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!

Solid Economics & Real Estate, 2nd Quarter St. Tammany Parish

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According to the quarterly report of the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development Foundation, there were nothing to report in St. Tammany Parish except solid employment and real estate financial improvement updates.  St. Tammany Parish, located in the Greater New Orleans area on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain endured economic hard times just like most parishes in Southeast Louisiana, but with the unfailing positive attitude of business leaders and companies throughout the region, St. Tammany Parish seemed to recover faster from the economic slump and real estate crisis.  The parish itself is well-funded through taxes and millage rates and has enough money to run the St. Tammany Sheriff’s office in a budget surplus the majority of the time.

st-tammany-courthouse-rIn addition the parish government having such a strong economic push, the towns and cities in St. Tammany Parish mainly, Mandeville, Covington, and Madisonville are also well-off economically.  A testimony to how well the St. Tammany Parish is doing economically is the fact that the unemployment rate nationally is at 6.1%, in New Orleans it’s 5.1%, and in the 2nd quarter of 2014, St. Tammany Parish’s unemployment rate dropped over 20% from 2013’s unemployment rate to just 4.4%.

In addition to employment being on the rise in the parish, some could say that the housing market may have had something to do with the change because of the increase in construction jobs both nationally and locally due to an increase in new building.  Building permits in 2nd quarter of 2014 in St. Tammany Parish were at 315 for single-family homes.  That number is a 23.5% increase over building permits in the same month of 2013.  Also, new home sales – the outcome of all of those building permits – in St. Tammany Parish increased 11.1% year-over-year during 2014’s 2nd quarter.

“According to these numbers, the economic climate in St. Tammany continues to improve,” Brenda Bertus, the foundation’s CEO, said in a news release. “Along with many other favorable variables, our efforts to bring more business opportunities to the area have helped place the parish ahead of other regions in the state and the country.”

At many subdivisions throughout St. Tammany Parish developers and builders alike are enjoying the cause and effect relationship of new construction and new home sales.  Bedico Creek Preserve is offering new homes for sale in Madisonville, Louisiana which is in West St. Tammany Parish.  For More Information about Our Homes, Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

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New Homes Sell at Pre-2008 Sales Numbers

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One of the biggest indicators of the soft real estate market during the Recession as reported by the National Association of Home Builders was the housing inventory supply of homes that was available for sale on the market.  When it was technically considered a buyer’s market, there was as much as an 18-month supply of homes for sale and no buyers.  August, 2014 numbers are showing a HUGE improvement to the overall real estate market nationwide with only a 4.8 month’s supply of homes for sale, which means that all things being equal, all homes available for sale on the market in that month (and no other homes coming into the pipeline) would be sold out in just under 5 months.  These inventory supply numbers are typically considered normal for a healthy housing market, and this assumption would be accurate because during the month of August, there was an 18% increase in new home sales of single-family homes across the United States.

That is a gain of almost 20%, and those types of new homes sales numbers have not been seen since before 2008.  These record sales numbers bring the number of new homes sold in 2014 to just over 504,000.  In the West, the increase was a staggering 50% increase which was a much needed economic booster for their real estate market.

“This robust level of new-home sales activity is a good sign that the housing recovery is moving towards higher ground,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Historically low mortgage rates, attractive home prices and firming job and economic growth should keep the housing market moving forward in 2014.”

At Bedico Creek Preserve in St. Tammany Parish, we offer a collection of neighborhoods in our master planned community.  Some of our Neighborhoods have sold out so fast that we were not even able to separate them out into a traditional sales plan of Phase 1, Phase 2, etc.  The lots simply sold so quickly that we didn’t even need phases.  We are currently sold out of Audubon Way Neighborhood, selling out of Longview, and close to close out in the Manors and Estates Neighborhoods.  Because of the record pace of LOT sales in our subdivision, we have already brought on 3 new Neighborhoods and plan to bring on 2 more by the end of 2014.  Our new Neighborhoods are Cypress Crossing, an exclusive new home neighborhood with 3 St. Tammany Parish builders, Heron Point, and Lakeview Neighborhood.  To learn more about our new homes for sale and our lots for sale in our new Neighborhoods, Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

 

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Builder Number Goes Up as Builder Confidence Rises

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Bringing the number of builders to a total of 17 new home builders at our master planned community in St. Tammany Parish, Bedico Creek Preserve welcomes Fay Homes, LLC as one of our qualified new home and custom home builders in Madisonville, Louisiana.  This almost doubles the number of builders from which home buyers have to choose when deciding to build a new home on one of our lots in our 7 new home Neighborhoods. Our builders show their commitment to our subdivision by purchasing either one lot or multiple lots on which to build spec and inventory homes for sale.  We meet with our builders individually, touring them around our new home neighborhood so that they can understand all of the tangible, financial, and  advantages to investing in buying real estate from Bedico Creek Preserve.

