Mortgage Rates have dropped to near 3-year lows and only adds incentive to the already flourishing housing market. Wednesday the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since the downfall in 2008. The federal fund rate (the rate the banks charge on another for short-term borrowing) will now stay between 2% and 2.25%.

“These low interest rates will partly help with housing affordability over the short-term. Both rents and home prices have been consistently outpacing income growth. The only way to mitigate housing-cost challenges as a long-term solution is to bring more supply of both multifamily and single-family homes to the market,” adds Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®.

According to Yun those that will see a benefit from the Fed’s move will be types of financing other than the 30-year loans. The 30-year loan is already at a low 4% making the rate change cause very little difference in mortgage savings. Those with adjustable-rate mortgages and commercial real estate loans will most likely see the major benefits.

The change will help home buyers with the rising home prices. A buyer who can spend $1,500 on a monthly mortgage payment can now afford a purchase price of $402,500 instead of the $367,500 home price with last years rates.

“Last year, buyers would have needed an additional $145 a month on top of the $1,500 to afford a $402,500 home,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist.

This is great news for today’s home buyer. There are some parts of the country where this decision will give a buyer an extra $35,0000 in purchasing power. With home prices up 6% nationally that increase in purchase power will help keep the threat of another economic downturn.

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New Orleans Blue Bikes program began in 2017 and is still very popular within the community.  St. Tammany Parish is drastically growing and a bikeshare program would be very successful in the Northshore area.

“We hope and think people will (support this) because of our transportation challenges over here,” Northshore Community Foundation CEO Susan Bonnett Bourgeois said.

A proposed bikeshare program along the Tammany Trace would start with a fleet of 187 smart bikes. They would be parked at 53 hub locations along the trail from Covington to Slidell. Bourgeois states that the program will grow within the the first three years, adding another 88 bikes and 25 more hubs.

The nonprofit Northshore Community Foundation plans to procure a company to run the program. The program will not rely on government money but will run off user fees and corporate sponsorships. In fact, many health care focused companies have already shown interest in corporate sponsorships.

The program also has a potential of bringing in $100,000 to $150,000 to a local St. Tammany business and will bring jobs to the area for local residents. An experienced bikeshare operator would create a partnership with a local bicycle shop to supply the bikes.

The bikes will be for rent along the trail and will rely on electric motors to ease the pedaling for all to enjoy. The nonprofit hopes to have the program up an running by the Spring of 2020.

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Madisonville Elementary, Mandeville High School and Covington High School are getting some much needed TLC. The St. Tammany Parish School Board will accept close to $28 million in construction bids for the work.

Over $14 million plans to be allocated to Mandeville High. The project includes a three-story building which will add more than two dozen classroom, labs, office space and more. A new HVAC system will be added along with additions to the school’s locker rooms. Thompson Construction Co. will head the work. Mandeville High will be able to get rid of 28 of their on-site modular buildings.

Madisonville Elementary will be given $13.35 million with the work being done by Voelkel McWilliams Construction, LLC. The work will include new classrooms, a new gymnasium and an expansion to the cafeteria. Thirty modulars will be removed from the school.

Covington High School will be getting more handicapped accessibility which will be completed by CDX Construction, LLC. The project will cost approximately $167,000.

St. Tammany Schools will also be getting new text books. A $3.4 million dollar contract will include science text books for students across the parish. McGraw-Hill will publish science materials for kindergarten through fifth grades, sixth grade and eighth grade, and high school physical science, anatomy and physiology. Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt will provide environmental science and chemistry I materials, Pearson will provide environmental science AP, biology I, II and AP, chemistry AP, physics, physics AP and forensic science and Goodheart Wilcox will provide health sciences I and II.

These three schools have seen a huge spike in student population in the recent years and will greatly benefit from these projects.

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