owner-occupied homes were built before 1980 in the 2016 report.  New Construction accounted for only 4 % of owner-occupied housing in 2016.

The future for new construction homes is bright. This can be seen in the households living in different ages of house stock. Out of the homes built after 2010 70% are owned by Generation X(age 35 – 54) and Millennials (age 18 – 34). Within this age range, homeowners who are between 35-44 make up 26%, age 45-54 make up 19% and under 35 makeup 25%.

Click Here For Source Of The Information.

Conventional Loan Shares Are On The Rise

/in

In 2008 conventional loans made up three-quarters of new home sales and steadily fell to only 57.3% in 2010.  Fortunately reports show a steady increase since 2010 and shares in conventional mortgages have been above 71% over the past two years.

In the first quarter of 2018 they accounted for 74.2% of new home sales and the highest share in ten years according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing. There was a 0.4%-point increase during the first quarter of 2018.

The chart illustrating the New Home Sale by Financing Source shows FHA loans financed 11% of new homes (down from 13.5% in 2017), cash purchases were 5.2% (13,000 new home purchases with a decline of 1.6%) and VA fell 1.8 percentage points to 7.1%. VA loans market share has fallen 40% since the 2008 Great Recession and on average during the housing boom accounted for only 2.4% of new home purchases. Most of the cash purchases were on existing homes as seen in the reported 22% of all cash on existing-home transactions in June 2018.

The decline in sales that were financed by FHA loans and cash is due to the rise in  the conventional mortgage market share. Conventional loans seem to be the route most new home buyers are taking with it comes to financing a home.

 

Click Here to View Source Of Information.

July 2018 Member Spotlight: David Waltemath

/in , ,

ULI Louisiana News

July 2018 Member Spotlight: David Waltemath

 

ULI member David L. Waltemath ranks among the top residential developers in the New Orleans metro area. ULI recently sat down with David, Scott and Kelly Waltemath to profile their real estate development operation.

ULI: How did you get started in real estate development?

DW: I’ve always been involved. Two generations of my family were successful real estate developers before me. My father, Henry “Hank” Waltemath, carved out many of the major neighborhoods in Algiers on the Westbank of New Orleans.

Today, I’m proud to say, we have a fourth generation involved in our developments. My son, Scott Waltemath, has a passion for development. He serves as Director of Builders and Lot Sales on our projects. My daughter, Kelly Waltemath, is a recent LSU graduate and is already a multi-million dollar producing Realtor® with Keller Williams New Orleans. She is Director of New Construction and Resales for our group and also lists private homes on both sides of Lake Pontchartrain.

I shouldn’t omit my wife, Kathy, either. She has made way too many civic contributions to cover, including past president and board member of the Louisiana Children’s Museum, which she helped found. Community involvement should not be under estimated.

ULI: When did you realize you’d become a successful developer yourself?

DW: There’s always a defining moment in every career, I suppose. Mine occurred in 1986 when I assembled a partnership to develop English Turn on the Westbank. USF&G Chairman Jack Moseley helped us create the PGA’s New Orleans tour stop, the USF&G Golf Classic. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Bob Sierra, and their team pulled the golf course together. Cap Caplinger designed a beautiful land plan for the community.

Ironically, I’d never picked up a golf club until I started working on English Turn.

ULI: Scott, tell us about some other projects your team has been involved with.

SW: Right now, we have a successful master-planned community, The Parks of Plaquemines, on Woodland Highway in Plaquemines Parish and another new one in the same area, Cypress Park, under development for 2018.

Bedico Creek Preserve in Madisonville has been a landmark project for us. It was originally a failed golf community. Our team re-envisioned the initial plan and bought the failed operation. We replaced the course with more than 500 acres of permanent nature preserves, paved walking/hiking trails, parks, lakes and green space. The past three years, we’ve been smashing home sales records on the Northshore. At year-end 2018, we were selling 129% more homes than our nearest competitor! We have more than 400 homes completed or under construction. Bedico is undoubtedly St. Tammany’s most successful real estate turnaround ever.

We’ve had other successful developments post English Turn like The Estates of Northpark in Covington, The Highlands of Santa Maria and Green Trails in Baton Rouge, plus Punta Gorda Harbor in Charlotte County, Florida. The company has done some commercial projects, as well (Chevron, Entergy, Conoco buildings at The Timbers office park on the Westbank).

ULI: Kelly, what do you believe has made Waltemath Interests so strong?

KW: We have generations of experience. Falling back on that is simply priceless.

Dad has a genuine, innate sense of what will sell and what makes a viable project. He always gives buyers the long-term investment potential they’re looking for. He watches the market stats and stays on track fiscally, not over-building or under-building. I’d say he has an amazing talent for staying on budget, while still creating a community where people truly enjoy living. He wants our work to make the entire area a better place than before we built it.

I also think it’s important to note that Dad knows how to build a team. Our projects encompass the cooperation of local Realtors and the construction pros building the homes. A standout community must ultimately be lucrative for everyone involved. He has also assembled a talented team of experienced marketing, communications and online specialists who unfailingly make us look terrific in the media and online.

I believe our projects are special because David Waltemath knows how to build more than just a development. He knows how to build a team.

Rest assured, at Waltemath Interests, there’s a carefully-considered plan behind the magic.

 

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

More Places for Residents to Live in Covington

/in

Covington, a charming southern community surrounded by three rivers, is a growing area with a wonderful mix of shops, galleries, boutiques and restaurants.  Covington offers everything from water outdoor adventures to cultural events.  With an influx of new residents, Covington has been slated for a 272-unit luxury apartment development.

The new development, located at U.S. 190 and I-12 intersection, is already under construction and will open in late 2019. The 20-acre project, costing $43 million, will be across from the Versailles Business center. Versailles has been chosen to be the new headquarters to California’s Silicon Valley’s big corporation, Globalstar which will bring more residents to the area.

The development is being built by Dobbins Group LLC a real estate development, finance, property acquisition and construction management company based out of Birmingham, Alabama. The company was formed to seek out and build multifamily real estate investments throughout the southeast. Currently they have over $100 million in new developments in progress around the southeast.

Bill Dobbins who is the managing principal and founder of Dobbins Group sees the demand for a development like this saying, “there’s a lot going in that general area and jobs are being created as the office buildings go up. We look forward to bringing a new design to luxury apartment living in Covington. This community will provide our residents with upscale apartment homes in one of the metro area’s premier destinations for living, working, and shopping.”

The development will be patterned after the “Big House” design.  This design features walk out patios and balconies, enclosed private stairs for upper units and direct access garages. “The overall design makes it look more like a big house than an apartment,” Dobbins said.

Click Here For Source Information.