In addition to the increase in the number of builders available at this new home subdivision on the Northshore, nationwide, real estate builders, developers, and professionals received good news, that after almost 9 years, the National Association of Home Builders’ NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) indicates that builder confidence levels are the highest they have been since November, 2005.

The HMI issues a monthly survey that measures builders’ confidence by evaluating their attitudes on three main aspects of the real estate industry: current sales conditions, prospective buyers, and expectations for future sales.  Any points assigned to the three categories that add up to higher than 50 is considered good – that builders are feeling positive about the real estate industry.  This month, builders scored a 59!!!  In three out of 4 regions in the United States, numbers increased to above 50.  The only market which had builder confidence levels below 50 was the Northeast at 41.  The indices gauging current sales conditions and traffic of prospective buyers each rose five points to 63 and 47, respectively. The index gauging expectations for future sales increased two points to 67.

“Since early summer, builders in many markets across the nation have been reporting that buyer interest and traffic have picked up, which is a positive sign that the housing market is moving in the right direction,” said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly, a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del.

Locally, in St. Tammany Parish, both builders and Realtors alike are beginning to see strong housing market re-emergence with resale sales and new home sales picking up across the entire region.  To find out more about the builders at Bedico Creek and the new homes that we have for sale, Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

 

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

 

Real Estate Report Offers Good News for New Orleans Metro

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Wade Ragas, long known for his keen insights on the Greater New Orleans real estate market once again held his bi-annual seminar explaining his analysis of housing market trends both on the Northshore and the Southshore of New Orleans.  His findings match much of the real estate news that has been reported both locally by nola.com and nationally by the National Association of Realtors.  Home prices started to rise at the end of 2012 and in 2013, housing prices rose so much nationally in some markets that experts feared that the United States was headed for another housing bubble which would make growth unsustainable and once again, crash the housing market.

However, the real estate industry’s natural supply and demand finally stabilized the increase in home prices when standing inventory numbers finally decreased to normal pre-Recession levels and the unsustainable “buyer’s market” finally eased off of both builders and Realtors alike.  In New Orleans metro, several neighborhoods have experienced unprecedented home sales, where several buyers at a time would get into a bidding war on homes in Uptown and the Garden District literally less than 24 hours after a home would be put on the market.  In other sections of the city, sellers have experienced normal home sales time periods with better than average sales pricing.

Ragas’ report outlined home price percentage increases in several of these main neighborhoods and they are listed below:

New Orleans Lakefront, prices are up 5%, but metro-wide the average price increase was up by 4%.

Jefferson Parish, priced increased by 1%, but the West Bank, for the first time in almost 3 years showed a slow but steady increase in prices.

St. Tammany Parish, home prices were up by 2% with an average home price of $227,350, up from $212,250 pre-Katrina.  Slidell, Louisiana, which has struggled to recover both after Katrina and other hurricanes also showed price growth in Eastern St. Tammany.

St. Bernard Parish saw prices go up by 6 percent. The average $129,260 price tag is above the pre-Katrina average of $116,120.

St. Charles Parish was the only community to see a dip in parish-wide average prices with a 2 percent drop. Half of the parish’s zip codes saw declines.

Prices were flat in St. John Parish after big growth last year. The average price was $141,500.

In Belle Chasse, Plaquemine Parish, prices were up 2 percent. A total of 34 houses sold at an average price of $312,800.

Even though the Greater New Orleans area did not experience as catastrophic economic collapse during the Recession, real estate and new home sales definitely took a dramatic turn for the worse during that time period.  All of the price growth and sales growth locally have increased builder confidence and brought many real estate professionals back into the market.

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St. Tammany Parish Company Expands and Brings in More Jobs

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As a nod to both the recovering economy and international exports, local Covington, Louisiana company, St. Tammany Parish company Enviro-Tech Systems (ETS) is kicking off a $1 million expansion of its water treatment facility, which is currently located in northern Covington off of Hwy. 25 below Lake Ramsey subdivision, south of Folsom, LA.  In a strange contradiction of combining two opposing industries – the oilETS Rendering and gas industry and the environmentally conscious preservation groups – ETS assists the oil and gas industry by manufacturing devices which treat water that has been mixed with oil, cleaning it enough to be able to introduce it back into the environment, which makes the EPA “happy.”  ETS employees not only are part of the manufacturing process for water cleaning devices, but duties also include repairing and refurbishing skimmers, corrugated plate separators and other gravity separation equipment dealing with wastewater in the oil and gas industry, according to the company press release.

Louisiana has long been a strongly touted location in the United States for natural gas treatment plants, offshore oil drilling rigs and wells, and a port to import and transport these resources as exports to foreign countries all over the world.  Little do some St. Tammany residents know that ETS exists right in their “backyard,” providing a valuable service which will now be able to grow because of a stabilizing economy as well as a strong demand for oil and natural gas worldwide.

Along with building a new, 10,000 square foot facility, Enviro-Tech Systems will also be increasing the size of its staff, adding 25 additional employment positions to its already existing 50 employees that work in Covington, LA.

“The increase in demand and the growth of our international sales require this expansion and the need for additional talented staff,” he said in the release. “Equally important, St. Tammany provides us with a locational advantage allowing us to be near our customers,” says ETS Vice President Frank Richerand.

New job growth in St. Tammany Parish has been on the rise even before the Recession began in 2008, and the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development Foundation has had a huge part in encouraging new businesses to set up shop in the parish while providing encouragement and incentives for the retention of local businesses.  St. Tammany Parish has experienced enormous employment growth over the years, which has allowed families to settle in and buy a home in the area.  For More Information about living in St. Tammany Parish or purchasing a home near Covington, Louisiana, Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

Click Here for the Source of the Information.

Generosity of St. Tammany Parish Citizens Evident at Sweet Soiree

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Stone Creek Club & Spa was the host of the annual fundraiser for Adapting and Changing Children’s Environments with Successful Solutions (ACCESS) on June 14, 2014 from 7:30pm – 11:00pm.   Louisiana ACCESS began in 2010 as a non-profit organization which raises money forSweet-Soiree-2014 children with disabilities.  The money is then given to families in need in the form of a grant.  The purpose of these grants is to provide parents who were not able to buy important assistance equipment through their private insurance or Medicaid plans.

“With the funds ACCESS raises through events such as Sweet Soiree, we are able to purchase such items as walkers, wheelchairs, augmentative communication devices, adaptive bicycles, hospital beds, wheelchair lifts for cars and vans and home modifications to name a few,” said Dr. Aaron Karlin, founder and chairman of the ACCESS board of directors. “Without these financial grants, these children and their families may not have been able to purchase these items,” Karlin said. “This can make a significant impact, lifting some of the financial burden from these families, which I feel, are grossly underserved statewide and, really, nationally.”

Equipment has been purchased through the use of these grants for children who suffer from physically and mentally debilitating diseases such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, stroke and autism.  Since the organization’s inception in 2010, over $70,000 has been given out to parents to purchase what they need to care for their children.  ACCESS not only holds the Sweet Soiree annually, but they also have another event scheduled in October, 2014 called the Boo Fest which will also raise funds for children.

amanda-davis-and-the-cute-guysLive music and local food was served at the event with performances by Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys, Rockin’ Dopsie, Kermit Ruffins, Batiste Father & Sons of New Millennium with David, Jamal, Ryan and Damon Batiste, James Andrews, Mike “Soulman” Baptiste, and the Free Agents Brass Band. Additional entertainment was provided by the Mardi Gras Indians, the Zulu Connection Stilt Walkers, the 610 Stompers, and other special guests.  15 restaurants were there to serve food to the guests.  The event also featured a live auction.

St. Tammany Parish is home to many generous and caring families and businesses that regularly attend fundraisers such as these as well as donate much time and money to the many medical, mental health, and economic causes throughout the parish.  If you are considering relocating to South Louisiana, you should consider making your home on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain at Bedico Creek Preserve in Madisonville, Louisiana. To find out more about buying a new home or purchasing a lot to build your new home in St. Tammany Parish, call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].

Click Here for the Source of the Information.